Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: PPAF and CAPAF brand House GOP 'extreme' - Dems bet on N.C. - Kimball defends top aide - Dem committees in deeper debt - Bibi meeting Barbour - Roger Stone: Expel Rivera
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 05:47:08 -0500 (EST)

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

FIRST IN SCORE - PPAF PREDICTS 'BACKLASH' - The Center for American Progress Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Action Fund will argue at a briefing this morning that Republicans are "pushing an extreme ideological agenda" on social issues that's likely to alienate female swing voters at the start of the 2012 cycle. In a memo that will be shared with reporters, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund takes aim at several specific bills - backed by GOP Reps. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Mike Pence of Indiana and Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania - that aim to restrict federal funding for abortion services and groups that provide them, including Planned Parenthood. From the memo: "House leadership is already risking a political backlash ... [T]hey have introduced a number of anti-women's health bills that will alienate a key voting demographic, independent women voters.... they risk being out of step with the American public by pushing an extreme ideological agenda that takes away women's health benefits and rights, instead of focusing on jobs and the economy." 

MORE - THE EVIDENCE - The memo marshals a poll from Hart Research to back up this argument: "71 percent of voters disagree with cutting federal funding for preventive health services at Planned Parenthood health centers around the country ... 74 percent of voters disagree with a key tenet of the Smith bill, making women who choose to purchase private health insurance with their own money pay higher taxes if that insurance includes abortion coverage." This case will be made in full at the CAPAF-PPAF briefing by leaders from both groups, including Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards, Center for American Progress Action Fund chairman John Podesta, EMILY's List president Stephanie Schriock and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner pollster and senior vice president Anna Greenberg. Read the full PPAF memo here: http://politi.co/gv07kc  

As Michael Steele does "The Daily Show," Tim Kaine shrugs his shoulders and Buddy Caldwell pulls the rip cord, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign. 

THE 2012 SCORE - DEMS PICK CHARLOTTE - The Observer exults and explains what it means: "Charlotte finally grabbed the brass ring today, beating out three rivals for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. ... The DNC picked Charlotte over Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis. ... The convention will bring President Obama to a city and county that helped him become the first Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years to carry North Carolina and drive a wedge into an often solid-red South. His 100,000-vote margin in Mecklenburg County helped him carry North Carolina by a scant 14,000 votes out of 4.3 million. [Mayor Anthony] Foxx has said he expects the city would have to raise about $45 million to meet DNC requirements. Some of the money would go toward what he has described as 'a fairly major upfit' of Time Warner Cable Arena." http://bit.ly/eZ0eSK  

FLOTUS EXPLAINS THE CHOICE - In an e-mail to supporters: "Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an 'up by the bootstraps' mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South. Vibrant, diverse, and full of opportunity, the Queen City is home to innovative, hardworking folks with big hearts and open minds. And of course, great barbecue." DNC Chairman Tim Kaine told MNSBC the selection sends a message about the electoral landscape: "It's important to always play on an expanding map, not a map shrinking back." Kaine is headed to Charlotte today to tour the convention site with Mayor Foxx. http://politi.co/hCDN8D  

MCCASKILL EXHALES? It's not every day that a senator takes to the web to argue that their reelection campaign has been weakened. But that's kinda what Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill did yesterday, when she took issue on Twitter with reports that she had urged Democrats not to pick St. Louis for their convention. Wrote McCaskill: "Of course I wanted DNC for St Louis.It would have brought $,organization, and face it,not getting it sure isn't gonna stop political attacks." The tweet came a few hours after the New York Times reported that McCaskill had told the White House "her re-election could be complicated if the convention was held in St. Louis, because the Democratic gathering will almost certainly attract protesters and compete for fund-raising." http://bit.ly/dXtsO f and http://nyti.ms/hZZMhB  

FEC WRAP - THE COMMITTEES' BALANCE SHEET: All six federal campaign committees still have significant amounts of debt to retire. For some, the amount is much more significant than others. With all the end-of-year FEC reports now available, here's how the political committees rank in terms of red ink, from most to least: (1) RNC - $23 million; (2) DCCC - $19 million; (3) DNC - $15.9 million; (4) NRCC - $10.5 million; (5) DSCC - $8.8 million; (6) NRSC - $6.5 million ... ADDING IT UP: All told, that means Democratic committees are $43.7 million in the red, versus $40 million for the GOP ... 

MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD: DNC Chairman Kaine became the latest senior Democrat to express perplexity about Ambassador Jon Huntsman's 2012 plans, telling MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell he has "no idea" what the former Utah governor is up to. "I mean, obviously the decision to make a run for president is a very personal one, and I don't have any window into what Ambassador Huntsman might think about it," Kaine said, calling Huntsman's ambassadorship "job enough for anyone." Kaine added: "If he wants to do something different - well, it's going to be a crowded field on the other side."EARLY-STATE SIREN - NOT A FAN: The new executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party has voiced disapproval of Tim Pawlenty in the past, Roll Call reports, and questioned the former Minnesota governor's conservative credentials as recently as last week. From the paper: "Roll Call chatted with [Will] Wrobleski last week at a reception for the Merrimack County Republican Committee featuring Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in Concord, N.H., before his new position had been finalized. At that time, it was clear that Wrobleski, the former campaign manager for unsuccessful Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne, had little interest in Pawlenty. 'He's a nice guy. But there's a number of guys I'd vote for. He's not one of them,' Wrobleski said of Pawlenty. 'I don't think he's conservative enough.'" State GOP Chairman Jack Kimball released a statement defending Wrobleski, who worked for Mitt Romney in 2008, and also praising Pawlenty's record: "[A]t the time he made these remarks, Will did not work for the Republican Party, did not speak for me, and did not speak for the New Hampshire Republican Party. I have gotten to know Governor Pawlenty over the past year and know he has an excellent record of strong, conservative leadership in Minnesota." http://bit.ly/dMpSng  and http://bit.ly/hkYXcm  

POPPING ON 2012 LIVE - MYSTERY POLL OF THE DAY - Somebody wants to know whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry's a viable presidential candidate, but they don't want anyone to know who's asking. Robo-polls run by a firm called "Political Research" have been testing Perry's 2012 prospects, POLITICO's Kasie Hunt reports: "'Who would you vote for, Texas Gov. Rick Perry or Barack Obama?' the call asked ... Also on the list of questions: 'Do you consider yourself to be a supporter of the tea party movement?' ... The caller ID, according to several separate complaints online: AIC2011DATA or 'America in Crisis.'" Also tested were Huckabee and South Dakota Sen. John Thune. More on this story and the rest of the 2012 field at the must-read, must-bookmark, must-constantly refresh POLITICO 2012 Live page: http://www.politico.com/2012-election  

LEGIT POLL OF THE DAY: South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint would be the frontrunner in his home state's presidential primary if he decided to enter the 2012 race, according to Public Policy Polling. Tom Jensen: "DeMint is certainly well liked with the Republican base in his home state, sporting a 77/12 approval breakdown. But they're closely divided on whether he should go for the White House or not, with 40% of GOP voters expressing support for such a move but 37% opposed ... 24% of voters say DeMint would be their top choice, followed by 20% for Huckabee, 17% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Sarah Palin, 10% for Newt Gingrich." With DeMint out of the poll, those numbers shift to Huckabee with 26 percent, Romney with 20, Palin with 18 and Gingrich with 13. http://bit.ly/dRS9Uc  

LAST NIGHT - Mitt Romney appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" last night to read off the "Top 10 Things You Don't Know About Mitt Romney." Among them: "I'm the guy in the photo that comes with your picture frame ... I have absolutely no idea where my birth certificate is ... Oprah is my half-sister." See the whole list here: http://bit.ly/e7QB6u  

AND - MUST-SEE TV: The Michael Steele Recovery Tour came to Comedy Central last night, as the former RNC chairman defended his record - and faced off against a puppet version of himself - on "The Daily Show." The RNC's debt, Steele said, "will get paid off, there's no doubt about that. Certainly the new chairman wasted no time during his tenure working with me, asking for money to help him in his state. So maybe he should give back some of that money and help pay down that debt. Watch the full interview: http://bit.ly/g5tESG  

LONG WAY FROM YAZOO: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will follow in the footsteps of two other Republican presidential prospects when he visits Israel next week, traveling there with the Republican Jewish Coalition on Feb. 5. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "He will be the third potential Republican 2012 presidential candidate to visit Israel in recent weeks. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney visited Jan 13-14; ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is currently touring the country. Barbour, like Romney and Huckabee, is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli government officials." http://bit.ly/ediYtN  

CALDWELL DEFECTS: Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is the latest Southern Democrat planning a switch to the GOP, the Times-Picayune reports. "His departure will leave U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu as the lone Democratic statewide elected official. As recently as 2004, Democrats held both Louisiana's U.S. Senate seats, as well as six of the seven statewide constitutional offices. First elected in 2007, Caldwell was the only Democrat to join a federal suit challenging the constitutionality of the new federal health-care law." A Democratic official confirmed the switch to Score, calling it "imminent" and explaining: "His reasons are entirely based on political opportunity and how he looks at the field and his chances for reelection." http://bit.ly/fx3Xhi   

RIVERA WATCH - STONE UNLOADS: Republican strategist-cum-dark arts master Roger Stone has declared that Florida Rep. David Rivera "must resign because his multiple illegal actions undermine the Speaker's pledge to run an honest and transparent House." If Rivera doesn't resign, Stone says, the House should expel him. And that's before even before Stone really gets going. He continues, writing on the Florida blog The Shark Tank: "Rivera is the smartest man in the world. Ask him. He'll tell you. ... Rivera has left himself few defenders. Other than his close family and friends, few can stomach the arrogant and cocky freshman Congressman. Even among Cuban-American Republicans he is widely disliked. ... Dave Rivera should resign and focus on his legal defenses. If he fails to resign, a competitive Republican Primary is a certainty." http://bit.ly/gvr40U  

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I probably would avoid the term 'dictator.'" - Mitt Romney to CNN's Piers Morgan, on embattled Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak http://bit.ly/fgZoWX  

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