Update (11:24 a.m. EDT): As expected, Romney highlighted the higher unemployment rate for African Americans, noting that "the unemployment rate for African Americans actually went up, from 13.6 percent to 14.4 percent." He promised to link federal education funding to individual students, "so that parents can send their child to any public or charter school, or to a private school, where permitted." And he said he would support "traditional" marriage. The Associated Press' Jesse Washington has a partial transcript of the speech up on his site, and promises the full text as soon as it's available.

Update (11:11 a.m. EDT): Romney's finished speaking. No more boos met the candidate, and he walked offstage to applause after promising to return to next year's convention if he's elected.

Update (11:01 a.m. EDT): A mixture of boos, laughter, and some clapping meets Romney's claim: "If you want a president who will make things better in the African American community, you are looking at him."

Update (10:58 a.m. EDT): Romney just stepped in it. His promise to repeal President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, which he referred to as "Obamacare," was met with a chorus of boos.

Original: The economy is "worse for African Americans in almost every way," Mitt Romney will tell the NAACP's annual convention in Houston. Advance quotes from Romney's speech are already circulating -- you can find good coverage on The Hill, from which the above quote comes, and Politico, which offers some analysis noting that Attorney General Eric Holder's Tuesday address "raised the stakes" for Romney.

As The New York Times' Trip Gabriel pointed out Tuesday, Obama "captured 95 percent of the black vote" in 2008, and that Romney is hoping to capitalize on the president's absence at the 2012 conference, where Vice President Joe Biden will speak in his place. Romney's scheduled to start speaking any minute, and you can follow along in the live feed below via Fox News:

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Adam Martin