Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: AJS 'Robbed' ad hits four Dems - DSCC twists knife in Rossi - Fiorina lobs 'arrogance' at Boxer - Jeff Perry's a Young Gun - Murkowski wins a round - Angle busts out the air quotes
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:48:19 -0400 (EDT)

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

HOUSE RACE SIREN - INTRUDER ALERT! The pro-business group Americans for Job Security will begin airing explosive new television commercials today and tomorrow in four House districts where it's placed month-long television buys. In ads targeting Ohio Rep. Zack Space, Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire and open-seat Democratic candidates Bryan Lentz in Pennsylvania and Trent Van Haaften in Indiana, AJS shows a masked burglar breaking through a glass window and asks: "What would it feel like if somebody broke into your home, or stole your credit card or ripped off your car? Would you be upset? Then what about what's happening in Washington?" The script continues with a district-specific pitch, along the lines of: "Trent Van Haaften wants to join Nancy Pelosi ... With Pelosi's agenda, it can feel like you're getting robbed." AJS is one of the top outside groups that's poured resources into the House campaign to put more Democratic seats at risk, with several of these districts prime examples of the approach. See the Van Haaften spot here http://bit.ly/basV28; the Lentz spot here http://bit.ly/8XOxHY; the Altmire spot here http://bit.ly/c7VNqY; and the Space ad here http://bit.ly/aRukD4  

SENATE RACE PREVIEW - DINO'S WELCOME WAGON: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, sensing that the Washington Senate race has begun to break in Sen. Patty Murray's favor, plans to use Republican challenger Dino Rossi's visit to D.C. today as an opportunity to go for the public-relations kill. In a memo due out this morning, DSCC communications director Eric Schultz notes, for your information: "As Dino Rossi fundraises in Washington, DC today, we observe that he is experiencing the same resistance from the Washington state electorate that he did in his two failed Gubernatorial runs." 

MORE - THE LOCAL ANGLE: The memo hits on several "serious missteps" from Rossi, branding him a "surprisingly unprepared candidate" and highlighting the Republican's recent comments defending the Boeing competitor Airbus against WTO censure. "This is a well-known and understood issue among average residents in Washington state," Schultz writes, "and there are virtually no elected officials who have not taken some action on behalf of leveling the playing field for Boeing workers." Rossi is scheduled to attend fundraisers today with Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, according to event information obtained by Morning Score. Read the full memo here. http://politi.co/bsN0Pu  

As Al Gore goes south, Dan Lungren sweats and Barbara Mikulski gets a vice presidential boost, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections. 

SCORE EXCLUSIVE - PERRY'S PROMOTION: Massachusetts state Rep. Jeff Perry, the Republican nominee in retiring Democratic Rep. Bill Delahunt's district, will join the top tier of the NRCC's "Young Guns" program today as Republicans continue searching for opportunities to expand the electoral map. Perry's running on challenging turf - the 10th District includes Cape Cod and the islands - and faces a strong Democratic opponent in Norfolk County DA William Keating. But Sen. Scott Brown won about three-fifths of the vote there in the January special election and Perry scored a strong win in last week's primary that Republicans view as a sign of momentum. 

HAPPENING NOW - FIORINA'S A-BOMB - California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina is on the air against Sen. Barbara Boxer with a stark, spare commercial that targets the Democrat with one charged word: "Arrogance." The ad, produced by the GOP firm Strategic Perception, opens with a clip from the infamous Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, where Boxer told a general: "You know, do me a favor, could you say 'senator' instead of ma'am? ... I worked so hard to get that title." Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, appears on screen with her face lit against a dark blue background. "Twenty-eight years in Washington and Barbara Boxer works hard for a title?" she asks. "I'll really go to work, to end the arrogance in Washington." The spot cuts to an image of Boxer in the Senate, showing the picture without narration for a long five seconds, over the caption: "So wrong. Too long." Watch the ad here. http://bit.ly/de7QJq  

BOXER'S COMEBACK - Via a statement from campaign manager Rose Kapolczynski: "We're happy to compare Barbara Boxer's record of delivering for Californians with Carly Fiorina's record of layoffs and shipping jobs overseas. Californians are fed up with the arrogance of CEOs who take multi-million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes while the middle class suffers." 

A PLEDGE - AND A TARGET: House Republicans will gather at a hardware store in Sterling, Va., today to formally unveil the party's "Pledge to America" - the GOP's list of principles for governing, in the event that it takes back Congress. A representative clip from the document: "We pledge to advance policies that promote greater liberty, wider opportunity, a robust defense, and national economic prosperity. We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values." The early reviews are split, with National Review calling the Pledge "bolder" than the Contract with America and RedState panning it. Read the Pledge here http://politi.co/bUJ8qZ  and some early reviews: http://politi.co/c1o14X  

POPPING IN NEVADA - "Angle slams mandated coverage for autism treatment in new video from Democrats' tracker" - From Anjeanette Damon of the Las Vegas Sun: "In a video of [GOP Senate candidate Sharron] Angle at a 2009 tea party rally released by the party's tracker, Angle appears to mock a recently passed Nevada mandate for insurance carriers to cover treatment for autism. ...' [H]ere you know what I'm talking about. You're paying for things you don't even need. They just passed the latest one, is everything that they want to throw at us now is covered under "autism",' she said, using exaggerated air quotes to deliver the word 'autism.'" 

