Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: McCollum poll shows six-point gap - Primary day in Oklahoma - NRSC deploys Brian Jones - Tancredo runs, Romanoff sells house for bid - Stripper scandal hits Mich. primary - Minnick calls for Rangel resignation
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:01:56 -0400 (EDT)

By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, [email-masked])

SCORE EXCLUSIVE -- MCCOLLUM'S CHANCE: Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is six points back from former health care executive Rick Scott in the state's Republican primary for governor, according to an internal poll conducted by McCollum consultants McLaughlin & Associates. Scott is currently taking 37 percent of the vote to McCollum's 31 percent, with a full 32 percent of voters still undecided. The brutal campaign has driven up both candidates' negative ratings: McCollum's numbers stand at 36 percent favorable and 39 percent unfavorable, while Scott's at 38 percent favorable and 32 percent unfavorable. Among undecided voters, Scott's numbers are uglier: he has a net 23 percent negative rating to McCollum's net 11 percent negative.

Pollster John McLaughlin notes in a memo to the campaign that the poll, taken July 22, represents a shift toward Scott since July 1, when his survey showed the race tied at 35 percent. That's a result of Scott's vastly more extensive television advertising, McLaughlin writes, arguing: “In the final four weeks Bill McCollum's campaign, and their supporters, will return to the airwaves, rebut Scott's attacks and give Republicans a reason to nominate Bill McCollum and win in November.” An automated Public Policy Polling survey released last week showed a less optimistic picture of the race for McCollum, giving Scott a 14-point lead. Read McLaughlin's full memo here. http://politi.co/cPeGNz

As Kendrick Meek goes after Jeff Greene, Martin Heinrich trails and the NRSC blocks off time in California, your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections.

PRIMARY DAY -- OKLAHOMA VOTES -- It's primary day in Oklahoma, where the governor's race and two intra-party House fights are on the ballot. Here's what to watch as the returns come in: (1) The Democratic primary for governor between Attorney General Drew Edmondson and Lt. Gov. Jari Askins. Edmondson led The Oklahoman's most recent poll, but either Democrat would start the general election at a disadvantage to GOP Rep. and likely nominee Mary Fallin; (2) Democratic Rep. Dan Boren's performance against a health care-themed primary challenge from state Sen. Jim Wilson, the latest insurgent from the left to struggle against a barrage of incumbent spending; (3) The GOP primary for Fallin's seat, featuring a packed field of candidates that includes former state Rep. Kevin Calvey, state Reps. Shane Jett and Mike Thompson and camp director James Lankford. Oklahoma has runoff voting for races where no candidate takes a majority of the vote.

MISSION TO RENO -- POLITICO's Jonathan Martin reports: “With the GOP's hopes for reclaiming the Senate seeming to hinge increasingly on their success in the west, the NRSC is bringing in a veteran press operative to help Republican Senate candidates in three key races against longtime Democratic incumbents. Brian Jones, a former RNC communications director, is going to advise Sharron Angle in Nevada, Carly Fiorina in California and the GOP nominee in Washington state. The NRSC's move to bring in Jones comes as Republicans are starting to go public with worries that Angle and her campaign team are out of their depth running against Harry Reid. Jones is currently the managing partner at Mercury Public Affairs's Sacramento office -- not far from Angle's Reno headquarters.”

SPOILER ALERT -- COLORADO FIASCO: Former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo is following through on his threat to run for governor of Colorado as a third-party candidate, launching a bid on the American Constitution Party line that is all but certain to draw votes away from the eventual GOP nominee. His announcement followed an unheeded call for Republican hopefuls Scott McInnis and Dan Maes to pull out of the race and allow the GOP to pick a new candidate. State Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams tore into Tancredo's decision, the Denver Post reports, charging that the congressman “has nobody's interest in mind other than his own ... But what do you expect from a guy who reneged on his term-limit pledge and has been running for office for five decades.” http://bit.ly/a4Sc7j

ALSO IN COLORADO -- NO GOING BACK: Democratic Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff, low on cash in his primary challenge to Sen. Michael Bennet, sold his home and loaned $325,000 to his campaign. He had less than half a million dollars in the bank at the end of June, versus $2.6 million for Bennet. http://bit.ly/97DpRQ

RANGEL WATCH: Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick became the latest Democrat to call for former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel's resignation, saying “now that the investigation is complete, and provided the facts are as alleged, I think it's clear that he should resign from Congress.” Minnick follows Ohio Rep. Betty Sutton, who was the first Democrat to try and push Rangel out the door last Friday. http://bit.ly/bxnMq8

MEEK RETURNS FIRE: The Florida Democrat is up with his first ad in the race for Senate, going on offense against billionaire primary opponent Jeff Greene. The commercial -- featuring gaudy, Vegas-style stage lights and graphics highlighting Greene's career -- says Greene “ran for Congress as a California Republican ... became a billionaire on Wall Street betting middle-class families would lose their homes, helped fuel the economic meltdown.” The Orlando Sentinel also reports that White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will host a fundraiser for Meek's campaign next week. http://bit.ly/bxTbti and http://bit.ly/9NP1qU

