stein of the "the huffington post," former hillary clinton adviser and deputy new york city mayor howard wolfson, msnbc contributor and queen bee of thegrio.com joy reid and buzz feed editor in chief always busy ben smith. the first presidential debate that hour and a half spectacle of ob fewcation, confusion, triumph and exhaustion may be ancient history by the end of today, maybe. new numbers show the nation's unemployed rate dropped to 7.8%. the lowest number since president obama took office in 2009. while the economy added a relatively modest 114,000 jobs in september, new revisions show that july and august saw a combined increase of 86,000 more jobs than originally reported. needless to say, those numbers put a certain pep back in president obama's step. >> more americans entered the work force, more people are getting jobs. now every month reminds us that we've still got too many of our friends and neighbors looking for work. today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score a few political points. it's a reminder that this country has come too far to turn

>> joining me today former hillary clinton adviser and deputy new york city mayor howard wolfson. nbc political analyst, former pennsylvania governor and current governor of "now," ed rendell, msnbc contributor and queen bee of thegrio.com joy reid and frank bruni of the new york times. last night a long and winding apology tour took place on the debate stage but it was not led by president obama. governor mitt romney appeared to walk back nearly every foreign policy position he's ever taken and instead, make nice with president obama. right out of the gate moderator bob schieffer teed up a question on perhaps the biggest vulnerability the handling of the attack in benghazi. instead of continuing the criticism romney has kept up since the first 24 hours of the incident he pivoted to mali. >> we see in libya an attack, apparently by i had think we know now by terrorists of some kind against our people there, four people dead, our hearts and minds goes to them. mali has been taken over by al qae qaeda-type videos. >> the pattern would continue on nearly every major issue romney stoo

pacific when joined by new york city deputy mayor howard wolfson, rolling stone eric baits, hugo lind us at facebook.com/now with alex. andrea mitchell reports is next. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" -- be storm damage. rescue and recovery along the east coast. after historic floods, fires, power failures, the jersey shore decimated. and a rare sight, lower manhattan blacked out. >> the level of

we will examine governor romney's yeah, ha he said strategy with governor ed rendell, howard wolfson,runi, joy reid and david wood. the president rules out a 20-page blueprint for his second term. we'll ask ben labolt about the obama doctrine. and the candidates take a bow in"inside the actor's studio" james lipton joins us for one last curtain call. we'll get his thoughts on the final act in a mere 180 seconds. we made the right decision. so when we can feel our way through the newest, softest, and most colorful options... ...across every possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now get $37 basic installation on all special order carpet. free streaming quotes, all your investments, positions, and even your trade ticket are all on one customizable page. see the 360 investing dashboard at e-trade. >>> the third and final debate now over at last. we have clarity on mitt romney's campaign strategy. the enemy of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. confused? so are we. it's tuesday, octobe

pacific, when i am joined by governor ed rendell, deputy new york city mayor howard wolfson, the "new times" frank bruni, joy reed and don't miss our final debate performance review with james lipton. tonight, we will be live with a healthy dose of sass and insight starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern. "andrea mitchell reports" is next live from boca raton, florida. good afternoon, andrea. >>> good afternoon. i loved your tribute to george mcgovern. i was there on the floor of that convention listening to that acceptance speech. great to see you and hear all that. >>> tonight, the foreign policy debate. will it sway undecided voters? joining us here, chuck todd, chris cillizza, mark halperin, congressman greg meeks, peter king and mike rogers, and our foreign policy debate panel, richard engel and bruce rydell. what questions would they ask the candidates? and the biographers weigh in, next on "andrea mitchell reports" live from lynn university. , keys, keys, keys. ♪ well, he's not very handsome ♪ to look at [ sighs ] ♪ oh, he's shaggy ♪ and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswag