CNN
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As White House officials prepared for the last jobs report before the midterm elections set to be released Friday morning, the last thing they wanted to see is a blowout hiring number.
It’s the political paradox that loomed over the last major piece of economic data before Election Day – one that comes at a moment that finds Democrats desperately trying to make up ground on the economy.
The US economy added 261,000 jobs in October – more than the 200,000 jobs economists had predicted but still landing in the upper part of the range that White House officials were hoping to see heading into Friday, which was about 150,000-300,000.
It was a “Goldilocks” outcome for the White House – a number that’s not too low, but not too high.
It’s a far cry from just one year ago, when the US economy was…
