Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Keyser booted from Senate ballot, vows lawsuit — Previewing Tuesday's primaries in Md., Pa. — Chamber, Senate Majority PAC return to airwaves
From: Morning Score <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:02:45 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 04/26/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Scott Bland, Elena Schneider and Kevin Robillard

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro's Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races - and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day's most important campaign news - sign up for Campaign Pro today. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

SIGNATURE SNAFU - "Keyser promises lawsuit after ballot access failure in Colorado," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "Republican Jon Keyser did not qualify for the Republican Senate primary in Colorado, the state's chief elections officer said Monday, prompting Keyser's campaign to announce that it would take legal action to get him on the ballot. 'We are confident that we secured the necessary number of signatures to appear on the ballot,' Keyser spokesman Matt Connelly said. 'We will be pursuing legal action to ensure thousands of Coloradans are not disenfranchised.' Colorado Senate candidates are required to gather 1,500 valid signatures from each of the state's seven congressional
 districts to qualify for the primary ballot. Keyser fell short in the state's vast 3rd District, according to the secretary of state. 'A prolific signature gatherer wasn't registered in the district he/she was supposed to be registered in,' said one source close to Keyser's campaign. 'So the sigs were "valid" but collected by the wrong person.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f8ee812d4c341b2acd183696145492f69366b40330925d49f

CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY NIGHT - "Primaries threaten to upend Democratic establishment," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Rachael Bade: National Democrats could be in for an embarrassing night if two of their handpicked Senate candidate lose their primaries tonight. "Senate Democrats and the White House have invested an unusual amount of effort in Pennsylvania to help [Katie] McGinty, a former chief of staff to Gov. Tom Wolf, beat former Rep.[Joe] Sestak. In Maryland, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and the state's political establishment have thrown their weight behind [Chris] Van Hollen. Even President Barack Obama has put his political capital on the line, endorsing McGinty over Sestak
 and cutting an ad for her that's run heavily ahead of Tuesday's primary contest. ... In recent days Van Hollen has pulled away from Donna] Edwards and McGinty has caught up with Sestak. At least that's what the polls and Democratic bosses say. 'Better every day,' Reid said when asked how he's feeling about McGinty and Van Hollen." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f834b2651342f8f62c38601592d23eab3b6ad789b1b46f8bb

- "What to watch in Tuesday's Senate primaries," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f2add9d0c0853ca602c99f051cd53607abc45a7c81de1f727

- "Dems trade barbs ahead of first House battleground primary," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer: "The Democratic primary for an open House seat in Philadelphia's suburbs has turned unexpectedly ugly in the final weeks of the race, as two candidates chase after the nomination in a district that is key to Democrats' House hopes. Each candidate is accusing the other of colluding with a super PAC ... Before the super PACs' entry into the race, the debate between Shaughnessy Naughton and state Rep. Steve Santarsiero had largely focused on the Iranian nuclear deal ... and whether Democrats should make another push for a 'public option' in the health care marketplace. The primary winner will
 likely face Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, who has taken unusually moderate positions on climate change and health policy and is the brother of current GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f687c2aade7a75b304139b813e1e5bab0b36b98f438e26c95

Days until the Indiana primary: 7. Days until the 2016 election: 196. 

Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked].

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about misogyny within the bonds of love: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, and @theodoricmeyer.

ANNALS OF ELECTION LAW - Federal judge uphold North Carolina photo ID mandate: "Lawsuits challenging changes to North Carolina's election law failed to show it hampered the ability of minority voters to exercise political power, a federal judge ruled Monday in dismissing the cases," The Associated Press reports. "U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder ruled against the U.S. Justice Department, the North Carolina NAACP chapter and named voters. They sued alleging the law was passed to discriminate against poor and minority voters in violation of the Constitution and U.S. Voting Rights Act. ... The plaintiffs 'failed to show that such disparities will have materially adverse effects on the
 ability of minority voters to cast a ballot and effectively exercise the electoral franchise' as a result of the 2013 state law, Schroeder wrote." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f4d91a360f3b34175db75504153ff6d969ffab27d2508e749

TV TIMEOUT - Chamber running TV ads for Heck in two languages: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is returning to the airwaves for GOP Rep. Joe Heck seven weeks ahead of the Nevada Senate primary, with TV ads in English and Spanish hitting the air today. The positive spot (except for a quick shot at retiring Democratic Sen. Harry Reid) touts Heck's efforts to boost tourism in Las Vegas, cut red tape and "fix our broken immigration system." The ad never mentions Heck's primary opponent, Sharron Angle, a tea party icon and the losing GOP nominee against Reid in 2010. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f7494c269a1f3f64830829428743f4eba4f94a457ee2a7983

