Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: PRIMARY RESULTS in Kentucky, Idaho, Oregon — WBUR poll: Hassan 48, Ayotte 46 — Stivers favored to to take over NRCC in 2018
From: Morning Score <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 08:03:14 -0600

By Elena Schneider | 05/18/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Theodoric Meyer, Kevin Robillard and Scott Bland

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)

PRIMARY NIGHT - "Clinton claims Kentucky victory, Sanders wins Oregon," by POLITICO's Nick Gass: "Hillary Clinton claimed victory over Bernie Sanders on Tuesday night in Kentucky, with fewer than two thousand votes separating the two Democratic primary contenders, while Sanders won Oregon less than an hour after the polls closed. Even so, Clinton used it as an opportunity to call for unity. ...The lack of a big win in Kentucky - combined with the defeat in Oregon - is a major irritant for Clinton, who has already launched the early stages of an all-out assault on Donald Trump, despite not being able to shake a dogged Sanders. Sanders made note of his narrow defeat in Kentucky at the outset
 of a speech before supporters in Carson, Calif. ...While Clinton has a strong lead in the delegate race, Sanders is showing no signs of backing down or laying off the attacks that Trump has already said will be a playbook for his own battle against Clinton." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772224fc27b14d89b4deab1d961662bfacdd84fc774bc36704a 

- Gray wins Democratic nod to take on Paul in Kentucky: "Self-funding Democrat Jim Gray won his Senate primary in Kentucky Tuesday, earning the right to face GOP Sen. Rand Paul in the general election. Gray, the mayor of Lexington, had 61 percent of the Democratic primary vote against a handful of little-known challengers when the Associated Press called the race with 22 percent of precincts reporting." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c07726f4ce475987501f4c011c7099493e974e47995e627b07ea3

- Comer wins GOP primary to replace Whitfield in KY-01: "James Comer won the GOP primary to replace retiring Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield in Kentucky's 1st District. Comer had 69 percent of the vote to 16 percent for Mike Pape, a longtime staffer for Whitfield, when the Associated Press called the race with 23 percent of precincts reporting." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c077233c48899e6b573598274a1d26dcce905e56a132d20be01bf

- Incumbents won renomination across the map; indicted Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) remains the only member of Congress to lose a primary so far this year. In Oregon, Democratic Gov. Kate Brown will face Republican Bud Pierce.

See full results from Tuesday night here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c077237085fcc968c4779e7395fc34d2ba33b5d1478bc5ffb5f26

NEW THIS MORNING - "WBUR poll: Hassan 48, Ayotte 46," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: Yet another poll from New Hampshire shows Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan and GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte locked in a tight Senate race. Hassan took 48 percent of the vote to Ayotte's 46 percent in a new poll from WBUR, which was conducted by MassINC. ... Hillary Clinton took 42 percent to 40 percent for Donald Trump in the close presidential section of the poll. Both were viewed unfavorably by 58 percent of likely voters." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772027911f9f7059452a9fd1f5823408539dfbfdcbfb52fd891

Days until the Georgia primary: 6. Days until the 2016 election: 173.

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MOVING, SHAKING - "Stivers favored to take over at the NRCC," by POLITICO's Jake Sherman and Rachel Bade: "The race to become the next chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee is in full swing months earlier than usual, with candidates already maneuvering internally to lock up votes ahead of the fall election. Texas Rep. Roger Williams and Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers are the two announced contenders for the top slot at the campaign committee, but GOP insiders give Stivers - who has been in NRCC leadership for the past several years - the leg up."

- "Stivers is especially close to [current NRCC chair Greg] Walden, serving as one of his top deputies for the last two election cycles. His pitch - which he has privately been delivering to lawmakers for several weeks - is threefold. He wants the NRCC to help all dues-paying House Republicans in tough primaries - something the campaign committee currently does not do now. It is an attractive plan, but would cost money, and require a change in the organization's rules. He wants to pair each House Republican up with a large-scale GOP donor to help each lawmaker raise more national money - a national finance committee, of sorts. And he wants to create a member services infrastructure at the
 NRCC to help members utilize the committee's resources." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772028fae22af8694c8c0dabbb3735e5210edcd76678abff883

CORRECTIONS - Yesterday's Morning Score misstated the New Hampshire Union Leader's disclosure history regarding editorial page editor Grant Bosse's connection to Sen. Kelly Ayotte. While past columns and unsigned editorials did not note that his wife works for Ayotte, recent columns directly authored by Bosse do contain the disclosure. We regret the error.

- Yesterday's Morning Score said Ron Johnson's ad was a television buy. It was strictly a digital purchase. 