TODAY -- FULL DISCLOSURE? The Senate is prepared to vote today on the DISCLOSE Act, reregulating campaign advertising for the post-Citizens United landscape. It's a vote Democrats intend to use as a bludgeon against the GOP, and President Obama struck an early blow yesterday by charging from the White House that “Republican leadership in the Senate is once again using every tactic and every maneuver they can to prevent the DISCLOSE Act from even coming up for an up or down vote.” He continued, with a litany that's going to become very familiar: “Just like they did with unemployment insurance for Americans who'd lost their jobs in this recession. Just like they're doing by blocking tax credits and lending assistance for small business owners. On issue after issue, we are trying to move America forward, and they keep on trying to take us back.”

BOMBSHELL IN MICHIGAN: Republican state Attorney General Mike Cox's campaign for governor was rocked Monday evening by a report purporting to confirm that the candidate attended a raucous party at the Detroit mayor's mansion during the Kwame Kilpatrick administration. Cox has previously been accused of covering up the event -- he called it an “urban legend” -- but with just days to go before the GOP's Aug. 3 nominating vote an unidentified witness has signed an affidavit claiming that Cox was at the Manoogian Mansion for a party with Kilpatrick. The money quote: “I saw Mike Cox getting a lap dance from one of the female exotic dancers while he was present at the party.” Cox called the accusation “absolutely ridiculous.” http://bit.ly/9nobK8

POLL OF THE DAY -- HEINRICH MANEUVER: New Mexico Democrat Martin Heinrich is trailing GOP challenger Jon Barela in his first campaign for reelection, a new SurveyUSA poll shows. Barela took 51 percent of the vote in the automated poll, with 45 percent breaking for Heinrich. Alarming for Democrats: Heinrich isn't even New Mexico's most endangered congressman, with Rep. Harry Teague an even riper target for the GOP. http://bit.ly/9F83Dp

HOUSE RACE MUST-READ: The Congressional Black Caucus has donated $5,000 to Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen, POLITICO's Jessica Taylor reports, even as the white lawmaker fights a primary challenge from Willie Herenton, the African-American former mayor of Memphis. Though Herenton has made race a theme of his bid, saying Tennessee needs a black members of Congress, CBC PAC Chairman Gregory Meeks explained in a letter: “The CBC PAC's mission is to increase the number of African-Americans in the U.S. Congress (and) to support non-black candidates who champion CBC interests.” http://politi.co/cVdEb8

RESERVED: The NRSC has purchased $1.75 million worth of air time in California to advertise in the final week of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's campaign against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. The AP reports: “The Republicans plan to target the Los Angeles market and the money would buy enough air time for viewers to see an ad - at least in part - 10 times.” http://bit.ly/cV8xv9

ACROSS THE BIG MAP -- with POLITICO's Tim Alberta:

-- Fisher loses another. Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher's Senate bid is down another staffer, as spokesman John Collins departs for Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway's campaign. Collins's departure follows the earlier loss of two campaign managers for Fisher this cycle. http://bit.ly/c5Y37H

-- McMahon unites the clans. Connecticut House GOP Leader Larry Cafero, once a strong supporter of former Rep. Rob Simmons's Senate campaign, endorsed Linda McMahon for the GOP nomination. “I am not casting my vote against Rob Simmons, I'm voting for Linda McMahon, as I believe she is the Republican Party's best hope for victory,” Cafero said, even as Simmons begins to spend money again on his once-dormant bid. Also worth watching in Connecticut: tonight's the night that McMahon's primary challenger, economist Peter Schiff, said that Simmons would debate him, in another sign that the former congressman isn't quite done campaigning. http://bit.ly/9ezKAL and http://bit.ly/93F9Ym

-- Cops go with Clark. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association endorsed DFL state Sen. Tarryl Clark's campaign against Republican Rep. Michele Bachman, predicting the state legislator would be “dedicated to working with and advocating for Minnesota's law enforcement officers in Congress, just as she has in the state Senate.” http://bit.ly/ckwxr1

-- Life after Tony Hayward. Louisiana Rep. Charlie Melancon, the Democratic Senate candidate who took center stage during the BP oil disaster by calling for CEO Tony Hayward's ouster, is continuing to hammer the departing executive even now that he's on his way out. Melancon's keying off frustration with Hayward's severance package by launching “a new petition opposing this handout and demanding that the money go to Gulf Coast recovery instead.”

-- Emmer's behind everyone. Minnesota state Rep. Tom Emmer has raised just $785,000 so far in 2010 -- lagging well behind DFL-endorsed candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who has hauled in $981,000, and her self-funding Democratic primary opponents Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza. Emmer does not have a contested primary and can save his cash for the general election. http://bit.ly/ar2gMq

Go to Morning Score Now >> http://www.politico.com/morningscore

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