In 2004, then-Governor George W. Bush won 11 percent of the African-American vote.
In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama received support from 95 percent of the Black community.
Today, Governor Mitt Romney will make his pitch to African-Americans before the annual convention of the NAACP in Houston. It's not the first time he’s made such an overture; the Romney camp recently hired an adviser to help guide it's outreach to the Black community, and the Governor has held a number of events in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
But as this morning's New York Times reports, Romney's interest in addressing the NAACP today may have less to do with attracting the Black vote (which has skewed heavily toward Democrats in modern elections) and more with appearing moderate to independent and undecided White voters. Support in those demographics could provide a boost to the presumptive Republican nominee, as would weaker African-American turnout in 2012 as compared with 2008.
We'll have the best moments - and the best analysis - of Romney's speech when we come on the air at noon ET on NOW. In the meantime, let us know you'd like to hear Mitt Romney say before the crowd in Houston today.
PANEL
David Corn, Mother Jones/msnbc Political Analyst (@davidcorndc)
Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown U./msnbc Political Analyst (@michaeledyson)
Joy-Ann Reid, Managing Editor, TheGrio.com/msnbc Contributor (@thereidreport)
Hugo Lindgren, Editor, The New York Times Magazine (@hugolindgren)
GUESTS
Fredrick Harris, Columbia U./Author, “The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and the Rise and Decline of Black Politics”
BULLPEN
Lawrence O’Donnell (@lawrence)