NEW SENATE SUPER PAC - Louisiana Democrat Foster Campbell gets outside help: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c077277b85f1fde23cf89fe3fde09d0872c1e0c62d0c66d67085f

ROBOPOLLING RECAP - McCain 42, Kirkpatrick 36 in new PPP poll: GOP Sen. John McCain is leading Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in the Arizona Senate race, with 42 percent of registered voters support to Kirkpatrick's 36 percent. It's the first poll in a while to show McCain ahead of Kirkpatrick - three previous polls have showed the race statistically tied. But that's where the good news ends for McCain. A majority of voters disapprove of McCain's job performance, including 50 percent of Republican primary voters. And only 39 percent of Republicans said they'd vote for him in the primary; 26 percent picked his strongest primary challenger, former state Sen. Kelli Ward, instead. The poll had
 a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points for the full sample, and plus or minus 4.7 percentage points for Republicans surveyed. Full results: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772b27465d6e1c1e02fc76c9b8f6384c46583386c46ecfe97f5

- Kirkpatrick, meanwhile, is out with a cutting new digital ad against McCain, which compares him to Donald Trump. The ad juxtaposes clips from TV ad that McCain ran during his previous reelection campaign in which he urged the federal government to "complete the danged fence" with clips of Trump calling Mexican immigrants "rapists" and vowing to "build a great, great wall" along the border. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772a196244ebe71ef8b85a3920953c71f5de615a5bf36a2f1d0

MARKELL FLOATS RAIMONDO, PATRICK FOR VEEP OR CABINET - Outgoing Delaware Gov. and former DGA chair Jack Markell floated Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick as potential VP picks for likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. "If somebody were to ask, I'd say they're people who Hillary ought to consider to be her running mate," Markell said in a sit-down with POLITICO reporters and editors. 

- On Patrick: "On the stump, he's incredible. What he did at the convention four years ago, I thought he was amazing. He's one of the guys when governors get together, when he spoke up, he was one of the people I thought we needed to listen to. ... He's got an amazing personal story, growing up in Illinois and getting a chance to go to Milton Academy in Massachusetts and making the most of it. ... He's a very special talent."

- On Raimondo: "She's not been around as long. She's smart. I think she's tough." When a reporter noted Raimondo was considered "the ultimate centrist," Markell responded: "You're talking to someone for whom that's not a bad thing. ... I think she is as focused as anybody on creating high-quality jobs." 

DEBATE NIGHT IN DENVER - Five Republicans mostly agree with each other: In the Colorado Republican Senate primary debate - a race which has been plagued by ballot access problems and lacks a clear frontrunner - candidates largely agreed with each other. "All the candidates voiced opposition to the 2013 immigration deal that included a pathway to citizenship. Most said they support allowing marijuana businesses to bank. All opposed a federal minimum wage. And most of them criticized Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner's support for the $1.1 trillion spending bill in December," The Denver Post reported. Former state Rep. Jon Keyser, again, distanced himself from a signature controversy,
 including a new discovery from the state's Secretary of State that his office "knew about the irregularities" but "did not immediately refer the matter to investigators," The Post reported. "I didn't know what was going on with the signatures and the circulator and all that stuff," Keyser said. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772e6bd9ea30261ecc341283dd54a5d810354b46612653439a3 

UP ON THE AIRWAVES - House Majority PAC adds another $5.2 million in fall TV: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772934984b26ae2df914bc905bb4df4480a330e78b3fe227b9b

- In ... D.C. ... The NRSC is spending $50,000 on Washington, D.C. cable, specifically MSNBC, CNN and Fox News, to air its ad, "Toxic," which links Democratic Senate candidates to Hillary Clinton. There are no top-tier Senate races in the D.C. media market. 

CAMPAIGN TECH - i360 launches new TV ad planning product: The Koch-connected political data firm i360 launched a new product Tuesday: Rabbit Ears, a service that uses voter and set-top box data to plan TV schedules optimized to reach target voter groups. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772fbc9cf8561817299774ddecd7113187cb427da97d50a02cf

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump, RNC enter joint fundraising pact," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt and Kenneth P. Vogel: "Donald Trump, transitioning to the general election, has entered into a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee that would allow donors to contribute nearly $450,000 each. The agreement, which was finalized Tuesday evening, enables Trump to directly raise money for the RNC and for nearly a dozen state parties. It designates two fundraising committees, the Trump Victory and the Trump Make America Great Again Committee." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772d4ad4cadb5fda5e59a1e7437acc51c5a75b3f8505e951963 

- "Sanders sticks it to the Democratic Party," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "In the wake of a chaotic state convention that resulted in death threats for party officials and vandalism to party headquarters, the Democratic establishment asked Bernie Sanders for his help Tuesday in getting some of his overzealous supporters to stand down. His response: Stick it. As fallout from Saturday's Nevada Democratic convention expanded across Democratic circles, the Vermont senator's defiance appeared to confirm some of party's worst fears: The rifts caused by the presidential primary may be deeper than anyone knew." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772ec97e6e8b9f2a73c78b89acd3dc32fb039b5492237c14a40 

- "More Sanders staffers exit campaign," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "A handful of high-level staffers have left Bernie Sanders' campaign in recent weeks, including his director of technology and three of the four members of his original senior leadership team in California - a state his team has said is critical to his bid for the Democratic nomination. The moves come at a time of contraction for the campaign ... Zach Schneider, among the campaign's lead tech staffers, voluntarily left on Friday after six months when the in-house text messaging program he had been working on was cut, he told POLITICO." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772039ac0b3a46d9a8d59a0d6294e58c52f18e0f674d4f0623b 

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him." - Donald Trump on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Reuters reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bfcc81df933c0772fe3e7aa3c95a4dd21145bc08c55f692571f601cb8a522277

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