The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court heard arguments September 13 over the GOP-supported voter ID law in the state that would require voters to show a photo ID at the poll, among other items.

The NAACP, which has fought against other state-sponsored voter restriction efforts this year in Texas, Ohio, and Florida, among others, hosted a rally outside of the court to protest the law along with the ACLU and union and church leaders.

"We’re cautiously optimistic that when it’s all over the court will do the right thing," Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, said from Philadelphia during the NOW with Alex Wagner show. "The reality is, this year we’ve seen more laws passed by more states, pushing more voters out of the ballot box than in any year in the past 100 years… it turns back the clock."

Six justices—three Republicans and three Democrats—will decide the fate of the law. If they split along party lines, 3-3, a lower court decision that declined to block the law would stand.

Opponents of the law say it could disenfranchise more than a million Pennsylvanians, while supporters call it a necessary step to prevent fraud.

Michael Perez / AP

Gloria Gilman holds a sign during the NAACP voter ID rally to demonstrate her opposition to Pennsylvania's new voter identification law, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012, in Philadelphia.

Michael Perez / AP

Jacqueline Coles, left, and Karmella Sams cheer during the NAACP voter ID rally Thursday, September 13, 2012, in Philadelphia.

Michael Perez / AP

Emily Goldberg and her daughter Willa, 2, holds up a sign during the NAACP voter ID rally to demonstrate the opposition of Pennsylvania's new voter identification law, Thursday, September 13, 2012, in Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, Mitt Romney gave a speech to the NAACP, during which he was booed at several points, most notably after pledging to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And this even though, as Lean Forward reported, it appears the Romney campaign deliberately brought in a group of African-American conservatives to try to ensure a friendlier reception.

Now, Team Romney is looking to put a shinier gloss on the speech. "We Need Mitt Romney," a new video the campaign released Thursday targeting black voters, "rewrites history," as ThinkProgress puts it, "by splicing together Romney’s speech with shots of a couple audience members nodding as if in agreement. While Romney received a polite standing ovation when he was done speaking, the video has been edited to make it seem like the audience rose to their feet to applaud him mid-speech."

Watch:

In reality, of course, President Obama enjoys the overwhelming support of African-American voters, polls suggest.

Evan Vucci / AP

Mitt Romney speaking to the NAACP

EXCLUSIVE

The Romney campaign Wednesday night denied to Lean Forward that it brought in supporters to cheer during the candidate's speech to the NAACP, as several attendees have claimed. But one prominent black Republican told us she was invited to the event by the Romney campaign, and another African-American conservative said he was urged to go by people connected to the campaign.

"I was invited by Governor Romney," Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll of Florida, a Republican, told Lean Forward in a phone interview Thursday afternoon.

Asked who paid Carroll's way, her office referred Lean Forward to the Romney campaign's press office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

After the speech, Romney's campaign released a statement from Carroll asserting that "we can put a stop to [President Obama's] job-killing policies by electing Mitt Romney." 

Niger Innis, a conservative activist, told Lean Forward Thursday that he was encouraged to attend the Houston speech by friends in the NAACP, as well as "some folks that were aligned with the Romney campaign," declining to elaborate. Innis said he paid his own way.

Innis added that he wasn't surprised that Team Romney wanted some friendly faces in the crowd.

"Any political campaign," Innis said, "be it Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or the Green Party, if they're coming to an event, and it's an event that has challenges, they're going to want to surround themselves with allies. It's a no-brainer."

Romney was heartily booed during the speech for saying he'd repeal the Affordable Care Act, but also received cheers at times. 

The TV host Roland Martin, Hilary Shelton of the NAACP, and the radio host Mark Thompson all have claimed that the Romney campaign brought in supporters to the speech. Shelton said on MSNBC Wednesday that the goal was "to provide the cheering for [Romney]." Thompson said the supporters served as "applauders for his applause lines."