- Senate Majority PAC launches anti-Portman TV ad: Democrats' flagship Senate super PAC is attacking GOP Sen. Rob Portman, a long-time Washington hand, as an "insider" with a new ad. "A D.C. player for 30 years. Lobbyist. Congressman. Trade Czar. Lobbyist. Senator. Siding with the rich and powerful for decades," the narrator says as Polaroid-like photographs of Portman in each job appear on screen. The ad attacks Portman for supporting NAFTA and supporting the privatization of Social Security. The buy starts today and runs through May 12. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f4ccdaa13b27c1d229e9371efd11bad6570655c879efb34f4

GOLDEN STATE DEBATE - Two Democrats, three Republicans face off in first California Senate debate: "The first debate in California's sleepy U.S. Senate campaign was most notable for how front-runner state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris escaped serious attack from her rivals," The Los Angeles Times' Phil Willon and John Myers report. "Her top opponent, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, can't say the same. The two Democrats have a real chance at making it past the state's top-two June 7 primary to face each other in a general election. The Republican hopefuls aiming to make it to Nov. 8 used Monday's debate to try to sully Sanchez's record more than to go after Harris, who leads all public opinion polls and
 had nearly $5 million in the bank at the start of this month." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f5b91cbeb44545cc805d1923b6a87f753607d7613da84b360

SUNSHINE STATE DEBATE - The unusual Florida Senate debate on Monday night between GOP Rep. David Jolly and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson was fairly cordial. "Much of the roughly 75-minute debate was focused on issues like voting rights, whether or not to ban private prisons and included a question that asked the candidates specifically if 'climate change is the greatest threat to our nation,'" POLITICO Florida's Matt Dixon reports. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f4b33a36a64624e34464ca7e8fb4de84a023a6d4eb6f14947

HOOSIER POLLS - Young 43, Stutzman 31 in new Senate poll: Rep. Todd Young has a healthy lead over Rep. Marlin Stutzman in Indiana's Republican Senate primary, earning 43 percent of the vote to Stutzman's 31 percent in a new poll conducted for WTHR and Howey Politics. Young, a former Marine and an establishment favorite, is leading among virtually every demographic and geographic group in the survey. But Stutzman closes the margin with more conservative voters and with less-committed primary voters. "We have a situation where Stutzman can bring it close if turnout increases," Republican pollster Gene Ulm, whose firm Public Opinion Strategies conducted the poll, told Howey Politics. Public
 Opinion Strategies conducted the survey of 500 likely voters from April 18 to April 21. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

- Banks leads new IN-03 poll: Jim Banks is leading his Republican rivals Kip Tom and Liz Brown ahead of the primary for the open seat in Indiana's 3rd District, according to a new poll from the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics. Banks, a state senator who's been endorsed by the Club for Growth, had 29 percent support among likely primary voters. Tom had 23 percent support, and Brown had 22 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. Full results: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90fc41314fd251505c702ad5d2837336cd5e2e2f88c71b0d138

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump rejects new adviser's push to make him 'presidential,'" by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel and Eli Stokols: "Donald Trump is bristling at efforts to implement a more conventional presidential campaign strategy, and has expressed misgivings about the political guru behind them, Paul Manafort, for overstepping his bounds, multiple sources close to the campaign tell POLITICO. Trump became upset late last week when he learned from media reports that Manafort privately told Republican leaders that the billionaire reality TV star was 'projecting an image' for voters and would begin toning down his rhetoric, according to the sources. They said that Trump also expressed
 concern about Manafort bringing several former lobbying colleagues into the campaign, as first reported by POLITICO. Now Trump is taking steps to return some authority to Manafort's chief internal rival, campaign manager Corey Lewandowski." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f8b2b9036511276b5df4ce2ee5833a2fe86c0b386cd24f560

- "How the Northeast will be won," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard: With Donald Trump leading in every state, "Ted Cruz and John Kasich are simply hoping to peel off a handful of congressional districts to make it harder for Trump to cobble together enough delegates to win the GOP nomination." One place they might pull it off: the wealthy enclave of Greenwich, Conn. "If Kasich or Cruz can steal one of the state's five congressional districts, it will likely be the affluent 4th District - where the Republican vote is anchored by wealthy and educated residents of Greenwich, Stamford and Bridgeport. In 2012, Mitt Romney ran about 10 points better in the 4th District than he did statewide." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f178d27765d8a90435aee93294bbfeeccafedecc8f5d6aa5b

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Me? No, I'm not desperate - are you? Are you desperate?" - John Kasich, who rejected the suggestion that his "alliance" with Ted Cruz was rooted in desperation and turned the question around on the reporter who asked it. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=713a0979c1f2d90f9970894795474fecd424a7c53b6672d648b9854257e33ca2

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