If you’re a Republican, reacting to today’s jobs report is the easiest task in the world. The economy lost 467,000 jobs in June, far more than expected — which means Republicans now have a strong reason to ask what we’re getting out of the $787 billion stimulus package.

“Spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon is no way to create more jobs,” House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said in a statement this morning. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said the numbers prove that “the stimulus package is not a ‘Recovery Act.’ ” Boehner even released a video featuring bloodhounds trying to find any jobs created by the stimulus. (Get it?)

But what do you do if you’re a Democrat? Your spin job is a lot harder. Finally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California showed her party how it’s done. You sympathize with those who lost their jobs but say it would have been worse without the stimulus. And — still — you blame George W. Bush.

Though Republicans still love to portray him as an urban elite, President Obama managed to more or less split the rural vote with John McCain during last year's election. Now, the White House is mounting a summer-long effort to help tailor the administration's agenda to small-town America.

Obama on Tuesday announced a rural tour that will see Cabinet secretaries fan out across the country to discuss issues including broadband deployment, rural health, economic development and agriculture. The tour begins on Wednesday, when Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visit Wattsburg, Pa., to discuss telecommunications issues.

"Rural America is vast and diverse, and different communities face different challenges and opportunities," Obama said in a statement. "That's why we're going out to hear directly from the people of rural America about their needs and concerns and what my administration can do to support them."