OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN: Romney’s candid camera moment

by Emily Goodin, Cameron Joseph and Alexandra Jaffe - 09/17/12 10:45 PM ET

{mosads}Meanwhile, Romney spent the day appealing to Hispanic voters.

He blasted Obama on the economy and accused him of playing politics on immigration.

“While national unemployment is 8.1 percent, Hispanic unemployment is over 10 percent. Over 2 million more Hispanics are living in poverty today than the day President Obama took office,” Romney said in a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

RACE RATINGS: The Hill has updated its ratings for the House and Senate.

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY:

President Obama is in New York for meetings at the United Nations general assembly. He’ll also tape an interview for “The Late Show with David Letterman” and attend a fundraiser with Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Mitt and Ann Romney’s interview on “Live with Kelly and Michael” airs Tuesday (it was taped last week). Mitt Romney is in Utah.

Vice President Biden attends campaign rallies in Ottumwa, Iowa, and Grinell, Iowa.

Paul Ryan will attend a campaign rally in Dover, N.H., and then attend another rally in Newport News, Va.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I think I owe that to my supporters, to at least consider a run.” — 2010 Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R)

POLL POSITION:

President Obama holds a commanding lead over his Republican challenger among Latino voters, with a particular advantage among women, according to a poll by Latino Decisions. The survey finds Obama with a 68-26 percent lead over Mitt Romney among all Latinos. Among Hispanic women, Obama’s lead is even larger. He leads Romney among this constituency by a 74-21 percent margin — a staggering 53-point advantage.

Obama has a 5-point lead over Romney in the key swing state of Virginia, according to a new poll from the Democratic leaning-firm Public Policy Polling.

Romney’s criticism of Obama’s handling of the attacks on American outposts in the Middle East does not appear to have resonated with voters. While 26 percent of Americans approved of Romney’s comments critical of the president’s response to the attacks, which left four American foreign service officers dead, 48 percent of those surveyed disapproved and an additional 26 percent did not voice an opinion, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, 45 percent of those polled said they approved of Obama’s handling of the situation, versus 36 percent who disapproved.

AD WATCH:

President Obama’s campaign is undercutting Mitt Romney‘s efforts to sell his economic plan to Latino voters this week with a new video mocking the GOP nominee’s Hispanic outreach as one of Romney’s “most implausible makeovers yet.”

Romney released a pair of TV ads renewing his attack on Obama’s economic record and outlining his own plan “for a stronger middle class,” which has become a cornerstone of his campaign stops and appearances.

Obama made a campaign pitch to “people of faith” in a new video in which he reaffirmed what he called his “unwavering” commitment to “protecting religious liberty.”

Obama’s campaign released a new television ad touting the president’s move to file a new trade enforcement suit against China.

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE:

The National Republican Congressional Committee is launching ads in 10 competitive races nationwide, attacking Democratic candidates for their support of President Obama‘s healthcare reform law. The ads will run against Democrats Bill Owens in New York, Christie Vilsack and Bruce Braley in Iowa, Pat Kreitlow in Wisconsin, Mark Critz in Pennsylvania, Gary McDowell in Michigan, Bill Enyart in Illinois, Steven Horsford and John Oceguera in Nevada, and Rick Nolan in Minnesota.

The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) and its nonprofit arm, the American Action Network (AAN), are launching more than $3 million in broadcast and online ads attacking six Democrats facing tough races nationwide. The ads target Democrats Betty Sutton, running in Ohio’s 14th district; Rick Nolan, running in Minnesota’s 8th; David Gill, running in Illinois’s 13th; Jose Hernandez, running in California’s 10th district; and David Crooks, running in Indiana’s 8th district.

WISCONSIN: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) endorsed Mark Pocan (D), who is running to replace Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

SENATE SHOWDOWN:

CONNECTICUT: The Connecticut Democratic Party is highlighting Linda McMahon‘s (R) record as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., in an attempt to tie her to what the party frames as questionable business practices — an attack that helped undermine her 2010 bid for Senate. The party released a video showcasing particularly risque WWE clips, including sketches in which wrestlers simulate sex in the ring and one in which a wrestler seems to have sex with a corpse.

HAWAII: Rep. Mazie Hirono’s (D-Hawaii) campaign is attacking Republican Linda Lingle’s latest TV commercial, saying the ad, titled “Democrats for Lingle,” features seven out of eight people with established Republican ties.

INDIANA: According to an internal poll out from Democrat Joe Donnelly‘s campaign, he leads Republican challenger Richard Mourdock 45 percent to 42 percent. And Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) will not campaign for Mourdock, the GOP candidate who toppled him in Indiana’s Senate primary, the lawmaker said in an interview with a conservative Indiana blogger.

MASSACHUSETTS: Two new polls show Elizabeth Warren establishing a lead over Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.). One, from the Western New England University Polling Institute, with two local Massachusetts papers, gives Warren a 6-point lead over Brown with likely voters, 50 percent to 44 percent support. Another poll, out from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling (PPP), has her up 2 points over Brown.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

The Obama campaign tried to raise expectations for Mitt Romney‘s performance in this fall’s presidential debates, labeling them “make or break” for the Republican nominee.

Romney said President Obama is electioneering in filing a trade case against China. “President Obama has spent 43 months failing to confront China’s unfair trade practices,” Romney said in a statement. “Campaign-season trade cases may sound good on the stump, but it is too little, too late for American businesses and middle-class families.”

Obama sought to undercut Romney’s argument that the president is soft on China, saying “you can talk a good game, or you can play one.”

The Obama campaign continued to hit Romney on his reaction to the riots in the Middle East, even as both candidates refocused their attention on the economy. “Every president — male, female, no matter who it is, Republican, Democrat — is going to face a crisis or multiple crises as the president has faced,” Obama’s traveling press secretary, Jen Psaki, told reporters traveling with the president to Ohio.

Leading Hispanic Democrats panned Romney’s immigration record, saying the GOP presidential hopeful is the “most extreme” candidate to get close to the White House in the last half-century.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says the GOP ticket will wait until it can sit down with Congress before fleshing out more details of its tax plans.

Speaking at the Good Earth Restaurant while campaigning in Muscatine, Iowa, Vice President Biden noted that through his past two presidential runs he’d been to all of Iowa’s 99 counties and spent a total of 120 days in the coveted primary state. “You saw how effective I am,” said Biden, speaking to a group of women at the restaurant, according to a pool report. “You know what I mean? But I’m a good vice president.”

Biden also offered a full-throated defense of Obama’s trade policies during a campaign stop in Iowa, arguing nothing Romney has “proposed or has ever done” would end unfair practices by China. “We’re getting lectured by this guy about not being tough on China?” Biden asked incredulously after arguing that Romney was responsible for outsourcing jobs during his tenure at Bain Capital.

Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade Inc. and owner of the Chicago Cubs, is spending a total of $12 million on advertising supporting Mitt Romney and congressional Republican races.

Obama’s campaign pushed back on Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) questions over the administration’s handling of the deadly protests in Libya, accusing him of using the crisis as a political opportunity for Romney.

First lady Michelle Obama told television host Rachael Ray that she doesn’t think life in the White House, or the fame of becoming the first family, has changed the Obamas. “I don’t consider us famous,” Obama said.

And, campaigning in Florida, the first lady delivered a strong character defense of the president to a battleground audience, declaring that her husband always does the “right thing,” not the “easy thing.”

Clint Eastwood said if Obama is a fan, “that’s his bad judgment.” “Actually, he seems very charming to me,” Eastwood said of Obama in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

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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