A new Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll finds Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) with a solid lead over challenger Joe Kyrillos (R) among registered voters, 42% to 32%.

In the presidential race, President Obama leads Mitt Romney by double-digits, 51% to 38%.

At a press conference in London this morning, First Read notes that Mitt Romney answered questions from British reporters but did not take any questions from the American reporters, “which isn’t protocol.”

“In fact, it’s considered a bit of an insult to the U.S reporters who are following the presumptive GOP presidential nominee overseas. Even bringing this up will lead some to say, ‘There goes the media, whining again.’ But folks, those of us that have traveled overseas and been involved in these VERY limited press avails have rarely seen heads of democracies TOTALLY ignore their own press corps but answer ANOTHER press corps’ questions. Sure, it would have looked REALLY bad had Romney ignored the U.K. questions. But is the campaign so intent on limiting media access that the candidate won’t call an audible when standing next to a leader from another country who DOES want to take questions?”

“This is a bipartisan challenge for the press corps. Every president in the modern era has decided to pick up on some aspect of limiting media access to the president from their predecessor. The public never cares, because most of them distrust at least half of the press corps. But folks, it’s a slippery slope.”

The conservative New Hampshire Union Leader calls on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns:

“But there is no place for secrecy or, indeed, privacy in a Presidential campaign. If you want the job, you have to subject yourself to the scrutiny. You have to be prepared to stand and explain, indeed, justify, your actions. If they are legal, then so be it… Surely he could not have arrogantly believed that he could withstand any storm that developed by bluffing his way through it? If so, it hasn’t worked.”

“If Romney intends to win, he is going to have to make the tax forms public.”

“The first wave of televised political ads by an outside group attempting to influence the U.S. Senate race in Maine is expected to hit local screens today,” the Portland Press Herald reports.

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has purchased what appears to be close to $200,000 in ads in Maine media markets, according to several public disclosure documents at local stations. The ads target Angus King, the independent former governor who enjoys front-runner status in recent polls.”

Mitt Romney wasn’t just the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, Utah state records show he was also a registered lobbyist for the organization, the Huffington Post reports.

A new Gallup survey finds American business owners’ approval of President Obama fell in the second quarter of 2012 to 35%, essentially tying farmers and fishers for the lowest approval among major occupational groups.

Overall, professional workers remain the most approving, at 52%.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “has studiously avoided talk of a 2016 White House run, but he has positioned himself on two fronts, amassing the nation’s largest gubernatorial war chest and organizing a series of August policy summits with Democratic leaders and academics,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Cuomo has raised nearly $1 million a month since he took office in January 2011 and has about $19.3 million to spend –more than 40 other governors combined… Meanwhile, just two weeks before his party gathers on Sept. 3 for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Mr. Cuomo is hosting a summit of his own, inviting Clinton administration veterans and others to Manhattan for a policy forum.”

The New York Times notes the presidential campaign has become a clash over a delicate and personal question: “Are you an American like me?”

“Their choice of words and imagery is a reminder of how powerful undercurrents of identity, wealth, race and religion are shaping this election. These surface in subtle and not-so-subtle ways as two candidates who can have trouble connecting with voters on a personal level try to define each other as detached from mainstream American life.”

“By Mr. Romney’s telling, the president has a ‘strange’ and ‘foreign’ political philosophy. Mr. Obama has suggested that Mr. Romney’s vision of the American dream involves Indian call centers and Caribbean tax havens.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says he’s open to running for president in four years if the job is open, the AP reports.

Christie says he hopes Mitt Romney beats President Obama and seeks re-election in 2016, but if the presidency is open, Christie says he’ll “certainly think about it.”

He added: “If there’s an opportunity for me to serve in another capacity and I think I have something to add to the mix, I don’t think I’d back away from it.”

Gallup Poll: “Democrats are significantly less likely now (39%) than they were in the summers of 2004 and 2008 to say they are ‘more enthusiastic about voting than usual’ in the coming presidential election. Republicans are more enthusiastic now than in 2008, and the same as in 2004.”

The latest NBC-WSJ poll finds Mitt Romney’s “overall favorable/unfavorable score remains a net negative — a
trait no other modern presumptive GOP presidential nominee (whether Bob
Dole, George W. Bush or John McCain) has shared.”

According to associates at Bain Capital, Mitt Romney “stayed in regular contact with his partners over the following months, tending to his partnership interests and negotiating his separation from the company,” the AP reports.

“Those familiar with Romney’s discussions with his Bain partners said the contacts included several meetings in Boston, the company’s home base, but were limited to matters that did not affect the firm’s investments or other management decisions. Yet Romney continued to oversee his partnership stakes even as he disengaged from the firm, personally signing or approving a series of corporate and legal documents through the spring of 2001.”

Michael Crowley: “In an election dominated by the economy, it might not be disqualifying. But in a close race, any disadvantage could spell defeat. Thus, Romney’s trip over the next week to the U.K., Israel and Poland is an effort to build his credibility as a statesman. But the first step was a Tuesday speech in Reno, Nev., to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention designed to draw a contrast with Obama. It was not a promising start. Romney’s main shortcoming is that he has no clear alternative vision on foreign policy. His primary complaint with Obama is both amorphous and unfair: Romney presents himself as a tribune for the ideals of American greatness and exceptionalism.”

On Romney’s indictment of the national security leaks from the White House: “It’s not hard to see why Romney might want to gin up a phony crisis. When it comes to foreign policy, his views turn out to be fairly mundane.”