AP Top News at 5:26 a.m. EDT

Romney to make pitch to black voters at NAACP

HOUSTON (AP) — Mitt Romney isn't going to win the black vote. But he's making a pitch to African-Americans at the NAACP's annual meeting, giving a major speech that's also aimed at showing independent and swing voters that he's willing to reach out to diverse audiences — and demonstrating that his campaign and the Republican Party he leads are inclusive. Romney's advisers say he plans to focus, as he usually does, on the economy. The 14.4 percent unemployment rate among blacks is much higher than the 8.2 percent national average. He's also likely to mention his plan to increase school choice — he's called education the "civil rights issue of our era."