Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Pawlenty goes up on Iowa TV - His message: 'If I can do it in Minnesota ...' - Club for Growth warns on Huntsman - Romney rolls up Mich. support - Crossroads targets McCaskill - DCCC leans on Dems to pay dues
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:24:58 -0600

By Alexander Burns (
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] ) and James Hohmann (
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] )

BREAKING FROM TPAW - REFORMER WITH RESULTS - Tim Pawlenty is taking the next major step today in his run for president, going on the air in Iowa with a wave of cable ads touting his record as governor of Minnesota. Pawlenty's commercials define the choice facing Republican primary voters this way: "A lot of candidates will come to Iowa and say the same things. The question is, have they done it?" Pawlenty's spot answers the question by casting him as a solid conservative governor who "reduced spending in real terms" and "took on the government unions and won." While the ad doesn't directly hit any of his opponents - Democrat or Republican - it says Pawlenty "passed health care reform the
 right way - no mandates, no takeovers." The decision to go on Iowa TV is a big move for Pawlenty, who could get a boost of momentum nationally if his numbers begin to move in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. Watch the ad here:
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THE FULL SCRIPT: "A lot of candidates will come to Iowa and say the same things. The question is, have they done it? In a liberal state, I reduced spending in real terms for the first time, took on the government unions and won, appointed a conservative supreme court and passed health care reform the right way - no mandates, no takeover. If I can do it in Minnesota, we can do it in Washington. I'm Tim Pawlenty, and I approved this message."
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EXCLUSIVE - CLUB FOR GROWTH CALLS HUNTSMAN'S SPENDING RECORD 'INEXCUSABLE' -The Club for Growth will release a 12-page white paper later this morning that sharply criticizes Jon Huntsman for his record on spending while governor of Utah. The brand-name anti-tax, pro-market group argues that Huntsman expanded the size of government well beyond Utah's population growth during the boom years of the 2000s. And the Club charges the newly declared presidential candidate with evading caps on spending and using budget surpluses to fund new programs, instead of tax refunds. The positive side: The Club gives Huntsman credit for pushing free trade agreements and having only "minor blemishes" on his
 tax policy record. The negative: The white paper points to Huntsman's apostasy on cap-and-trade, stimulus spending and bailouts to suggest he's too eager to please the political "intelligentsia" and the elite press. The Club has already reviewed the fiscal records of Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney.

MORE - THE WHITE PAPER'S CONCLUSION: "In the end, it is Governor Huntsman's spending record that is inexcusable. There is now widespread recognition that the next President must address the enormous threat posed by federal spending that threatens national bankruptcy. Huntsman's failing grades on controlling state spending raise serious questions about whether he would be equal to that task. We believe that pro-growth conservatives looking for a kindred spirit in Governor Huntsman will probably find common ground on trade and taxes, but they will most likely be disappointed overall if he is elected President." The full text will post mid-morning - here:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef325e9127de0e3b5372fad4d973bc91c34e847b6e1d02e9d22c3f26a33a0d84 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef325e9127de0e3b5372fad4d973bc91c34e847b6e1d02e9d22c3f26a33a0d84 .

POPPING IN MICHIGAN - FAVORITE SON - Mitt Romney will unveil a long list of endorsements today in the state where he grew up, rolling out support from five Michigan state senators, 13 state representatives and state Attorney General Bill Schuette. The Republican legislators backing Romney include a few especially notable names, among them House Speaker Pro Tem John Walsh and Assistant Majority Floor Leader Lisa Posthumus-Lyons. Romney has been unveiling strong local endorsement lists in a series of states over the last week and Schuette is the third state attorney general to endorse his campaign. From Schuette's statement: "America needs a new President and Michigan, more than any other
 state, needs jobs, jobs, jobs. Mitt Romney is a bold leader with solid conservative credentials who can get our state and our country back on the right track." ROMNEY: "Michigan needs jobs, and President Obama's policies have failed to deliver them. These officials will help me during my campaign to promote job creation and improve the Michigan economy."

