Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: DCCC attacks GOP on ethics - Gingrich raises $2M, reveals seven-figure debt - Minn. shutdown hits Day 6 - Iowa Dems target Pawlenty - Union Leader makes it worse for Mitt - Nevada court rules for Republicans
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:40:14 -0600

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

BREAKING IN THE HOUSE CAMPAIGN - DCCC PLAYS ROBO-COP - The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will start a robocall blitz today attacking six Republican lawmakers for alleged ethics breaches. The message is a newly aggressive shift from the Democrats' all-entitlement programs, all-the-time approach this spring, largely hitting members who have battled ethics questions since the 2010 campaign. The robo-targets: Colorado Rep. Scott Tipton, Florida Reps. Vern Buchanan and David Rivera, New Hampshire Reps. Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass and Tennessee Rep. Stephen Fincher. From the Rivera call: "Did you know Congressman David Rivera received over one hundred thousand dollars in secret
 payments from his mother's company? The Miami-Dade Police Department's Public Corruption Bureau and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are investigating." And the Guinta hit: "Did you know that Representative Guinta was under investigation for funding his campaign with hundreds of thousands of dollars from a mysterious bank account that magically appeared right before last year's election? Well, now that bank account has disappeared again."

2012 MONEY WATCH - "Gingrich raises $2M, reveals campaign debt" - First reported by POLITICO: "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will report raising approximately $2 million in the second fundraising quarter of the year and ending the month of June with $225,000 in the bank ... But in a steep obstacle to Gingrich's comeback hopes, his campaign remains about a million dollars in debt ... Gingrich supporters acknowledge that his debt represents a serious financial challenge, though they note that the Republican has paid down about 10 percent of $1.2 million in invoices since June 9, when most of his senior political staff resigned."

MORE - NEWT'S WAKE-UP CALL - "R.C. Hammond, the press secretary for Gingrich's presidential campaign, shed new light on the arc of Gingrich's financial woes, explaining that the presidential candidate only learned of the severity of his debt when a new campaign director reviewed the books ... Gingrich has taken cost-saving steps, such as flying commercial, and has focused on recruiting political professionals willing to volunteer their time to his effort ... 'We've been weathering a storm and the ship is starting to right itself,' Hammond said. 'The infusion of professionals volunteering their time and talent to the campaign is further proof we are weathering the storm and forging on.'"
 More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df53d32a09fd32d408e352b8ad2e381612ecff105b6a94f2168 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df53d32a09fd32d408e352b8ad2e381612ecff105b6a94f2168 

N.H. TALKER - THREE MAKES A TREND - Mitt Romney is solidly in the lead and Michele Bachmann has seized the No. 2 slot in the Granite State, according to the latest WMUR/University of New Hampshire poll. The survey, which confirms the outlook from earlier NH Journal and Suffolk University polls, gives Romney 35 percent of the vote, Bachmann 12 percent and Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani 7 percent each. In fifth place is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has not announced for president but whose 4 percent of the vote still puts him ahead of Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, Jon Huntsman, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Gary Johnson, Rick Santorum and Buddy Roemer. Full results:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df5489e98dd400775695d05197e146b7d9d8d27f739efb86add 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df5489e98dd400775695d05197e146b7d9d8d27f739efb86add 

As Bush vets grumble about Rick Perry, the New York special takes shape and the 2012 Republican frontrunner heads across the pond, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

MINNESOTA BULLETIN - SHUTDOWN, DAY 6 - Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Minnesota's top two Republican legislators met in St. Paul yesterday for a little over an hour, but they're still a long way apart from cutting a deal that would reopen Minnesota state government this week. The group is scheduled to meet again today at 1:30 p.m. CST. The two big hang-ups in the budget talks are related to health care and education funding, and the head of Minnesota's health department will meet with GOP committee chairman this morning. In a potentially significant development, Dayton appeared to soften his call for an upper-income tax increase yesterday, explaining: "It's soundly rejected by Republicans
 ... I cannot single-handedly get it passed."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df59197c5bf2e06d031b07332782dc7b5442d8871d46d678487 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df59197c5bf2e06d031b07332782dc7b5442d8871d46d678487 

THE 2012 ANGLE - PAWLENTY'S WAR AT HOME - The standoff in St. Paul continues to send ripples through Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign, most recently thanks to former Vice President Walter Mondale, who slapped at Pawlenty's fiscal management at a press conference Tuesday. Mondale and former GOP Gov. Arne Carlson - an avowed Pawlenty opponent - held an event to talk up bipartisan solutions to the shutdown. After the presser, Mondale told Hohmann that Pawlenty "basically left the mess that we see ... He shifted these issues into the future so that he wouldn't be around." Pawlenty fired back in a statement noting that Mondale "ran for president against Ronald Reagan on a platform that
 called for higher taxes." Track the back-and-forth here:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df5923724e35a40c66c6c977c6c6760904c473dfdb0f8187c94 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ec2ef549d2d98df5923724e35a40c66c6c977c6c6760904c473dfdb0f8187c94 ; and here:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d70461f5a8f7bafedf0bbc4068c8f4a2ddd7349b3e0822c3c22d 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d70461f5a8f7bafedf0bbc4068c8f4a2ddd7349b3e0822c3c22d 

