OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN: Rocky Mountain Romney

by Justin Sink and Emily Goodin - 08/02/12 10:20 PM ET

Later in the day, Romney holds an event with GOP governors, who are in Colorado for a Republicans Governors Association meeting. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — all said to be under running mate consideration — will be among those in attendance.

{mosads}Beth Myers, the aide in charge of Romney’s search, is also on the trip.

Full coverage of the event will be available on digital-stage.thehill.com.

VOTERS ARE VOTING: Tennessee holds its congressional primaries. Republican Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and Diane Black face tough contests but are favored to win. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: Mitt Romney will be campaigning in Las Vegas.

Vice President Biden will be campaigning in Los Angeles.

Michelle Obama attends fundraisers in Springfield, Pittsfield, and Richmond, Mass.

TWEET OF THE DAY: “Happy 10th Anniversary to @Crocs Shoes, a great #Colorado success and turnaround story all within ten years!” — Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The president has never created a job. He’s never even had a real job, for God’s sake.” — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), on Fox News

POLL POSITION:

President Obama leads Mitt Romney nationally by 10 points, 51 percent to 41, according to a Pew Research Center poll.

AD WATCH:

A conservative group partially funded by the billionaire Koch brothers is spending approximately $24 million over the next month in swing-state advertisements, according to multiple media reports. Americans for Prosperity will air ads across 11 swing states between Aug. 8 and Sept. 10, according to ad-spending data from SMG Delta.

A MoveOn.org ad features Rafalca, the dressage horse co-owned by the Romneys, speaking to the camera about her upkeep. “How do I pull off such grace and athleticism while looking so good?” the voice of “Rafalca” says in the ad. “Maybe it’s because the Romneys spend $77,000 a year on my upkeep, and after Mitt Romney repeals healthcare and ships your job overseas, I daresay your life will not be nearly as pampered as mine. After all, you’re not one of his horses.”

Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign released an ad attacking President Obama on the economy while Obama’s reelection campaign continued its attack on Romney over taxes.

The Romney campaign has released a new TV advertisement in Florida, highlighting the state’s economic woes and laying them at the feet of Obama.

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he is “feeling better” about Republicans’ chances of holding the House than he did in April, when he said the party faced a “one in three” likelihood of losing the majority. “Our team’s in pretty good shape,” Boehner said as he briefed reporters in the Capitol for the final time before Congress departs for a five-week recess. “Our members have worked hard. Frankly, our candidates and challengers out there — a lot of them have been through tough primaries. And I feel good about where we are as a team. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and November, but our team is doing well.”

California: The House voted to reprimand Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) for using House resources for her own personal purposes and pressuring and intimidating her staff to work on her campaign, after a debate in which Richardson continued to argue on the floor that the report mischaracterized some of these violations.

New York: Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) leads Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney by a narrow 48 to 45 percent, according to a new poll from House Majority PAC and the Service Employees International Union obtained by The Hill.

SENATE SHOWDOWN:

Majority PAC, the Democratic super-PAC focused on Senate races, is up with new ads ripping Rep. Rick Berg (R-N.D.) and Missouri businessman John Brunner (R).

Florida: Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) opened fire on Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) in a new campaign ad, blasting his likely rival for the Senate as “a promoter for Hooters with a history of barroom brawls, altercations, and road rage.”

Missouri: Sarah Palin will campaign for Sarah Steelman this Friday in Missouri, hoping her status as a Tea Party darling will translate into votes for Steelman in a hotly contested Republican primary for the Senate seat.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued an apology to casino mogul and prominent Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, after the billionaire threatened to sue the organization over comments insinuating he profited from prostitution at his Chinese resorts. “In press statements issued on June 29 and July 2, 2012, the DCCC made unsubstantiated allegations that attacked Sheldon Adelson, a supporter of the opposing party,” the DCCC said in an email released Thursday. “This was wrong. The statements were untrue and unfair and we retract them. The DCCC extends its sincere apology to Mr. Adelson and his family for any injury we have caused.”

Ann Romney watched from the edge of her seat in the VIP section as her horse, Rafalca, made her Olympics debut Thursday morning in London. “She was consistent and elegant. She did not disappoint. She thrilled me to death,” Ann Romney told The Associated Press after the performance.

President Obama, approaching his 51st birthday this weekend, told a Florida crowd that winning the state in November “wouldn’t be a bad birthday present.” “If I’d known you guys were going to sing, we would have had a cake,” Obama said. “And then I would have blown out the candles. I would have made a wish — that probably would have had to do with electoral votes. Winning Florida wouldn’t be a bad birthday present.”

Obama weighed in on Tim Tebow and the Penn State punishment.

David Axelrod said he was concerned about super-PACs and outside groups outspending the campaign. “We have a problem in that because new changes in the law that the Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United, opened up, there’s unlimited spending among these third-party groups, these super-PACs against the president,” said Axelrod on CBS’s weekly online program “Face to Face.”

Mitt Romney‘s top political adviser said that emails between White House officials — including Obama campaign manager Jim Messina — and lobbyists sent from personal email accounts appeared to violate federal laws. “This appears to be a violation of the law which requires that all official communications be preserved,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstom said on a conference call with reporters.

Fehrnstrom also blasted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for making “baseless” and “shameless” accusations that Romney has avoided paying taxes, comparing it to McCarthyism. “I’m telling you authoritatively, speaking on the behalf of the governor, that those charges are untrue, they are baseless, and there is nothing to back them up,” Fehrnstrom told “America’s Newsroom” on Fox News.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), meanwhile, said “the American people were too smart” for Reid’s suggestion. “I don’t know how you go out there and make a statement like that without any facts,” Boehner said during an appearance on “Kilmeade and Friends.”

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

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