DEMS LOVE IT - A source close to the Reid campaign e-mails: "This is Angle's chickens for checkups moment." http://bit.ly/ame3ui  THE ALASKA SURVIVOR: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski lost her party's nomination, but she's keeping her ranking member status on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. POLITICO's Manu Raju has the story: Murkowski is still the top Republican on a committee vital to her state's interests, giving her a chance to argue she retains some clout as she campaigns against Republican nominee Joe Miller in Alaska. 'We just voted to keep the status quo,' said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). 'We all decided that it's a better thing to do.' ...If she wins, Murkowski told MSNBC Wednesday, she would caucus with the Republican Party. 'I am a Republican,' Murkowski said." http://politi.co/9hbmyq  

HOUSE RACE SNAPSHOT: Democratic physician Manan Trivedi is up with a confrontational new ad in his campaign against Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Gerlach, framing the Republican's attacks as criticism of Trivedi's time in the military. "Congressman Jim Gerlach attacked me for being away from Berks County for a few years. But one of the things I was doing was wearing this uniform as a battalion surgeon in Iraq," Trivedi says to the camera, telling Gerlach: "I'll proudly compare my last eight years to yours, any day." Several men in veterans' gear appear in turn, hitting back at Gerlach for his voting record. "You went to Washington and voted to keep tax breaks for those who outsource our jobs," one says, followed by another: "You voted to bail out banks on Wall Street." Watch the ad here. http://bit.ly/btWgDX  

POLLS OF THE DAY - TIME AFTER TIME - Democrats are trailing in three out of four battleground Senate contests tested in a new Opinion Research poll for Time magazine and CNN: Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold is six points down to Republican Ron Johnson, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet is five points down to Republican Ken Buck, and in Pennsylvania former GOP Rep. Pat Toomey holds a five-point lead over Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak. The lone exception for Republicans? "Delaware, where ... Democrat Chris Coons leads O'Donnell 55 to 39 percent. ... The TIME/CNN survey found that had Castle and not O'Donnell been nominated by the Republicans, voters today would choose Castle over Coons by a 55 to 37 percent margin." http://bit.ly/9qysBM   

AND - ONE TO WATCH: California Rep. Dan Lungren looks like he has a real race on his hands, as PPP shows him below 50 percent and just eight points up against Democratic challenger Ami Bera. Bera, a physician who has consistently outraised Lungren, takes 38 percent of the vote to Lungren's 46 percent. And that's in a district where Carly Fiorina has a 14-point lead in the Senate race. http://bit.ly/avXueK  

HE'S BA-ACK: Former Vice President Al Gore will stump for Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek on Sept. 30, adding his political muscle to a campaign that has already leaned heavily on former President Bill Clinton's support. Gore will appear at a rally for Meek, but his backing is also important for more symbolic reasons: It gives him a major environmentalist seal of approval as he campaigns against independent Gov. Charlie Crist, whose green credentials are superb. http://bit.ly/bpJjZY 
ANOTHER KENNEDY SEAT: The Connecticut Senate race has taken on a presidential flavor, as Democrats object to Republican Linda McMahon's use of an old John F. Kennedy clip in a campaign video. McMahon used a clip of JFK talking up tax reduction in a video that argues for extending the Bush tax cuts - drawing a fierce response from Connecticut's most prominent Kennedy family member in the process. "Please stop misleading voters," Edward M. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a letter to McMahon. "By refusing to extend tax cuts to middle class families until the wealthiest Americans get tax cuts, you endorse the policies of President George W. Bush, not the legacy of President Kennedy." But McMahon's camp is doubling down on the presidentially-themed attacks, releasing another video today that uses President Obama's rhetoric on energy to criticize Democratic candidate Richard Blumenthal. http://bit.ly/cGyPTI  and http://bit.ly/d83MO8  

WHAT'S HE UP TO? Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is keeping up an impressive schedule of campaign trips and visited Arkansas yesterday to boost underdog GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Keet. The Washington Post's Anita Kumar notes that just this week, McDonnell has also campaigned for John Kasich in Ohio and Roy Blunt in Missouri. More: "In the months leading to the midterm elections, McDonnell has raised money for New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez, Tom Corbett, the Pennsylvania attorney general who is running for governor, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, among others." http://bit.ly/aXnXHb  

LONG WAY FROM MARYLAND AVE. - Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters he plans to make several campaign trips for Democrats who "want folks voting on their education record," with Sen. Michael Bennet, Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias and Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello among them. Bloomberg reports: "He said campaigning set for next month won't politicize education. Duncan, the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, has sought bipartisan support for his education overhaul." http://bit.ly/ddZ3Wx  

TODAY - BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY - From the White House guidance: "In the morning, at 8:30 AM, the Vice President will attend an event for Senator Barbara Mikulski in Chevy Case, Maryland. 

CHICAGO WATCH - DART'S IN: Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart will enter the race for mayor of Chicago, presenting a potentially formidable obstacle to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's mayoral ambitions. The AP reports that Dart, "who made national headlines when he sued Craigslist, halted court-ordered evictions and headed a probe into the alleged resale of a historic cemetery's burial plots ... is in the process of putting together a campaign staff and has started circulating petitions to get the 12,500 signatures that candidates need by late November to get their names on the ballot in the February primary." More: "'He's all the way in,' said one person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to talk publicly about Dart's plans. 'He's decided to run.'" http://bit.ly/9TY2E4  

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We found that 70 percent of Republican men said that they had received or forwarded the same. And that 55 percent of the general electorate males had done the same thing. ... [W]hen it was released that these things happened, one of the first things we did was put Cathy out there to say, you know, what she felt about it. And what she felt was, 'How stupid are you, Carl?" - Michael Caputo, New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino's campaign manager, explaining how the Republican handled reports on his risqu&eacute; and racially inflammatory e-mails. Paladino was within six points of Democratic state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a Quinnipiac University poll this week. http://bit.ly/cPwy2q  

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

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