Did you know there is a sweet side to politics? With 4 weeks until election day the equal oppurtunity bakers of Georgetown Cupcakes have created a "Democratic Donkey" and a "Republican Elephant" cupcake in an assortment of flavors. You can purchse these election special cupcakes at their Georgetown, Bethesda, MD, New York (SoHo), and Boston (Newbury St.) locations as well via national shipping.

The store is also keeping track of how many each side orders as their official "Georgetown Cupcake Poll." So can this election be decided in the kitchen? What flavor and icing will the Cyclists choose? Tune in to the Spin Cycle to find out and be sure to check out the Georgetown Cupcakes website to place your order today. 

Paul Ryan, we are discovering, does not always handle follow-up questions that well.

The latest evidence came yesterday afternoon, when an interview with a local television reporter in Michigan turned testy and was ended by Ryan’s aide.

The dispute was ostensibly over gun control. Asked by the reporter, Terry Camp of WJRT in Flint, if America has a gun problem, Ryan responded that the country has a crime problem. “Not a gun problem?” Camp asked. “No,” Ryan replied, arguing that existing laws should be enforced and that “the best thing to help prevent violent crime in the inner cities is to bring opportunity to the inner cities” – for “charities, and civic groups and churches” to teach people “good discipline, good character.”

“And you can do all that by cutting taxes – with a big tax cut,” Camp replied.

“Those are your words, not mine,” Ryan said, at which point his aide stepped in to end the interview.

To continue reading the article click here. 

AP Images

What really matters when it comes to who will be the next President of the United Stated? Is it Foreign Policy? The Economy? Job Numbers? Gas Prices?  Or something completely different? With 29 days to go until election day we are zoning in on the real issues as voters enter the election booth on Tuesday November 6^th. Is there an event or a series of events that shapes a person’s mind to help them determine who they want to lead the country for the next 4 years?

While the debates are important, can they really erase months of campaigning? If President Obama doesn’t step it up at Hofstra on October 16^th and Romney wins again can someone say with certainty that the election is over? President Obama went into last week’s debate with a 5 point lead in the Gallup Tracking poll, but now that same poll shows they are tied at 47%. Does that mean the debates really sway people?  Or is your decision already made up by October?

Could it be that the new unemployment number of 7.8%, a four year low, which is the same as when President Obama took office, is helping the President stay ahead in polls?

These are just some of the possible questions that could be going through people’s minds as we each zone in on the real issues facing us before we cast our vote.

However, as each candidate gears up for the next 29 days of campaigning we will continue to see more ads released, especially in the swing states. Team Obama has raised $327 million while Team Romney has raised $392 million with each continuing the fundraising battle until the bitter end. During today’s show Politico’s Senior Washington Correspondent, Jonathan Allen, joined the show to help us answer these questions.

But, the real question we all need to be asking ourselves as we gear up for Thursday’s Vice Presidential debate is how factual are the polling numbers? As each candidate is trying to spin the numbers in their favor, 72% who watched last week’s debate believe Romney won the debate. But will that help him come election day? Nate Cohn, Staff Writer at The New Republic joined the conversation during today’s guest spot to help the Cyclists crunch the numbers and understand if the bounce Romney got from last week’s debate will really last.

Take a look at what he had to say

As we enter another Lame Duck session in Congress it is looking more unlikely that congress will actually agree on a long term deal to avoid falling off the $600 Billion Fiscal Cliff on New Years Day. That is an average tax increase of $3,5000 for 90% of Americans that will take affect if Congress does not act. Speaker of the House John Boehner is saying a large scale Lame Duck deal will not happen, but what is the right thing to do? Should we expect a short term fix? Our Spin Cycle will debate the question during today’s show be sure to tune in.

Political satire shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and even SNL, have moved beyond entertaining the viewer to now educating them on a political level. Many Americans, especially those in the younger demographic, get their daily political news from these late night news outlets in order to escape the real world but at the same time be able to know what is happening around them.

Joining today's show is Alison Dagnes, Author of A Conservative Walks into a Bar: The Politics of Political Humor, to discuss her book. 

Be sure to tune in for the full conversation at 3:40pm today and check out an excerpt from her book below.

Prologue

Otto von Bismarck is credited with saying, “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” While true, politics are an important part of our society, and thanks to C-SPAN, we can watch the sausage-making happen live. Thanks to the rest of the media, we have nonstop winded reports and breathless analysis of all the politicking around the sausage-making, which makes for some pretty vivid descriptions of the meat grinding. Our political system is a big and messy one, and in modern America, it is also extremely divisive. It is, then, quite fortuitous that there is political humor with which to mock and distract us from the agonizing sorrow of modernity.

It’s no guarantee that he’ll succeed, but the set-up is kind of perfect for Joe Biden: a chance to show tens of millions of Americans who watched in bafflement as President Obama rolled over for Mitt Romney in Denver what a real debater looks and sounds like.

