Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: West Virginia, Nebraska primaries today — North Carolina Republicans fear HB2 blowback — Dold poll: No Trump downdraft in IL-10
From: Morning Score <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 08:01:52 -0600

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

With Kevin Robillard, Theodoric Meyer and Maggie Severns

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)

ON TAP TODAY - "Money still matters: West Virginia governor's edition," by POLITICO's Kevin Robillard: "Money still talks in 2016. And if the polls are correct, West Virginia's Democratic governor's primary is set to show it yet again. The Tuesday primary pits billionaire Jim Justice against former U.S. Attorney Boothe Goodwin and state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler. While both Goodwin and Kessler have deep ties to the state's political establishment, it's Justice - a big-spending coal, timber and tourism magnate - who has consistently led in polling." The impact and efficacy of "big money ... has taken a beating on the national stage - thanks in large part to $100-million flameout of
 Jeb Bush's Right to Rise super PAC at the hands of low-spending Donald Trump. But results down-ballot have still shown most political contests following a simple formula: Whoever spends more wins." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e7069377b528cceaee2ca838b901120dd69d02a487fa77346266

- Other primaries in West Virginia ... Five Democrats are jockeying to take on Republican Rep. Alex Mooney in West Virginia's 2nd District, which he won by 3 percent in 2014. "The best-known three are former state Delegate Mark Hunt, lawyer and radio talk show host Harvey Peyton, and lawyer and veteran Cory Simpson," West Virginia Public Radio reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=179e1df767072d4d1d58ef052d485a7898af746b91d1b86cbb0dad0638e89d4a 

- And more in Nebraska ... Where GOP Chip Maxwell and Don Bacon face off for the chance to take on Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford in NE-02, a prime pick-up opportunity for Republicans. The DCCC inserted itself into the primary with a $430,000 television ad buy, painting Maxwell in a "conservative, outsider light compared to [Bacon], a better-funded GOP candidate backed by a number of Republican House members," Campaign Pro reported last month. And since the GOP presidential race is largely settled, it adds "another layer of uncertainty to down-ticket Nebraska races, where candidates had been bracing for a strong showing of conservative voters," the Associated Press reported. Bacon's campaign
 spokesman admitted that "no one knows what it will mean." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=179e1df767072d4dfae6c19007387d57e27cf518ba86f41aacdd260925ae3bf3 

HURTING IN NORTH CAROLINA - "North Carolina Republicans brace for 'bathroom law' blowback," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider in Raleigh, N.C.: "Republicans in North Carolina are increasingly worried that the state's new 'bathroom law' blocking protections for the LGBT community will cost the GOP dearly in November's elections. They say the reason is simple: The party that took over North Carolina as champions of small government is now seen by moderate voters as the party of the bathroom police. Republican lawmakers and strategists in the state say the GOP is badly losing the public relations battle over the new law banning local non-discrimination ordinances, 'HB2,' which Gov. Pat McCrory
 signed in March. That trend only worsened Monday, when U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called the law "state-sponsored discrimination" and compared it to Jim Crow-era laws while announcing new legal action." 

- Key quote: "The reality is that HB2 hurts. It doesn't matter that I'm opposed to it or that I've called for its repeal ... because the mailer to voters [in my race] is going to say that I was a part of the Republican majority that passed the most discriminatory bill in the state," said state Rep. Charles Jeter, the GOP lawmaker responsible for maintaining his party's majority in the state legislature. "HB2 is going to have reverberations for our party no matter what we do, in November and probably beyond that." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=179e1df767072d4d6d5f5c033c4eb2444b8914e900b4c25359077976d6366606 

Days until the Oregon, Kentucky and Idaho primaries: 7. Days until the 2016 election: 182. 

Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [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 Oreos: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

POLL POSITION - "Dold leads Schneider in IL-10 in internal poll," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer: GOP Rep. Bob Dold of Illinois leads his Democratic challenger, former Rep. Brad Schneider, 48 percent to 41 percent in new internal poll obtained by POLITICO - even though Hillary Clinton holds a 52 percent to 36 percent lead over Trump. So far, Trump's unpopularity has not started to affect down-ballot races. More here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e7060c959a4d0baef40ca7dd46a8fe316e6f7ca6266e9488a370

