Clinton: Republicans try to keep jobless rate high

PARMA, Ohio (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton says Republicans have tried to keep the U.S. unemployment rate high for political gain.

Campaigning for President Barack Obama, Clinton says Republicans were "crushed" when the jobless rate fell to 7.8 percent last month. He says Republicans nearly managed to keep it above 8 percent "all the way to the election. But they failed."

Clinton didn't say what he thought Republicans had done to try to keep unemployment above 8 percent.

No president has been re-elected with unemployment over 8 percent since Franklin D. Roosevelt early last century.

Clinton spoke at a campaign appearance Thursday in Ohio with rocker Bruce Springsteen.