As Michele Bachmann eyes Waterloo, Newt Gingrich waves off "campaign gossip" and Janice Hahn makes a stop in D.C., here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

THE HUNTSMAN ROLLOUT - WHAT JUST HAPPENED? On his first day as an announced presidential candidate, Jon Huntsman said he wouldn't attack President Barack Obama, endorsed a rapid drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, refused to sign an anti-abortion pledge and vowed not to interfere with any New York state law legalizing gay marriage. How's that for an unconventional GOP candidate?

POLITICO's Jonathan Martin explains the unlikely political wager Huntsman's making: "Huntsman ... is betting that GOP voters will ultimately want to defeat Obama more than just club him upside the head ... 'What's going to unite Republican voters in South Carolina is: Who do they think can win in November, who can beat Obama,' said Richard Quinn, Huntsman's Palmetto State strategist ... Huntsman's challenge, however, is that he lacks some of the qualities that made the apostasies of [George W.] Bush and [John] McCain tolerable among Republican primary voters ... Huntsman is a Mormon who talks of his faith as his 'heritage,' is virtually unknown to most Republican activists and lacks the
 military credentials that could ameliorate his deviations from party orthodoxy. Oh, and he just got through working in the Obama administration."
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WHEN RUSH LIMBAUGH ATTACKS - The conservative mega-talker opens fire on Huntsman: "The Republican Party is still convinced that in order to secure the support of independents, that they have to be boring. They have to be serious and Milquetoast ... Now, of course, that's flat-out BS, it's totally wrong. The elections of last November demonstrate that in a real world, real life example."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef325e9127de0e3b5ee2be1babcbf7aff88e86e2c98c6f5c67cf5e8ed01f4284 
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THIS MORNING - THE MEDIA BLITZ CONTINUES: Huntsman will appear on all six cable and network morning shows, starting with NBC's "Today" show in the 7 o'clock hour. From there, he'll hit up MSNBC's "Morning Joe," then "Fox and Friends," the CBS "Early Show" and CNN's "American Morning." He has already taped his appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America."

GOP SCHISM ON AFGHANISTAN - PAWLENTY VS. HUNTSMAN - On the eve of President Obama's 8 p.m. address to the nation on Afghanistan, two credible Republican presidential candidates staked out very different, irreconcilable positions on the war. On the one hand there's Huntsman, who told ABC News that he "definitely" wants to "get American troops out faster." Pawlenty, on the other hand, cautioned that Republicans shouldn't go wobbly on the 10-year conflict. "I don't like the drift of the Republican Party toward what appears to be a retreat or a move towards isolationism," he told POLITICO. In some ways, this divide reflects the different political needs of the two candidates: Huntsman is
 counting on independent voters who have soured on the war, while Pawlenty needs staunch conservatives, including the Weekly Standard wing of the GOP. But with little disagreement among the Republican candidates about how to get the economy growing, the war looks increasingly like it could emerge as a major flash point in the GOP nomination fight. Here's Jon Karl's interview with Huntsman:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef325e9127de0e3b642c792ad3d621967d2058ac4fc7b90ba3fee960ca0bce52 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef325e9127de0e3b642c792ad3d621967d2058ac4fc7b90ba3fee960ca0bce52 ; and your Morning Score correspondent's story on Pawlenty:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef325e9127de0e3bda369e97503a8bf436e4bcc6578db05e5382e03f9ea1fde2 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef325e9127de0e3bda369e97503a8bf436e4bcc6578db05e5382e03f9ea1fde2 .