TAKE TWO - Freedom Partners alters pulled Feingold ad: Freedom Partners Action Fund has revised an ad three Wisconsin television stations pulled off the air after complaints from Democrat Russ Feingold's campaign. The change? Instead of saying Feingold "received" the letters, it notes the letters were "marked delivered." The Feingold campaign, which has already fired back with an ad blaming the problems on his opponent and successor, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, was predictably unimpressed. "Sen. Johnson and his allies knew this ad was false and based on a lie when it began airing," Feingold spokesman Michael Tyler said. "That's why three TV stations pulled the plug on it. Johnson's allies are now
 trying to weasel their way back onto the airwaves with more deception - citing a document that says absolutely nothing about the tragic overprescription of opioids at the Tomah VA." Watch the new version of ad here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=179e1df767072d4dcc86970eca0a8bc16a03d7b8bc7f8506f99edae1b95d5d99

TO WATCH TONIGHT: MISSOURI GOP GOVERNOR DEBATE - The four major GOP gubernatorial candidates in Missouri (Eric Greitens, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, Catherine Hathaway and John Brunner) will debate tonight at Missouri State University from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time. A livestream will be available here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=179e1df767072d4d3ad5b0270d553e6c783efc9c9d8a59c92f0bcca558dde166

- MISSOURI RISING HITS KOSTER - Missouri Rising, America Rising's Show Me State-centric cousin, is paying for a Facebook and Twitter ad during the debate hitting Democratic nominee Chris Koster. The buy is small and geo-targeted to the university's campus. The boxing-themed spot aims to contrast Koster's rhetoric and positions: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=179e1df767072d4d24fb7bb995090873b46d186ae3600b31f6603cdcb904712f

TO THE AIR - Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) releases first ad: Randy Forbes touts a plan to build more ships and beef up the military in his first television ad, released Monday. Forbes, who chairs a House Armed Forces Committee panel, is banking on his potential to help the defense industry in Virginia's recently redrawn 2nd District to win election there. "Our military is being dismantled. I'm going to change that," Forbes says in the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e706c3c3734404c4e17b6bb49f7a4036844fcf4e9eef9c4802d7 

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump hammering out party fundraising agreement," by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel, Eli Stokols and Alex Isenstadt: "Donald Trump's campaign is hashing out the details of an agreement with Republican Party leaders that could allow the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to raise six-figure checks for his presidential campaign, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations tell POLITICO. The fundraising agreement was among the subjects discussed at a Monday meeting at the Republican National Committee's Washington offices between top RNC officials, including Chairman Reince Priebus and senior Trump aides, including campaign manager Corey Lewandowski,
 senior adviser Paul Manafort and political director Rick Wiley, according to the sources." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e706235ffa2a059af2fbd7e22e75bc4b54cbdcf5f97151197d5d 

- "Trump faces icy GOP reception in Congress," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim: "Donald Trump is coming to Washington to schmooze and try to mend fences with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the rest of the GOP. ... But even as he's scored an audience with top leaders, Trump on Monday was still having problems ginning up clear endorsements, or even statements of support, from his fellow Republicans. On Monday, several senators offered muddled accounts on whether they will support Trump, with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) telling a local news station that she'll vote for Trump but won't be making an endorsement and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) conceding
 it's possible he doesn't end up supporting him for president." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=179e1df767072d4d21ffb0d67592938b37ab656b48905cdbddd09144adb7d1ee 

- "How West Virginia will be won," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard: "Hillary Clinton dominated West Virginia in her race eight years ago with Barack Obama, but she enters Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary as an underdog because many of her 2008 voters appear poised to support Bernie Sanders. West Virginia's Democratic electorate sets up well for Sanders: Eight years ago, when Clinton won more than two-thirds of the primary vote, more than 95 percent of voters were white; exit polls show Clinton and Sanders neck-and-neck among white voters nationally. And Sanders has especially excelled among less-educated whites - he won them, 65 percent to 35 percent, last week in Indiana." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e7068ecd23a8263671410f434d480220717da7494fa26b942a26 

- New Quinnipiac polls of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania show Trump and Clinton locked in a tight race, via POLITICO's Nick Gass: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e706c73e3dcf12d7f991e242297c5da4087e5ffc15940eeac0ab

- And if you're keeping tabs on Trump's veepstakes, the latest from: Sen. Joni Ernst http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e70669a868ca9989210e00e8dc615c51914719df7d1b4872bca1 and Sen. Marco Rubio http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e70677e9d98eccd5f87d1a5b0544325e5d5c7bcd36b3b768f93e

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Everything is like Jim Crow. Everything is like racism and segregation and slavery. What a bunch of crap. You know, they want to do that so that they can always gain the sympathy, but thinking people know better." - Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, on Attorney General Loretta Lynch's comments about North Carolina's "bathroom law," POLITICO reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f2915afb171e706b4a0e881b89d2378620636b0375bfdf1850d238bd4ee0fef 

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