Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Romney's swing-state rollout - RNC unveils new 'Change Direction' ad - Ted Strickland's next act - 2012ers dodge Boehner plan - Huntsman 2.0 - Warren v. Brown
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 03:29:50 -0600

By CHARLES MAHTESIAN & DAN HIRSCHHORN & EMILY SCHULTHEIS (
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POPPING IN OHIO -- ROMNEY'S SWING-STATE ROLLOUT: Mitt Romney will take his 2012 campaign to the general-election battleground of Ohio today, unveiling a list of GOP primary endorsers and attacking President Obama for failing to take on China as an economic competitor. Former Ohio Sen. George Voinovich, who retired last year, is throwing his support behind Romney, along with 10 state representatives, two state senators and a handful of mayors and county officials. Romney's touring Screen Machine Industries in Patalaska, and his campaign has prepared a web ad featuring company president Steve Cohen sharply criticizing Obama's approach to China.

FROM THE VIDEO -- Cohen's blast: 'President Obama stated that he was going to literally take China 'to the mat' ... There doesn't seem to be any effort at all to combat intellectual property theft in China. Without this protection, you're going to find American companies such as us very leery about opening up business in China ... What we have with the Obama administration are not helping our company expand.' Watch the video here:
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FIRST IN SCORE - NEW RNC 'CHANGE DIRECTION' AD - The Republican National Committee is going up with the fourth and final TV spot of its month-long 'Change Direction' campaign, a 30-second ad depicting a young girl watching the hypothetical newscasts that would run on the last day of a second Obama term. The GOP will roll it out today in a fundraising email and text message campaign. The spot is airing in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Florida and Virginia, along with an Hispanic radio buy in Florida. 'Eight years ago we were promised hope,' a voiceover says against images of rising unemployment and an ascendant China. 'Today many believe their American dream has been lost.'
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SNEAK PEEK -- STRICKLAND'S NEXT ACT: Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland will announce the creation today of a new consulting firm, Midwest Gateway Partners, focused on political and business strategy across the Midwest region. The firm gathers together a group of Strickland's top political and policy aides, including John Haseley, Strickland former chief of staff; Aaron Pickrell, his former campaign manager; media consultant Sandy Theis and former Ohio energy czar Mark Shanahan. Former White House deputy chief of staff Steve Ricchetti is joining Strickland in the venture, and said in a statement that the ex-governor has 'a unique understanding of the inner workings of the White House and the
 Statehouse.' The firm is a new perch for the Democrat, who has continued to speak out prominently on state and national politics since leaving office.

SENATE PREVIEW -- BOOSTING BYSIEWICZ: For the third day in a row, the national Democratic women's group EMILY's List will roll out support for a new 2012 candidate, naming former Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz to 'On the List' status for her Senate bid. That means EMILY's List will promote Bysiewicz to its list of 900,000 members as she faces a competitive Democratic primary.

***As the 2012 GOP field dodges the Boehner plan, Mike Huckabee takes a pass on endorsing and Elizabeth Warren returns to Scott Brown Country, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

2012 TALKER - "Romney and Perry: Dual Front-Runners?" -- New York Times' Nate Silver: "At the betting market Intrade, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has overtaken Mitt Romney and is now considered the most likely person to win the Republican presidential contest. Mr. Perry is given a 35 percent chance of claiming the nomination as compared to Mr. Romney at 29 percent; Michelle Bachmann is a distant third place and assigned a 9 percent chance of winning... Are the bettors being sensible or getting ahead of themselves?...If Mr. Perry's roll-out goes well, however, the Republican campaign could well develop into a heavyweight battle between the two rather than the Lord-of-the-Flies scenario that had
 seemed more likely before."

THANKS BUT NO THANKS - THE BOEHNER PLAN - As zero hour approaches on the debt-ceiling debate, 2012 GOP hopefuls began weighing in on House Speaker John Boehner's latest proposal Tuesday. Here's the rundown:Romney: released a statement saying he "applauds" Boehner for his efforts, but stopped short of actually endorsing the plan.Bachmann:called the Boehner plan "wrong" on a visit to Iowa Tuesday afternoon.Pawlenty: originally said he didn't know enough about Boehner's plan to make a judgment either way, then released a statement Tuesday evening saying that while he "greatly appreciate[s]" Boehner's leadership, he does not support the Speaker's latest plan.Huntsman:had already weighed in on
 Boehner's plan Monday, calling it 'a good step' toward dealing with the long-term debt issue.