POPPING IN IOWA - DEMS DING TPAW - The Iowa Democratic Party will target Pawlenty today with a web ad going after his fiscal record in Minnesota and mocking the line in Pawlenty's stump speech promising to duplicate his accomplishments on a national scale. The video features three Minnesotans bemoaning on camera that their property taxes went up because Pawlenty cut aid to rural areas and shifted spending burdens to local government. "I just don't understand why this guy thinks he can run for president," says one man. Watch it here:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d7042a06a2768d469d36a27117eba05e1415f586f4673c0c254a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d7042a06a2768d469d36a27117eba05e1415f586f4673c0c254a 

UNFAZED - HE GOES ALL IN - Pawlenty won a substantive and symbolic Iowa victory on Tuesday, recruiting Sarah Huckabee Sanders - the daughter and former political adviser to Mike Huckabee's 2008 campaign - to aid his Iowa effort. She'll take "the lead for the campaign on the Iowa straw poll effort," according to the Pawlenty camp. Pawlenty is currently running his second TV ad and sending his second and third mail pieces in Iowa.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704ac88d2c2cecf2790c45a2ac0ac4f83827c7216d4d19c11b8 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704ac88d2c2cecf2790c45a2ac0ac4f83827c7216d4d19c11b8 and
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d70457803f7182b541a979e762cca5903355afc94d248adf5800 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d70457803f7182b541a979e762cca5903355afc94d248adf5800 

SPOT THE EMERGING NARRATIVE - PERRY VS. BUSH - The New York Times gives A11 placement this morning to a Rutenberg-Zeleny opus on the relationship between Rick Perry and George W. Bush. Tracing Perry's repeated rebukes to Bush over the years, the Times scribes write: "Mr. Perry's criticism [of Bush] holds potential peril and benefit ... On government spending, immigration and education, Mr. Perry's criticisms of Mr. Bush have given him cachet with conservatives, especially with Tea Party voters who blame the former president for allowing spending and the reach of government to grow rapidly ... But it antagonized Mr. Bush's old team ... One close associate of the former president ... warned
 Mr. Perry against establishing his own conservative bona fides by criticizing Mr. Bush, saying, 'If you're really trying to be the nominee and want to go the distance, you just don't want the former president of the United States and his people working against you.'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704558f9c9d5f23ef409b376213f069bb9271c7f415488779f8 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704558f9c9d5f23ef409b376213f069bb9271c7f415488779f8 

COMING SOON - RAND TO IOWA - Ron Paul's presidential campaign will be getting a little help this month from the candidate's son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. The libertarian political dynast will participate in a 10-city bus tour around Iowa on July 29 and 30, which could help organize Paul supporters ahead of the Ames straw poll. The Des Moines Register: "Sen. Paul will be making stops in: Altoona, Ames, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Mason City, Sioux City, Spencer and Waterloo."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704f121a42d72324b4d1e5db94229b6bae18bf81f8786ed542b 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704f121a42d72324b4d1e5db94229b6bae18bf81f8786ed542b 

FUNDRAISING TICKER - Q2 NOTABLES - Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar raised $900,000 in the last three months and had $3.5 million on hand ahead of a tough 2012 primary fight ... Connecticut state Rep. William Tong brought in $550,000 in his bid for the Democratic Senate nomination ... City Year founder Alan Khazei reported raising $920,000 for his challenge to Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, establishing himself as the Democratic money leader ... Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos raised over $900,000 for his U.S. Senate bid, bringing his yearly total to $3.5 million ... Stay tuned for more ...

TODAY - ROMNEY TO LONDON - The former Massachusetts governor will visit the UK today to raise money from U.S. expats and meet with British government officials. The Boston Globe teased the possibility of a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron: "Romney is planning to meet on Thursday with Peter Ricketts, who is currently the national security advisor ... A British official said that Cameron planned to drop by that meeting, if his scheduled allowed ... It is unclear whether Romney has any other meetings scheduled during his trip to London, including one with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f764378c2fb67d165bba92e43b1dff579241afd030a5b2e7d066d50797305c8e 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f764378c2fb67d165bba92e43b1dff579241afd030a5b2e7d066d50797305c8e 

