It was a busy Labor Day today as everyone with their eye on the 2012 White House did something to appeal to workers and voters. In South Carolina, where the Palmetto Freedom Forum got underway, five of the GOP presidential hopefuls showed up to pledge their allegiance to the Tea Party and prove their conservative bona fides. Conspicuously missing, however, was Rick Perry, the Tea party favorite and Republican front runner. Meanwhile President Obama traveled to Detroit, MI, where he addressed thousands of unionized workers in one of the most depressed economies in the country. On everyone's minds is the renewed federal focus on jobs creation after the summer debt debacle, and the stagnant employment numbers of just 9.1%. What remains to be seen is what happens when the actual legislating beings this week, as well as Obama's anticipated jobs speech tot he joint congress on Thursday, and how that will help or hinder the ever-critical GOP contenders.

One of the more controversial figures at the Palmetto Freedom Forum was Mitt Romney, who has significantly "Tea'ed" up his rhetoric over the three weeks as Rick Perry, a Tea Party favorite, has surged ahead in polls. Romney came out with both barrels blazing in Obama's direction, saying "I don't think I've ever seen an administration who has go further afield from the Constitution ... than the Obama administration, not just with regulation, but with energy policy, with financial regulatory policy and, with the worst example, Obamacare." This single statement fairly thoroughly outlines the conservative talking points of Obama's administration, but may have turned some heads with the last item on his list of sins as Obama's healthcare plan was largely modeled after Mitt Romney's own Massachusetts healthcare plan. Of course, the beauty pageant format of this "forum" didn't force Romney to address that fact until at the very end of his 22 minute Q&A, and even then it was fairly gentle. The other candidates all seemed to be following the same script, denouncing Obama and government spending and preaching the Tea Party gospel of limited government, and fiscal and social conservatism. At no point were any of the candidates truly pushed out of their comfort zones, and in fact, Tea Party Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) planned it that way. The only somewhat controversial moment was in questions regarding a Constitutional amendment to make abortion illegal. Although Perry didn't make an appearance at the this Tea Party pledge week event, he did get Rep. Mulvaney's official endorsement at the end of the forum; a bit of a slap in the face to those tail-riders that did show up.

At the same time Barack Obama traveled to Detroit to address thousands of union workers in one of the most depressed economies in the country. That said, it's also the site of one of Obama's biggest successes, homeland of the American auto industry which received massive federal aid only to pick themselves out of default, grow and hire, and pay the stimulus back. Obama gave the distinct impression that jobs creation is going to trump talk of debt and deficit over the next months, a fact that is highly likely given the closed-door super committee taking over the debt discussions that took center stage over much of the summer. Obama again set himself up as a middle class hero, blasting Republicans as the evil captains of industry attempting to target and disenfranchise the American worker. Many unions have been pulling support in recent months as the President lost control of the legislative direction and seemed to be failing on the jobs front, nor coming to unions' aid in states where they were being systematically dismantled like in Ohio and Wisconsin. Now, however, it seems the great black hope has donned his cape once again, and is prepared to press the congress to pass comprehensive jobs creation legislation. Easier said than done, but I won't pass judgment until the legislative session starts again.

Though everything right now is a lot of talk before the storm, it seems that despite declining support both the Tea Party and Obama are ready to fight hard for their respective agendas. Tea Party Republicans in both congress and in the Presidential race are working on molding public opinion around spending cuts and the government as an insidious Big Brother taking our money and throwing it away, even as they call for tax cuts for the wealthy and event he repeal of the capital gains tax. Obama seems to have turned the super committee fiasco into a convenient political tactic, sidelining the debt and deficit debate behind closed doors as he presses congress on something actually hurting Americans; widespread unemployment. Watch Republicans again try to derail the conversation by highlighting the congressional repeal of regulations and tying future government spending to other spending cuts, as they've threatened to do with emergency disaster relief money.