HUNTSMAN 2.0 - Jon Huntsman rolled out his new, aggressive tack in Hanover, N.H., Tuesday, striking a different tone, but not that much different. From the Washington Post: "Jon Huntsman Jr. struck a sharper tone against President Obama in a slightly recast stump speech here Tuesday, an effort aimed at energizing his flagging bid for the GOP presidential nomination..."
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bf76ac611c76cb77a28191cc9de7d22f10d31bad4f18468a0d8d0c4013133d0b  From the Concord Monitor: "Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman spoke at Dartmouth College today, answering questions on U.S.-China relations and delivering a stump-style speech on economic and other priorities at home."
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NOT POPPING IN IOWA - SANTORUM FAMILY SLEEPS IN- The Des Moines Register reports from the first day of the Santorum family campaign tour across Iowa: 'A crew of reporters - a Fox News satellite truck, ABC News and an array of other TV, print and radio staff - waited with cameras poised at a coffee shop in Ankeny for Team Santorum's arrival at 8:15 a.m. this morning. But the candidate arrived alone, ruefully explaining that after the 16-hour drive Monday, and a late night of unpacking and boiling fresh-picked sweet corn...his wife, Karen, and the children decided to sleep in a little instead of hitting the campaign trail as planned. 'The kids are going to be fishing and four-wheeling and
 doing some fun stuff today,' Santorum explained during the coffee shop stop. 'Not that this isn't fun ... but they deserve a break today. I'll be seeing them tomorrow night.''
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THE INTENSITY GAP - PERRY, CAIN ARE TOPS- Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, Rick Perry and Herman Cain have the highest Positive Intensity Scores among Republicans who know them, according to Gallup. "Rudy Giuliani, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and Mitt Romney trail slightly behind. There are no signs of improvement in the weaker Positive Intensity Scores of Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, or Jon Huntsman."
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THE HUCKABEE PRIMARY - Mike Huckabee, in Washington Tuesday to advocate a "FairTax" before the House Ways and Means Committee, says he's sitting on his hands for now in the presidential race.'Most of these people are friends of mine,' he told POLITICO. 'I like them all. I want to see how they play things out. I'm more interested in letting that happen than getting involved.'
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WHAT THE 2012 CANDIDATES ARE UP TO:Tim Pawlenty andRick Santorum continue touring Iowa in advance of the Ames straw poll. Pawlenty hits the Machine Shed restaurant and a Story City Pizza Ranch while Santorum holds several town hall meetings and makes an appearance at the Pottawattamie County Fair.Newt Gingrich is in Georgia, where he'll meet with phone bank volunteers.Jon Huntsmanis far from the early state primary trail, begging for conservative blogosphere abuse with an appearance at the Newsweek/Daily Beast Breakfast in New York City.

WU WATCH - HE'S OUT - Oregon Rep. David Wu announced yesterday that he'd resign 'upon resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis." The Democrat had "stubbornly resisted calls to give up the House seat he has held since 1999" but "after aides to Oregon Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley told Wu's chief of staff that they were going to publicly call for him to resign, Wu reversed course and decided to end his congressional career." More on how it went down:
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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT- Gov. John Kitzhaber gets to set the date for a special election. But as he reminded in a statement Tuesday, "I must first have Congressman Wu's official resignation, which I have not yet received. Once that is in hand, I intend to call for a special election to elect a Representative to Oregon's 1st Congressional District, with sufficient time for the Secretary of State to call a special primary." Read the statement here:
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THE SUCCESSION BATTLE - POLITICO's Dan Hirschhorn reports: "Democratic insiders are already pointing to two front-runners: state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian...and state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici, who hasn't declared her candidacy but is widely expected to run." Republicans will be "at a big disadvantage in a district that both George W. Bush and John McCain lost badly."
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SENATE POLLS - PPP ON MICHIGAN - Public Policy Polling: "Debbie Stabenow starts her race for reelection against Pete Hoekstra in a pretty good position, leading 50-41. That's similar to where she stood the last time PPP polled Michigan in March." Stabenow leads among women, 54%-37%. The former GOP congressman leads among independents, 44%-38%. Read the cross tabs here:
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2012 SENATE SIREN -- WARREN RETURNS TO MASS. - "Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor credited with creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - and who drew constant flak from congressional Republicans and Wall Street for doing it - is heading back to Cambridge...Warren's return to her job as the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School intensifies speculation that she might challenge Republican Sen. Scott Brown next year."
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'Herman Cain, I am not some pizza crust you just can leave on your plate and move on to a hotter slice.' - Stephen Colbert, after the 2012 GOP hopeful canceled his Thursday appearance on The Colbert Report.

Go to POLITICO Morning Score Now >> http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cde29d7816a3ad7331194b6f31029c633a19e878e6b7354802b5ca3b5e3dd1a9

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