Romney sought to distance himself from Missouri GOP Senate nominee Todd Akin, who apologized after saying in an interview that women's bodies are sometimes able to prevent pregnancies after what he called "a legitimate rape." Romney said in a statement that fellow Missouri Republicans had urged Akin to quit and "I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race."

Romney was raising money to bolster his campaign in Texas, where he told donors that his campaign was "a little wiser in our spending of dollars" than Obama's campaign, pointing to new finance documents released by Obama's campaign on Monday that showed it spent more money in July than it brought in.

Romney and Republicans have outraised Obama and Democrats for the past three months, a sign of broad GOP interest in defeating the incumbent president.