MEANWHILE, BACK HOME - PAWLENTY'S AMES EXPECTATIONS: The former Minnesota governor told POLITICO during an hour-long interview Tuesday afternoon that he needs to be "one of the top few finishers" at the Ames straw poll in August, acknowledging: "We need to do and want to do very well there." But Pawlenty downplayed expectations that his TV ads would affect the outcome in Ames, calling the event an "organizational exercise" and saying the TV spots are part of a "longer-term perspective ... aimed toward getting more broadly known in Iowa."
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THE TRIALS OF NEWT GINGRICH - CONTINUED - The former House speaker's drama-plagued presidential bid was hit with another pair of damaging stories Tuesday, as Newt Gingrich's top finance officials resigned and the Washington Post reported on yet another line of credit from luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. From the Fix: "Gingrich had a second line of credit at the high-end jewelry store Tiffany and Co. for as much as $1 million dollars ... This revelation comes roughly a month after personal financial disclosure forms for Gingrich's wife, Callista, showed that the family had carried a line of credit ranging between $250,000 and $500,000 at Tiffany's." And the AP: "Newt Gingrich's top two
 fundraising advisers resigned on Tuesday, and officials said the Republican candidate's hobbling presidential campaign carried more than $1 million in debt ... Gingrich refused to discuss the latest defections Tuesday night, dismissing them as 'campaign gossip.'"
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BACHMANN LAUNCHING MONDAY - EVERYBODY ACT SURPRISED: The Minnesota congresswoman hasn't lived in Iowa since 1968, but Michele Bachmann will return to her native town of Waterloo next Monday to officially announce her candidacy for president of the United States. Bachmann already said she was running during the New Hampshire debate last week, but the announcement will generate new fanfare and emphasize the importance of the Hawkeye State to Bachmann's campaign. There are few details so far on what the kickoff will look like, the Waterloo Courier notes: "No location has been released on where she will make the announcement yet."
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THE 2012 DEBATES - MITT PICKS SIX - The GOP frontrunner has decided to participate in a half dozen candidate debates between now and the end of October, skipping a Nevada forum next month and committing to later events in every early primary state. The list, via Jmart: (1) NBC/POLITICO debate at the Reagan Library; (2) CNN/Tea Party Express debate in Tampa; (3) Bloomberg/Washington Post debate in New Hampshire; (4) CNN/Western Republican Leadership Conference debate in Las Vegas; (5) Fox News/Iowa Republican Party debate; (6) Fox News/Republican Party of Florida debate. Plus: "A Romney aide said that they also expect to participate in debates held in South Carolina and Michigan after
 October."
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SENATE SCOOP - "Exclusive: Crossroads strikes McCaskill" - POLITICO's David Catanese: "Heavyweight conservative super PAC American Crossroads is infiltrating Missouri, targeting Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill with $50,000 in radio ads beginning Wednesday, according to the plan shared exclusively with POLITICO. The spots, which will run in major markets, are an early warning shot to signal that the Show-Me State's first-term incumbent will be a top priority of the powerful 527 in 2012. The ad simulates a newscast between two 'anchors' detailing how McCaskill has been using a 'body double' to cast her votes in Washington -- an image designed to portray her as a politician whose sharp
 rhetoric fails to match her actual record."
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THE HOUSE CAMPAIGN - CREDIT WHERE DUES - Democratic leaders are putting the screws to rank-and-file members of Congress to pay up their DCCC dues after the NRCC outraised the House Democrats' campaign arm for the third consecutive month, POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reports. Isenstadt takes us inside a meeting led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and DCCC Chairman Steve Israel: "Party higher-ups, in a private dinner Tuesday evening with nearly 80 members present, scolded lawmakers for a perceived lack of giving to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Members who don't pony up were warned they could be cut off."
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THE CALIFORNIA SPECIAL - HAHN IN D.C. - Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn will get a fundraising boost in Washington today from two home-state members of Congress. California Reps. Karen Bass and Jackie Speier are holding an event to help Hahn in her special election campaign for the open 36th District House seat. Bass and Speier have a special interest in Hahn's race that's not just geographic: They're co-chairs of the DCCC's Women's LEAD program, which is aimed at electing more women to the Democratic caucus.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "In that race, if I had a choice, I would favor Huntsman over Romney ... But I don't have a choice in that race." - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, picking a favorite among his fellow Mormons who are running for president.
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