The US economy added about 200,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, its lowest mark since February 2009. That's marginally good news for workers, and marginally bad for Republicans counting on the economy edging worse, not better.

One of the better tidbits of news in the report was that we added 23,000 manufacturing jobs in December. A drop in the bucket compared to the losses these past few years, but a big move in the right direction.