Andrea Saul, a Romney campaign spokeswoman, told Lean Forward Wednesday night that Shelton's claims were "not true." Asked Thursday about Carroll's statement that she attended the speech as a guest of the Romney campaign, and Innis's that he was urged to go by people connected to the campaign, Saul did not immediately respond. 

Carroll argued to Lean Forward that Romney received a warm reception from rank-and-file NAACP members. At one point, she noted, he was applauded by half the audience. "He didn't bring half of the audience," she said.

Both Carroll and Innis also said they were among a group of black conservative leaders who met with Romney after the speech. Romney said on Fox News Wednesday that these leaders told him:"A lot of folks do not want to say they will not vote for President Obama but they are disappointed in his lack of policies to improve the schools.” 

Mitt Romney had this remarkable message for the members of the NAACP who booed him when he told them he'd repeal the Affordable Care Act: 

Remind them of this: If they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy—more free stuff. But don't forget, nothing is really free.

Rachel Maddow reported on Romney's remarks tonight, which he made at a fundraiser in Hamilton, Montana. Maddow sourced the comments to a pool report.

Romney has been accused of hoping to get booed during his speech at the NAACP in order to drum up right-wing support, and as Maddow pointed out, these latest comments lend support to that theory.

"It seemed like Mitt Romney wanted to get booed at the NAACP this morning," Maddow said. "He wanted to wear that around his neck like a badge of courage. It looks like he is not wasting any time in doing so."

And later on The Last Word, Goldie Taylor of The Grio had a more visceral response to Romney's comments.

"That tells me all I need to know now about Mitt Romney, who at first I believed is just disconnected," Taylor said. "Now I know his problem is much bigger than that."

Late Update, 7/12/12, 9:20am: Here's the full context for Romney's comment, from the pool report:

By the way, I had the privilege of speaking today at the NAACP convention in Houston and I gave them the same speech I am giving you. I don't give different speeches to different audiences alright. I gave them the same speech. When I mentioned I am going to get rid of Obamacare they weren't happy, I didn't get the same response. That's ok, I want people to know what I stand for and if I don't stand for what they want, go vote for someone else, that's just fine. But I hope people understand this, your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this, if they want more stuff from government tell them to go vote for the other guy-more free stuff. But don't forget nothing is really free.

It's worth noting that Romney has used versions of the "free stuff" formulation before, in contexts unrelated to the NAACP or the ACA. For instance, in March he said something similar about those who want "free birth control." But in this case, it's clear he was responding quite directly to those who booed him at the NAACP.

Did Mitt Romney's campaign plant African-American supporters in the audience to cheer for the speech the candidate gave Wednesday to the NAACP? That's what the NAACP's Hilary Shelton claimed on The Ed Show. (See Late Updates below).

Romney said today that after the speech, at which he was booed for saying he'd repeal the Affordable Health Care Act, he met with black leaders who told him they support his policies but are afraid to do so publicly. 

But on The Ed Show, Shelton said those were likely people brought in by the Romney camp "to actually provide the cheering for him."

"Quite frankly, the campaign actually gave me a list of African-American VIPs that they brought into the NAACP meeting," Shelton told Ed Schulz. "So we were aware that they had people brought in specifically for the campaign. So I'm sure those were the ones they sat down with, because quite frankly none of the rank-and-file NAACPers met with him."

Indeed, despite the boos, cheering can be heard at various points during the speech, including when Romney criticized President Obama over the economy and education.

Shelton said that none of the people Romney met with were active NAACP leaders, and that Romney's referring to African-American conservative politicians like Niger Innis who "was brought in from New York."

Pressed by Ed Schultz about whether Innis and the others were actually members of the NAACP, Shelton said: "They're bringing people in that they know will support his agenda from other places, that aren't active with the NAACP. These are people who are brought in to actually provide the cheering for him, so there will be some support along those lines."

We've reached out to the Romney campaign and to Innis, a conservative African-American activist, to ask about Shelton's claim, and will update if we hear back.

