OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN: Post-convention politics

by Emily Goodin, Cameron Joseph and Alexandra Jaffe - 09/10/12 9:57 PM ET

“I was surprised in the president’s speech at the Democrat convention he didn’t mention unemployment,” Romney said. “He didn’t mention 47 million people on food stamps. By the way, that’s a record number. And not a good record.”

Meanwhile, Obama is using the still unpopular President Bush to gain an edge on Romney.

{mosads}Obama rarely points direct blame on Bush for the sluggish U.S. economy, but implicit in his “forward” campaign message and his relentless attacks on Romney is that a vote for the Republican ticket would bring the country back to the policies of the Bush administration.

And Team Obama raised $114 million in August, the largest monthly haul for either presidential campaign in the 2012 cycle. Obama’s total — raised through a joint account with the Democratic National Committee — bested Romney, who announced raising $111.6 million in August.

Romney had beat Obama in each of the prior three months and it was the third month in a row he was over the $100 million mark.

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and the White House staff will hold a moment of silence on the South Lawn in honor of the 9/11 attacks. The Obamas will also visit the Pentagon Memorial. And the president will visit wounded warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Vice President Biden will be in Somerset County, Pa., to attend the Flight 93 National Memorial Commemorative Service.

Mitt Romney will address the National Guard Association Convention in Reno, Nev.

Former President Bill Clinton will be campaigning for Obama in Miami, Fla.

TWEET OF THE DAY:

“Awesome! Now I can tell my grandchildren that the 1st black President of the United States took the time to address a Nicki Minaj question.” — Singer Nicki Minaj

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“The one thing I have to tell the Republicans, they’ve got to get tougher. If they don’t get tough, they’re not going to win this election.” — Donald Trump in a Fox News interview.

POLL POSITION:

A clear majority – 61 percent – of likely voters consider the presidential election to be more of a choice between President Obama and Mitt Romney than a referendum on the president’s first term in office, according to a new poll for The Hill.

Obama takes 52 percent support among registered voters over Romney at 46 percent, according to the latest CNN-ORC poll. Polling began for the survey on Friday, a day after the completion of the Democratic convention.

Two new polls show Obama ahead in the swing states of Ohio and North Carolina. A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey showed the president leading Romney with 50 percent support to 45 in Ohio and up 49 to 48 percent in North Carolina.

According to Latino Decisions‘ weekly tracking poll of Hispanics, Obama leads Romney, 66 percent to 29 percent.

AD WATCH:

President Obama‘s reelection team blasted Mitt Romney and running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) for “evasiveness” on their tax proposals during appearances on Sunday morning’s news shows.

The Republican National Committee mocked Obama’s convention speech as a rehash of past remarks in a new Web video.

Planned Parenthood’s political arm will hit Romney over abortion with new ads in Virginia and Ohio. The ad buy, worth $3.2 million, comes as part of the largest-ever campaign effort for Planned Parenthood Votes. The group has already invested $1.4 million on ads in Iowa, Florida and Virginia.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal political group, is criticizing Ann Romney’s comment that she and her husband “have not had a financial struggle in our lives.” The group is launching online ads, first set to run in Ohio, that highlight Ann Romney’s quote and suggests it shows that she and husband Mitt Romney are out of touch with middle-class voters.

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE:

The National Republican Congressional Committee has launched a 22-district, $4 million ad campaign.

California: Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) have endorsed Rep. Howard Berman‘s (D-Calif.) reelection campaign against fellow Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman (Calif.), the latest example of the strange-bedfellows game California’s new all-party primary has created. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) also endorsed Berman.

Iowa: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will head to Iowa to stump for Rep. Steve King (R), who faces a tough reelection test against former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack. The governor is rumored to be interested in a 2016 presidential run, and King is a major king-maker in the state.

Minnesota: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is in a close race, according to a poll conducted for her Democratic opponent, Jim Graves. The poll shows Bachmann holding a narrow 48 to 46 percent lead despite the conservative lean of the district, a dangerous place to be for any incumbent.

SENATE SHOWDOWN:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) suggested the Senate won’t be in Washington too long this fall. Reid said the Senate will have a “short and compact” schedule this fall, but that it can conclude a lot of work in that time frame.

Connecticut: Republican Linda McMahon‘s campaign is calling for an ethics investigation into what it has labeled a sweetheart loan Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) received in 2008, an attempt to link him to a possible scandal as their close race heats up.

Indiana: Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) is out with a new ad using Paul Ryan against Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R). After clips of Mourdock saying his view of bipartisanship “ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view,” the ad shows Ryan saying “I obviously don’t agree with that.” The two are locked in a tight Senate race in the Republican-leaning state.

Wisconsin: Rep. Tammy Baldwin‘s (D-Wis.) campaign released a new ad accusing former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) of abandoning the state. “Tommy Thompson left Wisconsin for Washington — boy did he,” the ad’s narrator says. “Working for George Bush, Tommy cut a sweetheart deal with drug companies, making it illegal for Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. It cost taxpayers $156 billion dollars. Then Tommy made millions working for a lobbying firm that represents drug companies. ‘We went to Washington to change Washington, and Washington changed us.’ Tommy Thompson. He’s not for you anymore.” Polls show Thompson with a slight edge over Baldwin in their Senate race.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Both President Obama and Mitt Romney will speak later this month at the Clinton Global Initiative. It will be the nonprofit agency’s eighth annual summit. Both candidates are slated to speak Sept. 25 at separate sessions of the meeting, which will take place in New York City.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is putting on hold his duties as a top fundraiser for Democratic super-PACs in the face of a Chicago teachers union strike.

Romney brought the Chicago teachers strike into the presidential race, saying he was “disappointed” in Chicago’s teachers union. As Chicago teachers went on strike Monday, Romney blamed Obama, saying his administration has taken the side of teachers unions in disputes with school districts.

Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) will take a break from campaigning and return to Washington on Thursday to vote on a bill that funds the government for the next six months, officials said. The House returned to session on Monday after a five-week recess that included the two major party conventions. Ryan is expected to miss votes through Wednesday as he campaigns in Washington state, Ohio and his home state of Wisconsin.

Obama said it was a “mistake” to criticize Ryan and his budget proposal as strongly as he did during a speech in April 2011. During that speech, in which Ryan sat in the front row of the audience at George Washington University, Obama specifically called out the House Budget Committee chairman’s controversial budget reform proposal. Obama said that the plan painted “a vision of our future that is deeply pessimistic.”

The Obama campaign stepped up its attacks on Romney’s foreign policy record, with a prominent surrogate blasting the GOP candidate as a novice whose policies amounted to little more than “tough talk and chest-thumping.” In a conference call with reporters, retired General Wesley Clark focused on Romney’s failure to mention the troops in Afghanistan during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Committee, saying it was “more than an omission” and highlighted the nominee’s inexperience.

Please send tips and comments to Emily Goodin, egoodin@digital-stage.thehill.com; Cameron Joseph, cjoseph@digital-stage.thehill.com; Alexandra Jaffe, ajaffe@digital-stage.thehill.com, and Justin Sink, jsink@digital-stage.thehill.com

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