Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Bennet adds $300K to campaign - Primary day: What to watch in Kan., Mich., Mo. - GOP regains generic ballot lead - Goldman swears off campaign ads - Whitman nears $100 million mark - McCain targets Ken Buck
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 05:44:22 -0400 (EDT)

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

COUNTDOWN TO COLORADO -- BENNET'S SEA WALL: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet has loaned his campaign a substantial sum of money ahead of next week's Democratic primary, injecting $300,000 into his reelection bid as former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's insurgent challenge looks like an increasingly grave threat. Bennet's loan cleared last Friday, a strategist confirmed to Morning Score, even before a Denver Post-sponsored poll showed Romanoff edging ahead of Bennet. “We have used our resources thus far to put our campaign in the best position possible to win in August and November. We've done that,” the Bennet adviser told Score. “Andrew has spent nearly every penny he has raised on deceitful attack ads that distort Michael's record and mislead all Coloradans. We will not stand by while Speaker Romanoff attempts to distort Michael's record of saving jobs.” http://bit.ly/bQss7K

Bennet has held a strong financial advantage over Romanoff throughout their primary battle, and on July 21 he had $1.8 million in the bank to Romanoff's $167,000, according to pre-primary reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. But it's not clear how much of Bennet's cash is general election-only money at this point, and Romanoff added $325,000 to his coffers last week by selling his house and plowing the money into his campaign.

As Heath Shuler sweats, Bill McCollum attacks and Roy Barnes reconnects with the folks, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections.

PRIMARY DAY -- VIEWER'S GUIDE: It's zero hour for primary candidates in Kansas, Michigan and Missouri. Here are the top races to watch as returns come in tonight:

(1) The Kansas GOP Senate primary, where Rep. Jerry Moran appears to have the upper hand in his duel with Sarah Palin-endorsed Rep. Todd Tiahrt, and either would be overwhelmingly favored to take outgoing Sen. Sam Brownback's seat in November; (2) The Republican primary in Kansas's 4th Congressional District, where Republican National Committeeman Mike Pompeo and oil executive Wink Hartmann are fighting to succeed Tiahrt. State Rep. Raj Goyle is expected to be the Democratic nominee; (3) Michigan's gubernatorial primaries, which are hotly contested contests on both sides between Republican state Attorney General Mike Cox, Rep. Pete Hoekstra and former Gateway CEO Rick Snyder on the one hand, and Democratic state House Speaker Andy Dillon and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero on the other; (4) Michigan Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick's Democratic primary, where she faces a serious rival for the 3rd District seat in state Sen. Hansen Clarke; (5) The GOP primary in Michigan's 7th Congressional District, where veteran Brian Rooney and former Rep. Tim Walberg are fighting to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer; (6) The succession battle for outgoing Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt's seat, where the conservative group Americans for Job Security has swooped in at the last minute in an attempt to halt auctioneer Billy Long's momentum in the Republican primary.

POLL WATCH -- SAME AS IT EVER WAS: Republicans have reclaimed a lead in Gallup's generic House ballot, edging back ahead of Democrats by a five-point margin after trailing by six percentage points in the middle of last month. Lydia Saad analyzes the shift: “Republicans have returned to a favorable position on Gallup's generic congressional ballot measure of party strength following two weeks when Democrats enjoyed unusually high support relative to where they stood for most of this year. To the extent congressional passage of financial regulatory reform on July 15 was the impetus for the Democrats' subsequent gains, the effect has faded.” http://bit.ly/aagor9

2010 TALKER -- GOLDMAN KEEPS IT HOLSTERED: Goldman Sachs is pledging to abstain from campaign advertising this year, even as the Citizens United decision gives the banking colossus and other companies greatly expanded freedom to spend in elections. The New York Times reports: “The investment bank quietly revised its statement on political activities on its Web site last week, adding a sentence addressing the powers that were granted under the Supreme Court decision in January … 'Goldman Sachs also does not spend corporate funds directly on electioneering communications,' the firm said in its statement. Those communications are generally interpreted to mean advertisements on radio and television broadcasts in the run-up to an election. The decision came after weeks of talks with the New York City public advocate, Bill de Blasio, who has lobbied for greater transparency from companies seeking to sway the outcome of elections.” http://nyti.ms/aUzRMb

FIGHT NIGHT IN FLORIDA: Republican state Attorney General Bill McCollum was on the attack during his first debate Monday with gubernatorial primary opponent Rick Scott, the Miami Herald's Beth Reinhard reports. Trailing in the polls with three weeks to go before the election, McCollum hammered the former health care executive for his company's massive fraud settlement with the federal government -- and Scott's subsequent golden parachute when he left the post of CEO. “Rick, let's get serious. You said you took responsibility, but the only thing you took was $300 million,” McCollum said. “You took it from seniors, you took it from veterans, you took it from the sick.” Scott brushed off the attack, retorting that “this is what a career politician does.” The next debate comes Thursday night in Tampa. http://bit.ly/dctphp

