Obama to hold press conference next Friday

Obama will face reporters days before lawmakers return to Washington for a final session of Congress before the mid-term election. The president is pushing Congress to move a small business bill he argues would help the flagging economy. 

Democrats appear to be at risk of a drubbing at the polls, and are in danger of losing the House and Senate.

The president has come under fire for going long periods of time without taking questions. This will be his first press conference in several months, though he did take some questions from reporters at the G20 meeting in June.

At this point, it is too early to tell if the news conference will be in primetime or during the day.