Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: DGA brands Martinez with 'scandal' - LCV: Crist an option - Friday standings: Who had a good week? - DLCC names fall targets - Van Hollen preps pushback - Cheney gives security grades
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:43:51 -0400 (EDT)

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

SCORE EXCLUSIVE - MARTINEZ MEETS BLAGO: The Democratic Governors Association is going on the air in New Mexico with an aggressive ad campaign branding Republican Susana Martinez as a career politician tarnished by “another political scandal.” The DGA ad opens with images of Martinez and a bipartisan rogues' gallery that includes Tom DeLay, David Vitter, Eric Massa and Rod Blagojevich - as the narrator blames Martinez for spending “$350,000 dollars of taxpayer money … on special bonuses for insiders.” “Republican politician Susana Martinez was caught,” the ad announces. “Martinez, a local prosecutor, should have used the money to protect our borders. But newspapers caught her giving big bonuses to friends in her office - bonuses nearly three times higher than any other district.”

It's a statewide buy clearly aimed at undermining the Dona Ana County DA's reformist credentials. The Republican is locked in a close race with Democratic Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, whom Martinez has attacked for her involvement in the unpopular Bill Richardson administration. The DGA commercial closes with a line aimed squarely at Martinez's credibility: “Republican politician Susana Martinez - can you believe her?” Watch the ad here. http://bit.ly/bRGV0U

FLORIDA SIREN - LCV'S CHOICE: The League of Conservation Voters is currently weighing its options in the Florida Senate race in an effort to determine whether Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek or independent Gov. Charlie Crist is a better bet for the environmental community in the general election. Tony Massaro, LCV's senior vice president for political affairs, told POLITICO that Crist is “absolutely an option,” explaining: “He's been a leader on Everglades restoration. … I used to say he's the best governor in America on global warming, and I didn't have to qualify it by saying 'for a Republican.'” Meek has a strong environmental record and voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, but Massaro said LCV wants to know “whether there's an actual path to victory or not.”

“If there isn't a path to victory for him, that's part of the calculus in our decision,” Massaro said. “There is a path to victory for Crist. He's close enough right now to the win number. What we're doing is giving Meek a chance to prove not just that there's a theoretical path to victory, but whether there's an actual path to victory or not.”

As David Vitter looks like a winner, Alaskans wait for a call and Charlie Rangel changes his tune, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections.

FRIDAY STANDINGS - ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW? There are just 67 days - a little more than nine weeks - left before Election Day. As primary season hurtles to a close, here's Morning Score's every-Friday take on how key campaigns and groups should answer the question: Are you better off now than you were one week ago?

YES: (1) House Minority Leader John Boehner, who took personal command of the congressional GOP's campaign message by declaring war on the White House economic team; (2) Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, which powered a result in the Alaska Senate race that crippled an emerging establishment-strikes-back narrative; (3) Alaska's minor parties, which could become very relevant, very quickly, if Sen. Lisa Murkowski ends up exploring a bid off the GOP line.

NO: (1) Stingy self-funders, including defeated Florida Senate candidate Jeff Greene and House candidate Craig Miller, who shied away from Rick Scott's blank-check tactics and ended up wasting the money they did put in; (2) Colorado. Sen. Michael Bennet, who hasn't managed to deploy a Harry Reid-style vaporizer against Republican Ken Buck, according to both an Ipsos poll that showed Bennet trailing by nine points and his own campaign's numbers, which put him four points up but stuck at 44 percent; (3) Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, the deficit commission co-chair who's become the left's new punching bag after making crude comments about Social Security - and just about a week after Simpson's son lost a race for governor of Wyoming.

TODAY - TIME TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE: DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen is holding an availability at the National Press Club at 10 a.m. Friday, where a Democratic official says he'll “outline the strong, battle tested foundation House Democrats built to withstand the tough political environment.” More: “Van Hollen's remarks will focus on Republican Leader John Boehner's speech earlier this week outlining House Republicans' destructive agenda and the Tea Party pushing Republican to the extreme right. Van Hollen will also highlight the DCCC's National Day of Action where volunteers will knock more than 200,000 neighbor's doors this Saturday.”

COMING SOON - THE DLCC'S MAP: The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, charged with waging state House and Senate campaigns this fall ahead of the next round of redistricting, is preparing to release a memo to Democratic stakeholders outlining the most urgent targets for the party this fall. “Of the legislatures with the power to draw congressional maps, 23 chambers in 17 states are within five seats of changing hands. These 17 states will draw 198 Congressional Districts,” DLCC executive director Michael Sargeant writes. “The bottom line: The results of the 2010 state legislative elections will define how key reforms and policies are decided for the next decade.” The DLCC's top defensive targets: the Alabama Senate, Colorado Senate, Indiana House, Nevada Senate, New Hampshire Senate, New York Senate, Ohio House, Pennsylvania House and both chambers in Wisconsin. And its picks for offense: the Michigan Senate, Kentucky Senate, Tennessee House and Texas House.