100 MILLION CRACKS IN THE GLASS CEILING: Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's campaign spending keeps climbing, and the Republican has now dished out just under $100 million in her bid to be governor of California. She's spent $99.7 million, including $91 million out of her own pocket. Faced with Whitman's effectively unlimited financial resources, Democratic state Attorney General Jerry Brown has banked $23 million for the general election campaign. http://bit.ly/doKex5 and http://bit.ly/cKBCeg

MCCAIN VS. BUCK: Arizona Sen. John McCain sent an e-mail appeal for former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton's Senate campaign Monday, asking supporters to help Norton raise another $200,000 for the last week of her campaign and taking aim at her Republican opponent. “Jane's primary opponent was a career government lawyer until he was reprimanded by the U.S. Attorney for misconduct in a criminal case,” McCain wrote, jabbing at Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck. “He is closing in on Jane, but with your support Jane will win the primary.” Buck's campaign retorted that “McCain and his lobbyist friends in Washington D.C.” were “greasing the power brokers” for Norton.

SHULER VULNERABLE? North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler may be the latest Democrat to go on the watch list, as an automated SurveyUSA poll shows the second-term lawmaker in a virtual tie with his GOP challenger. Shuler leads Republican Jeff Miller by one point, 45 percent to 44 percent. An ominous sign for the incumbent: his unfavorable rating among independents is 38 percent, compared to eight percent for Miller. http://bit.ly/d41fD4

SCORE'S TAKE: This is the latest of several SurveyUSA polls showing uglier than expected numbers for incumbent Democrats -- earlier polls from the auto-dial firm placed New Mexico Rep. Martin Heinrich six points back in his reelection fight and Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello back 23. That's a notable trend, but House polling is difficult and in a post-Research 2000 environment all but the most ironclad of polling reputations and methodologies (see Gallup numbers above) should be taken with a massive grain of salt.

ROY BARNES'S KIND OF PEOPLE: Georgia's once and possibly future Democratic governor completely avoided President Barack Obama during the president's visit to Atlanta Monday, instead meeting with sheriffs about an hour away in Forsyth. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jim Galloway quotes Barnes explaining there: “I'd rather be with these folks, if you want to know the truth. I'm not running for governor of Washington D.C. I'm running for governor of Georgia.” http://bit.ly/bgz22w

BOEHNER DOES PENNSYLVANIA: The man who would be speaker has five fundraisers planned during a two-day swing through Pennsylvania next week, pa2010.com reports. House Minority Leader John Boehner will headline events on Aug. 12 for Rep. Jim Gerlach and former health care executive Tim Burns, the GOP's once and future nominee in the 12th Congressional District. Then, on Aug. 13, Boehner stumps for former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan in the 7th District, former Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick in the 8th and incumbent Rep. Charlie Dent in the 15th. The Pennsylvania-based blitz is part of Boehner's recess tour of competitive House districts. http://bit.ly/broiNV

ZINGER OF THE DAY -- “Andy's opponent in this race is a host body for the same old insiders and powerbrokers in Lansing that have held our state back for years.” -- Dan Mahoney, a spokesman for Andy Dillon, in a message attacking Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero in X-Files-like terms.

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

-- Quinn cools his budget director. Illinois's Democratic governor is attempting to refocus his message on taxes and spending after his budget director, David Vaught, predicted the state would pass a “substantial” tax increase in January. Quinn tried to distance himself from that remark Monday, telling reporters that Vaught “shouldn't philosophize about taxes.” http://bit.ly/957q5a

-- Rezko rears his head again. Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias's family-owned Broadway Bank gave a $22.75 million loan in 2006 to a company partially owned by Tony Rezko, who was later convicted of fraud. The loan came even as one of Rezko's companies was already behind on repaying Broadway -- a fact that will allow Republican nominee Mark Kirk to criticize Giannoulias over failed bank's lending practices, even though Giannoulias had already stopped working there to run for state treasurer. http://bit.ly/aXAVI6

-- Rove helps out Perry. Texas Gov. Rick Perry's reelection campaign is planning to raffle off prizes to supporters that help him recruit new voters and spread his campaign message ahead of early voting. One of the awards: lunch with Karl Rove, the former presidential adviser who helped get George W. Bush elected governor in 1994. Few former Bush advisers rallied to Perry during his primary fight with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison earlier this year. http://bit.ly/c1eDHd

-- Caprio's cash advantage. Rhode Island state Treasurer Frank Caprio, now facing a clear shot at the Democratic nomination for governor, also has a wide fundraising edge over his general election opponents. He raised more than $317,000 in the second quarter and ended June with $1.4 million in the bank, compared with $139,000 raised and $420,000 on hand for former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, his nearest rival. http://bit.ly/9uH1Hs

-- Hannemann ahead. Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann has opened up a sizable fundraising advantage over former Rep. Neil Abercrombie in the Democratic primary for governor of Hawaii. Hannemann raised more than $822,305 between January in June and has $2 million in reserve, having only formally declared his campaign last month, while Abercrombie raised $711,655 over the same interval but spent more freely and has $470,0000 in the bank. http://bit.ly/91mPpk

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

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