AP Photo/Nati Harnik

Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012. (

On MSNBC Monday, both Republican National Committee Chair Reince Preibus and Romney senior adviser Dan Senor set higher expectations for Vice President Joe Biden’s upcoming Thursday night debate performance.

“The truth is that Biden is a fantastic debater...Have you ever seen Joe Biden lose a debate?” Senor said on Morning Joe Monday.

“I think he’s a pretty good debater,” added Reince Preibus on Jansing & Co. “He’s been doing it for a long time. He’s relatable, quick on his feet and likable. It’s silly of us to discount Joe Biden for making gaffes of late. I think he will come out and try to make up ground for Obama.”

Vice presidential debates usually get less attention than presidential debates, but given President Obama’s lackluster performance last week, Rep. Ryan will seek to build on Romney’s momentum, while VP Biden is tasked with a more aggressive prosecution of the Republican ticket. 

The nation's unemployment rate dropped to the lowest it has been since early in 2009 in September, providing a potential upbeat talking point for President Barack Obama in the days left before the presidential election.

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. It was the first time the jobless rate has fallen below 8 percent in almost four years.

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 came back into the labor force to resume the hunt for work. The economy created 114,000 jobs, about as expected.

"Whatever the reason, the president can now say 'I've brought unemployment below 8 percent," said CNBC anchor Brian Sullivan, as the Morning Joe panel tried to analyze the importance of the news.

Bloomberg's Joshua Green points out that aside from the September numbers, the July and August numbers were revised upward. The government said the economy generated 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated.

"The fact that the revisions are upward... that's the trend you're looking for," said Green. "All in all, it's probably good news, but perhaps not enough to overshadow his belly flop in the debate the other night."

For NBC's Chuck Todd, this information might not change voters' minds. "This number has a bigger impact on the tone of the media coverage for a day or two. [According to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll], people have a partisan way of viewing where the economy is. If you're with the president, you already believe that things are looking up and the country is headed in the right direction. If you are with Romney, you think the country is going in the wrong direction. Independents, according to the poll, have tilted to thinking that the economy is getting better."

UPDATE 10:08 a.m. ET: In a statement Friday, Romney said the numbers weren’t good enough.

“This is not what a real recovery looks like,” Romney wrote. “We created fewer jobs in September than in August, and fewer jobs in August than in July, and we’ve lost over 600,000 manufacturing jobs since President Obama took office.”

Over the weekend, both Real Time with Bill Maher and Saturday Night Live made fun of the "undecided voter," as well as the media for giving them too much importance.

Maher said that if a voter doesn't know who they're voting for, they're probably better off staying home on Nov. 6 because "you probably couldn't find your polling place anyway." He pointed to "Octomom" Nadya Suleman as the example of a self-declared "undecided."

"And that, in a nutshell, is America's celebrated, undecided voter: put on a pedestal by the media as if they were Hamlet in a think-tank, searching out every last bit of information, high-minded arbiters pouring over policy positions and matching them against their own philosophies. Please, they mostly fall into a category political scientists call 'low information voters'...

Saturday Night Live played this "ad" making the same point:

According to a recent Associated Press-Gfk poll, just 7 percent of likely voters have yet to pick a candidate. And although the first presidential debate isn't until Oct. 3, early voting has already begun in 25 states.

Sister Simone Campbell, known for the “Nuns on the Bus” tour criticizing Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan, spoke at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday.

Campbell, the executive director of NETWORK, a liberal Catholic lobbying group in Washington, called the Romney-backed Ryan budget "immoral" for proposals that would "harm families living in poverty," including cutting food stamp programs.

Her speech emphasized one of the evening's themes: shared responsibility. She said, "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible. But ...  faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another."

She also echoed earlier speakers who presented health care as part of a pro-life stance. She shared a Cincinnati woman's story of a  sister who could have been saved by the Affordable Care Act:

We all share responsibility to ensure that this vital health care reform law is properly implemented and that all governors expand Medicaid coverage so no more Margarets die from lack of care. This is part of my pro-life stance and the right thing to do.

Some perceive Sister Simone's speech as a Catholic "balance" for the Democratic ticket. Also taking the stage at the convention will be Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who is suing the White House over the provision in the ACA requiring employers to cover birth control in insurance plans. Cardinal Dolan is leading Thursday's closing prayer.

Rev. Al Sharpton applauded a Campbell's political stance. During MSNBC's coverage, he said, "I'm more uncomfortable when we don't take a firm position." He added that it was about time Democrats worked to counter the perception that theirs was the "secular" and "ungodly" party.

Her most powerful line according to Rev. Sharpton? Sister Simone's story of a Pennsylvania woman who felt isolated because her neighbors "have been polarized by politics masquerading as values."

Elizabeth Bruce, a woman who suffered from severe pelvic pain when she was 18 years old, spoke at the Democratic National Convention to stand up for Planned Parenthood.

Bruce recounted how it was difficult for her to get a diagnosis of endometriosis until she visited a Planned Parenthood clinic. Aside from pain, endometriosis can develop into infertility, something Bruce was able to avoid. Bruce is now the mother of a one-year-old.

Her story was an effective argument that being pro-life means giving women access to better health care, the "excellent, affordable, respectful" kind that Planned Parenthood gave her.

In her speech:

When Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan make threats about "getting rid" of Planned Parenthood funding, it's clear that they haven't given a thought to women like me, women with limited resources who are sick and scared. They haven't thought about planned and wanted babies like Ruby who are able to be here only because their mothers received the health care they needed.

Bruce was followed on stage by Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards who called the fight for continued access to birth control like waking up "in a bad episode of Mad Men."

Watch Richards' full speech below.

Gerald Herbert / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney left, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, center, greet residents displaced by Isaac in Lafitte, La., Friday, Aug. 31, 2012.

During his Friday visit to storm-battered Louisiana, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney met with local officials and at least one local resident who was affected by the flooding.

AP/The Huffington Post had this report from Jodie Chiarello, 42:

Chiarello said she told Romney, "I lost everything" and that the presidential contender advised her on how to get assistance. "He said that he was going to do the best that he could for us," she said.

"He just told me to, um, there's assistance out there," Chiarello said of her conversation with Romney. "He said, go home and call 211."

Melissa Harris-Perry, who has New Orleans roots, reacted to this story on PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton Monday. "The idea of someone telling a hurricane survivor to and call… it angers me… and the phone lines are down. My mother just got power yesterday. The idea that one could just go make a call, even beyond the question of a lack of empathy… that demonstrates a lack of understanding of what the problem actually is."

Watch the video.