Later this week, Biden will share the stage with Paul Ryan for the vice presidential debate. It’s still unclear what (if any) polling damage the Democratic ticket sustained from Obama’s listless performance, but at the very least it’s fair to say that Democrats are more apprehensive than they were before Denver. Romney last week mixed broad-stroke rhetoric and confident, if factually flawed, assertions to paint himself as an utterly reasonable, swing voter-friendly moderate – exactly the sort of widely acceptable vehicle for economically anxious swing voters his campaign is predicated on appealing to.

Obama’s refusal – or inability, or strategic reluctance, or whatever it was — to pounce on any of the many openings Romney gave him during the debate flummoxed Democrats (in some cases, comically), and left them wondering what will happen if the president doesn’t step up his game in the next two showdowns.

To continue reading the article click here. 

The new national unemployment number is 7.8%, a number much lower than expected.  The youth unemployment rate dropped as well but it is still at 11.8%.  On top of poor job outlook, the average college graduate is $28,600 in debt!  These students need to find good, stable jobs to pay off the education they just earned, and whoever takes over for the next 4 years will have to make this a priority.

As we near election day it is becoming clear that in order for either President Obama or Governor Romney to win the Presidency they will need the youth vote. In 2012 there are approximately 8 million new youth voters.  Most are incredibly enthusiastic about casting their vote for the first time.

Matthew Segal, Co-founder & President of Our Time, joined the table today to discuss his new campaign to help get the youth back to work. He is working on a new documentary called Up To Us, which shows the struggles of two young Americans, one working for AmeriCorps and another looking for a public service job.            

The verdict is in. President Obama’s debate performance was a bust. There is no other way to look at it, Mitt Romney won and President Obama lost. However, what many expected to be a poor jobs report Friday turned into a stronger one than expected. Unemployment fell to 7.8%, the lowest in four years and matching what it was when Obama took office.  That number fell despite the economy adding a net gain of only 114,000 jobs.  For a little perspective, we need to add 357,000 jobs each month over the next three years to bring the rate to a healthy 6%.

The numbers were certainly better than expected but they don’t exactly add up.

So of course we had to bring Peter Morici and Jared Bernstein to help us understand the numbers and both sides reaction. 

Check out what they had to say

With October being national anti-bullying month it is important to remember that bullies come in all ages, shapes, and sizes. Did you know that 1 in 5 teens are bullied in school and 160,000 kids miss school every day beause they are too afraid of being attacked or intimated. But, if someone is willing to step in and intervene then there is a big chance that the bullying behavior will stop.

On our show today is Carrie Goldman, author of Bullied: What Every Parent, teacher and Kid Needs to know About Ending the Cycle of Fear. She has written a guide for parents that offers advice on how to help kids deal with bullies based on her own personal experience.

Be sure to tune in for the full conversation and check out an excerpt below. 

With practice, kids can measurably improve how they treat others.  Maria, a former child bully, was one such girl who worked hard at becoming a better friend.   She explained to me, “When I did bully someone, it was as a result of my temper, and it wasn't because I always intended to hurt them.  I always felt bad afterwards and would get a lot of guilt.  I didn't want to let my temper control my actions, so I made an effort at learning to control my temper.  As I grew older, I got better at it.  In the end, I guess it was not wanting to feel guilt that helped me to stop hurting others physically and psychologically.  I wasn't an evil child, I just needed to learn.” 

Reuters

The unemployment rate (red line) fell to its lowest level since January 2009, when President Barack Obama took office.

UPDATED 9:50 a.m. EDT: The nation's unemployment rate dropped to the lowest it has been in almost four years in September, giving President Barack Obama a potential upbeat talking point as the presidential race heads into the final innings.

The Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, a decline of 0.3 percentage point and the lowest since January 2009. The government said the economy created 114,000 jobs, about as expected, and generated 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated.

A survey of households from which the jobless rate is derived showed 873,000 job gains last month, the most since June 1983. The drop in unemployment came even as Americans come back into the labor force to resume the hunt for work. The workforce had shrunk in the prior two months. The household survey is volatile, however.

It was the second last report before the November 6 election that pits Obama against Republican Mitt Romney.

Unemployment rate drop could have an impact on the campaign

"It's a little confusing, to be honest with you. The number of jobs created wasn't that high but the unemployment rate came down and the participation rate went up a little bit, so it's confusing. All in all, it doesn't change the trajectory of what the jobs environment has been really for the last year," said Ron Florance, managing director for investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank.

The two numbers – the unemployment rate and the non-farm payrolls number – come from two separate reports done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment report is based on the so-called Household Survey and it measures the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labor force. It is notoriously volatile and economists don’t put much stock in it, even though it often becomes the talking point for non-economists, politicians and pundits. It includes the unemployed who are out there actively seeking work and it excludes people who have left the work force and are not applying for jobs.

The non-farm payrolls number comes from the establishment survey and is considered more accurate.

“The rule of thumb when the two surveys tell different stories is to go with what the establishment survey says. However, the household survey provides reasons to be somewhat more optimistic about job opportunities for American workers,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist for the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

'Discouraged' workers face tough road back to  employment

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday after Wednesday's first presidential debate showed Romney gained ground and is now viewed positively by 51 percent of voters. Obama's favorability rating remained unchanged at 56 percent.

Economists blame the so-called fiscal cliff for the slowdown in business hiring, which has left millions of Americans working either part-time or unemployed and too discouraged to look for jobs.

The Congressional Budget Office has warned that a failure by Congress to avoid the automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts that will suck about $600 billion out of the economy next year would knock the economy back into recession.

"Businesses are not hiring people, they want to wait and see how the election evolves and how the political landscape shapes up," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, California.

"Everyone has kind of battened down the hatches," Sohn said before the release of the report.

Persistently poor labor market conditions led the Federal Reserve in September to announce a plan to buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities each month until it sees a sustained turnaround in employment.

The central bank, which also pledged to keep overnight lending rates near zero until at least mid-2015, hopes the purchases drive down long-term borrowing costs and spur the recovery.

The Fed's ultra-easy stance has started to free up credit, giving a lift to consumers, economists said. That, in turn, helped lift retail hiring in September.

Temporary help jobs, which are often seen as a harbinger for permanent hiring, fell 2,000 after being almost flat in August.

Manufacturing payrolls fell for a second straight month.

Construction employment rose 5,000, benefiting from the rise in home construction, as demand for housing rises against the backdrop of record low mortgage rates

Government payrolls rose 10,000 after increasing 45,000 in August. Average hourly earnings rose 7 cents last month, which could support spending.

Reuters contributed to this report.

After listening to everyone pre-heap praise on The Master, and sitting through a rant of Touré extolling its many virtues... I knew I was going to see it. After all, "It's going to be nominated for a bunch of Oscars." A seminal film, with performances of a lifetime - they told me. Just wait 'til you see Philip Seymour Hoffman! Joaquin Phoenix is amazing! Amy Adams like you've never seen her before!

How could I not go see it? I considered paying $20 for the ticket, just to show them I appreciated the opportunity!

Well let me tell you, I did go see it. And I want $50 back. 

Touré!  Touré!  How could you smile and sell me this bag of beans? Oh there were performances, alright. Amy Adams stared straight into the camera, and proved she doesn't have pores. Joaquin Phoenix challenged Clint Eastwood's pant-altitude. And Philip Seymour Hoffman showed that when called upon, he can play a character that is kind of like - but definitely isn't - L. Ron Hubbard. 

The news overnight was that Mitt Romney had decided to do a mea culpa for the secretly recorded “47 percent” remarks that rocked his campaign a few weeks ago, calling them “just completely wrong” in an interview with Sean Hannity.

This came 24 hours after a debate in which Romney labored to present himself as more of a pragmatist than an ideologue, objecting insistently when President Obama tried to link him to conservative economic ideas that would threaten the safety net. And it came a little over a week after Romney invoked his own Massachusetts healthcare law – a law that served as the blueprint for ObamaCare and that Romney ignored as much as possible during the Republican primaries — as proof of his commitment to aiding poor and middle-class Americans.

To continue reading the article click here. 

The political world is on fire today breaking down every aspect of last night's debate performances. Pundits must be getting dizzy from all the spin. But is it the spin that matters most? Is it what candidates say or what pundits say the candidates say that really matters?  We'll see as the week plays out. 

So far both the DNC and RNC are out with videos spinning the debates. 

President Obama is back on the trail today with the charisma and zing many supporters had hoped to hear from him last night. Many are asking "Where was this Obama last night?"

Mitt Romney is in Virginia tonight with Paul Ryan - which Romney do you think will show up? The charismatic and even humorous Romney we saw last night? Or the Romney we've seen on the campaign trail for the last 16 months?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section or on twitter @thecyclemsnbc. 

AP Images

There is no question about it. Mitt Romney is the clear winner of last night’s debate. All of the Cyclists, and snap polls, agreed as they watched Romney triumph over President Obama. Throughout the evening social media was going crazy as trends were occurring on Twitter and top mentions were happening on Facebook as we entered the first true Social Media Presidential Debate where everything everyone said was documented immediately.

However, the question we need to ask ourselves moving forward is whether this will change the race. During times like these it is important to look back at our nation’s history. Some examples of times when a candidate triumphed over the incumbent in a debate are in 1984 when Walter Mondale outperformed President Reagan or 2004 when John Kerry took the 1^st Presidential debate against President Bush. But, when people entered the polling booths on election day in both ’84 and ’04 they went with the man they were familiar with, not someone new to the block.

So as the dust settles and the post-debate chatter comes to a conclusion and we gear up for the Vice Presidential debate next Thursday, all eyes will be glued to President Obama and Mitt Romney. We want to see what they have to say as they hit the campaign trail and try to rev up the voters. Remember, Election Day is only 33 days away.