BACK HOME - THE UNION LEADER PILES ON: New Hampshire's conservative paper of record is the latest - and perhaps the most important - outlet to criticize Romney for his inconsistent statement s on whether President Obama made the economy "worse." Romney is mostly back on message, criticizing Obama for an "anemic" recovery, but the paper isn't satisfied: "What Romney should say is this: ... Obama bought temporary growth at an extremely high price, spiked the unemployment rate, put us deeper into debt, and ignored alternatives that could have provided more stable long-term growth without the massive debt and with more jobs. So yes, he made the overall economic situation worse than it would
 have been were an economically literate President in charge. Why Romney, who prides himself on his economic acumen, cannot find a way to say that is a mystery."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f764378c2fb67d16fb12412eb987e9177383ebb46b7d1bfb6d5d66762fe09180 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f764378c2fb67d16fb12412eb987e9177383ebb46b7d1bfb6d5d66762fe09180 

BUT - SUPER WIND AT HIS BACK - If Romney's $15-20 million quarterly fundraising haul didn't impress you last week, the eight-figure sum an outside super PAC raised to support him might do the trick. The Fix had the story first: "Restore Our Future, a so-called 'Super PAC' organized by former political aides to Mitt Romney and designed to help him in the 2012 presidential race, collected $12 million in the first six months of 2011. 'There is tremendous support across the country for Mitt Romney,' said Charlie Spies, one of the PAC's founders."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bf375471c5da0d5cc4368fde11cce3c126e351083e2e994340 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bf375471c5da0d5cc4368fde11cce3c126e351083e2e994340 

AND - CHAFFETZ BACKS MITT - Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a potential 2012 Senate candidate and former top aide to Jon Huntsman, has endorsed Romney's presidential campaign. Chaffetz explained his decision in terms of wanting to support the stronger opponent for President Obama, but the Salt Lake Tribune notes the personal history involved: "Chaffetz ran former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's first campaign and served as his chief of staff... Chaffetz has attended two Romney fundraisers so far this year and spoke highly of the former 2002 Salt Lake Olympic leader's chances."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bfbc397296c88e890394299b1ba86bcea9dd6ccb430e17e1aa 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bfbc397296c88e890394299b1ba86bcea9dd6ccb430e17e1aa 

POLL OF THE DAY - MARTINEZ LOOKS STRONG - Call her the un-Rick Scott. Halfway through her first year as New Mexico's governor, Susana Martinez has a 52 percent job approval rating, according to Public Policy Polling, and wins positive marks from a third of Democrats and 49 percent of Hispanics. Democratic pollster Tom Jensen reads into the results: "A female Hispanic Governor who's maintaining her popularity as she governs a blue state? Martinez would be at the top of my VP list for next year if I was a Republican strategist."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bf14ae7946f07fd0186a5761394999f305c0e650e19fcf0087 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bf14ae7946f07fd0186a5761394999f305c0e650e19fcf0087 

THE NEVADA SPECIAL - GOP WINS IN COURT - The National Republican Congressional Committee's odds of holding Sen. Dean Heller's old House seat jumped in a big way last night, thanks to the Nevada Supreme Court's ruling that Republicans could select former state GOP Chairman Mark Amodei as their sole nominee. Nevada's Democratic secretary of state had previously recommended a free-for-all election that could have resulted in more than a dozen Republicans filing to run against just one major Democrat, state Treasurer Kate Marshall. The Review-Journal spells out the implications for the Sept. 13 vote: "The decision Tuesday ... means it will be a more conventional match in a district in which
 Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 31,000 voters."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bfbb0ee50630349544e88d2c3d368ee98c2a93bbca9f3d4fc1 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bfbb0ee50630349544e88d2c3d368ee98c2a93bbca9f3d4fc1 

AND IN NEW YORK - ULRICH WON'T RUN - New York City Councilman Eric Ulrich said on "Inside City Hall" last night that he's not going to run for Anthony Weiner's old House seat, depriving the GOP of a candidate hailed by a number of Republicans as their best shot of being competitive. NY1: "Despite an endorsement from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Ulrich said that he made the decision not to run, in part because of the possibility that the district could be one of the two seats New York will lose as part of redistricting in 2012."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bfb2c123c7c9c5f599dff3a188458f94345088d55baf881f10 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c7c4c58d9b8d2bfb2c123c7c9c5f599dff3a188458f94345088d55baf881f10 

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "An eight-foot alligator in the sewer." - Rick Perry adviser Dave Carney, brushing off suggestions of Bush-Perry tension as an urban legend
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704558f9c9d5f23ef409b376213f069bb9271c7f415488779f8 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa325c6a00f1d704558f9c9d5f23ef409b376213f069bb9271c7f415488779f8 

Go to POLITICO Morning Score Now >> http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=266ffa7c42b4c36da0044d8bddf33d8c4d8b28f323431a32bb7376b830cb1730

=================================
2011 POLITICO, LLC
POLITICO Morning Score.
To unsubscribe, http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=266ffa7c42b4c36d5647cbe3dd5142106f6ddf8c0ddd1c6ebc3999a4c52d2b42
=================================