HOUSTON – Vice President Joe Biden urged black voters Thursday to reject a pitch from presumed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, telling the NAACP that a Romney presidency would be a threat to voting rights for African-Americans.

Biden received a warm response from the overwhelmingly Democratic group as he gave a spirited defense of President Barack Obama’s first-term record and blasted Romney and congressional Republicans for being obstructionists.

Speaking to the civil rights organization on the last day of its annual convention, Biden was cheered loudly as he reeled off Obama’s first-term record, including killing terrorist Osama bin Laden, bailing out the auto industry and signing the health care law.