Romney to Florida: Hush Up on the Great Jobs News

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has been touting the Sunshine State's sunny jobs news—and the Romney campaign would like his forecast to get a little cloudier, two sources tell Bloomberg. Scott's re-election campaign recently boasted that Florida's unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% in May from 8.7% in April, giving the state 11 consecutive months of improving jobs numbers, a message that clashes with Romney's assertion that things aren't getting better under President Obama.

As we reported earlier, it's a problem the Romney campaign is facing in several swing states, such as Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, which have both Republican governors and improving economies. The governors want to take credit, but economic improvement clashes with Romney's main campaign message. And so this week Romney advisers reportedly asked Scott's camp to tone things down and instead emphasize how much better jobs could be under Romney. The revelation comes as Obama takes the lead from Romney, 46% to 42%, in a new Quinnipiac poll of Florida voters released today. Last month Romney led 47% to 41%.