THIS WEEKEND - 76 POINTS: That's the lead Louisiana Sen. David Vitter has over his Republican challenger, former state Supreme Court Judge Chet Traylor, ahead of Saturday's primary elections. Public Policy Polling puts Vitter ahead of Traylor, 81 percent to FIVE percent, and has the incumbent senator 10 points up on general election opponent, Rep. Charlie Melancon, too. http://bit.ly/cCqu5T and http://bit.ly/azzwRo

ALSO WORTH WATCHING: The 2nd District Democratic primary, where state Rep. Cedric Richmond is the leading candidate challenging GOP Rep. Joseph Cao, and the 3rd District GOP primary, where former state House Speaker Hunt Downer and attorney Jeff Landry are competing to run for the seat Melancon's vacating.

FROZEN IN ALASKA - The Anchorage Daily News updates on the state of vote-counting: “The state has received back 11,266 absentee ballots so far out of over 16,000 requested. The ballots had to be postmarked by Tuesday's election but can come in as much as 15 days afterward. There are also 658 early votes not yet counted and 8,972 questioned ballots. … [Joe] Miller said in a Thursday interview that he expects to maintain his lead with the help of military absentee voters. He also said Murkowski shouldn't think about a third-party candidacy or an independent write-in effort if she loses in the primary. 'If Sen. Murkowski is going to keep her word, she's going to get out.'” http://bit.ly/aqaLsl

PLUS - CAMPAIGN CLICK: The DSCC is welcoming Miller to the national scene, popping up a new website that names him one of six members of the “GOP's 2010 Tea Party Set.” Others on the list: Marco Rubio, Sharron Angle, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul and Ken Buck. http://bit.ly/ddPrTy

CHENEY'S REPORT CARD - POLITICO's Jonathan Martin scoops: “Keep America Safe, the hard-line national security group founded in part by Liz Cheney, is creating scorecards that rate members of Congress in an effort to bring accountability on votes relating to defense and foreign policy. While social and fiscal groups such as the Family Research Council and AFL-CIO grade members, there has been no high-profile national security organization doing the same thing. … It will be based on a group of votes - 29 in the Senate and 27 in the House - since 2001. It's no coincidence that the ratings begin the same year of the 9/11 attacks. 'It's very much focused on the war of terror,' Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said in an interview. Republicans by and large came away with high marks, but Cheney emphasized that some Democrats scored well too. 'There were four Democrats in the House who got an “A” and 30 who got a “B,”' she said.” http://politi.co/9CWgM3

SPEAKING OF NATIONAL SECURITY: The Family Research Council's PAC is airing a commercial in the Nevada Senate race swatting Harry Reid with the issue of gays in the military. “Our military has protected our soil, seas and skies,” the ad declares. “But today they're drawn into a new battle: Harry Reid and homosexual activists are attempting to advance their political agenda by overturning 'don't ask, don't tell.'” The kicker: “Our military is for protection, not politics. Stop Harry Reid.” http://bit.ly/alafSQ

MCMAHON'S PAST: The Republican nominee for Senate in Connecticut continues to face uncomfortable questions about her background as a wrestling executive, this time drawing the anger of a dead wrestler's father after saying she “might have met [the late Lance McNaught] once.” McNaught's father Harley responded, in comments that made the front page of The Day: “I've been with him on two different WWE functions where she came up to him and knew him by name. … She disrespected him. … She disrespected my family.” http://bit.ly/cPlnCp

THE BIG 2010 PICTURE - WHAT IT TAKES: Campaign ad spending is well ahead of where it was at this point in the 2006 cycle, the AP reports, suggesting: “The numbers - compiled by Evan Tracey, who tracks political ads as president of CMAG … reflect a need by candidates and their allies to define opponents quickly to an increasingly engaged electorate. Those who don't have paid the price.” More details: “As of Thursday, candidates for state and federal office had spent $395 million on ads for the November elections, compared with $286 million at this point in the 2006 midterms. More than half the ads have been negative. Political parties and outside groups have been more negative, going on the attack in nearly 80 percent of their ads while spending $150 million, $41 million ahead of the 2006 pace.” http://apne.ws/brwuXj

SAVE THE DATE - FIGHT NIGHT? Texas newspapers and the television station KLRU are inviting both Republican Gov. Rick Perry and former Democratic Houston Mayor Bill White to a gubernatorial debate on Oct. 19, the Austin American-Statesman's Jason Embry reports, and they'll hold the event “even if just one candidate shows up. … Perry has said he will not accept debate invitations until White agrees to release his income tax returns from his time as deputy energy secretary in the mid-1990s.” http://bit.ly/dprlZE

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: “Candidates Adler and Runyan show their differences in debate” in the Philadelphia Inquirer or “Candidates Adler, Runyan agree a lot in taped debate,” from the Asbury Park Press? http://bit.ly/aoSvXD and http://bit.ly/aNrc5D

SHOT: “Frankly, he has not been around long enough to determine what my dignity is. … How can somebody (Obama) so much younger tell me how to leave with dignity?” - Charlie Rangel, on Monday. http://bit.ly/cjLwxb

CHASER: “I cannot think of a more exciting president this country's had, certainly since I've been in the Congress.” - Rangel, at a Democratic primary debate last night. http://bit.ly/aIeaci

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

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