Romney told Fox News earlier: “I spoke with a number of African-American leaders after the event and they said, you know, a lot of folks do not want to say they will not vote for President Obama but they are disappointed in his lack of policies to improve the schools,” 

Late Update, 9:55pm: Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul tells Lean Forward via email, referring to Shelton's claims: "Not true." Asked who Romney was referring to in his Fox News remarks, Saul did not immediately respond.

Late Late Update, 10:12pm: Mark Thompson, a radio host who attended Romney's speech, is backing Shelton's claim.

Thompson told Lawrence O'Donnell, host of The Last Word, that Romney "brought about 20 black Republicans with him," who served as "applauders for his applause lines." Thompson called the move "bizarre," and added, again echoing Shelton, that these were the black leaders Romney was referring to in his comments on Fox. 

Even Later Update, 10:58pm: And Roland Martin of TV One's Washington Watch, tweeted earlier today: "Romney bussed in about 200 supporters, including a number of African Americans, including Fla Lt Gov Jennifer Carroll."

Al Sharpton argued on PoliticsNation today that Mitt Romney's terrible reception at the NAACP convention was because he decided to use "the audience as a backboard to score with the right-wing," rather than appealing to African-Americans in good faith. And separately, the president of the NAACP agreed.

Romney was lengthily booed at the convention this morning after he promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would leave 7 million African-Americans without health care. 

Sharpton said today that he had initially thought Romney's appearance was "a step in the right direction." But, he continued...

...when he went today and purposely used Obamacare, which he knows is offensive, he knows is a red flag, when he goes in representing voter ID, which he knows disenfranchises people, I was clear that he was using the audience as a backboard to score with the right-wing, rather than try a three-pointer to move the country toward trying to come together.

Sharpton noted that Romney said after the speech that he expected to be booed. "So if you went in expecting to be booed, why would you then antagonize that crowd, unless you were tying to make sure that that was the case?" Sharpton asked.

MSNBC political analyst Karen Finney agreed: "The goal here, the audience here, was Texas, was donors, was independent voters. It was not about the people in the room."

Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP, agreed that Romney wasn't speaking to the people in the room during his speech, saying on Hardball that "he had a choice. He could come to talk to people in the room and the communities that they represent, or he could come there and try to send a signal somewhere else."

Jealous added that by specifically using the phrase "repeal Obamacare," not repeal the Affordable Care Act, Romney made "clear that he was sending a signal somewhere else."

Steve Benen made the same point earlier today, arguing that Romney had nothing to lose by giving this speech, and the booing will help him drum up the base going forward. "Indeed, if I had to guess, I'd say Romney will now position himself as something of a victim -- he appeared in good faith, the argument goes, but that mean ol' NAACP audience booed him for standing by his beliefs," Benen wrote.

Voter registration in the black community is down nearly 7% since 2010, the NAACP warns, adding that it is now fighting against a continuing decline brought by restrictive voter ID laws passed through state legislatures across the country.

In what Marvin Randolph, NAACP senior vice president for campaigns, called a "coordinated response to coordinated attacks on voting rights," the civil rights organization launched a full-scale registration drive in Georgia last week in an effort to register hundreds of thousands of young, black voters.

Randolph, along with “Rock the Vote” President Heather Smith, joined MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts on Thursday to share their plans to target the estimated 18 million newly eligible voters who have turned 18 years old since the last presidential election.

Though both young and minority voters turned out in record numbers for President Obama's 2008 presidential election, many Democrats worry election turnout for both groups, typically voter strongholds for the party, will be curbed by voter ID laws. 

"There are laws on the books all across the nation that are changing the ability of people to come to the polls and simply cast their ballots without having to show photo IDs," Randolph said. 

Roughly 11% of Americans do not possess government-issued photo identification, according to a report by New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, and would thereby be ineligible to vote. That amounts to over 21 million citizens, the Center says.