Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: A post 9/11 return to normalcy – Romney attacks labor – GOP surging in NY-9, NV-2—RNC to step up Solyndra attacks—Previewing tonight's Tampa debate—DNC ad campaign boosts Obama jobs plan
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:21:22 -0600

By James Hohmann (
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] ; Twitter: @jameshohmann)

SNEAK PEEK - ROMNEY TACKLES LABOR: Mitt Romney's campaign will release a new web video later this morning that portrays President Obama as beholden to organized labor and businesses suffering as a result. The three-and-a-half-minute spot juxtaposes video of then-candidate Obama saying that the country needs a president who doesn't "choke saying the word union" against a testimonial from the owner of St. Louis Paving in Missouri. Paul Munsch tells a story about union organizers playing hardball in April, intimidating him and blowing up a 25-foot-tall inflatable rat when his men were doing work at a shopping mall (pictures included). The video comes as Romney visits the Boeing plant in North
 Charleston today, on his way to tonight's debate in Florida, to blast the National Labor Relations Board. Checking the Boeing box is a must for any Republican competing in South Carolina. Watch the new Romney video:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8ae416e5a269d65b08670e9bd99480ce2f048c93b1ab898523fe1dd179d30c42 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8ae416e5a269d65b08670e9bd99480ce2f048c93b1ab898523fe1dd179d30c42  .

REPUBLICAN SURGE - NY-9 SPECIAL BREAKING FOR TURNER: Public Policy Polling data released overnight puts Republican Bob Turner up 47-41 over Democrat David Weprin. Pollster Tom Jensen highlights some eye-popping numbers with national significance ahead of the special election to replace Anthony Weiner in New York's ninth district: "If Turner wins on Tuesday it will be largely due to the incredible unpopularity of Barack Obama dragging his party down in the district. Obama won 55% there in 2008 but now has a staggeringly bad 31% approval rating, with 56% of voters disapproving of him. It's a given that Republicans don't like him but more shocking are his 16% approval rating with independents
 and the fact that he's below 50% even with Democrats at 46% approving and 38% disapproving. Obama trails Mitt Romney 46-42 in a hypothetical match up in the district and leads Rick Perry only 44-43...The issue of Israel does appear to be having a major impact on this race. A plurality of voters- 37%- said that Israel was 'very important' in determining their votes. Turner is winning those folks by an amazing 71-22 margin."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc52f4e77b689655b5ac4f2a5fd77d3d6663eedf90d0637854bb2ded0037072 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc52f4e77b689655b5ac4f2a5fd77d3d6663eedf90d0637854bb2ded0037072 

The poll is the rotten cherry to top off a really bad weekend for Weprin, which also saw the publication of a devastating 1986 child custody ruling that described him as careless and temperamental:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16fc5f6f7122d22d7cf740e2458692fbb08a60f025fcad7e0effe2a807fc737a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16fc5f6f7122d22d7cf740e2458692fbb08a60f025fcad7e0effe2a807fc737a . Remember that PPP is a Democratic-affiliated firm with a proven track record, and this comes after a Siena College poll out Friday put Turner up six points among likely voters:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2557b8dfff0c08d2b192b14778d6bf5b219cc48040fdc3fa1746cfb19f093925 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2557b8dfff0c08d2b192b14778d6bf5b219cc48040fdc3fa1746cfb19f093925 . Obviously, though, it all comes down to turnout. Democrats have shown in several Empire State special elections that they know how to get their people to the polls. Over the weekend and through Election Day, a Democratic official says 1,000 volunteers will be knocking doors and making phone calls. Through last night, Democratic volunteers had made 136,279 door knocks and phone calls.

EXCLUSIVE - RNC TO STEP UP SOLYNDRA ATTACKS ON OBAMA: The Republican National Committee is working aggressively to make a scandal out of the bankruptcy of a bankrupt California renewable energy concern called Solyndra that has been touted as a stimulus success story by the president and vice president. "After laying off 1,100 workers, wasting over $500 million in loan guarantees and becoming the subject of an FBI investigation, Solyndra is the now the prime example of stimulus failure," Chairman Reince Priebus says in a statement going out later. "Before taxpayers are forced to spend another dime of stimulus money, the White House must explain why they were so reckless the first time
 around." Accompanying the release will be this 15-page research document: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e1e90724124f57a3dc5dc46864dd7078d363328419f9ae539166770c010f251a Republicans thinks this could become a thing as Congress debates whether to spend more money as part of a jobs act. Investing in "green" energy polls well, but this appears to be a textbook case of the pitfalls that come when government tries to pick winners.

As Social Security overshadows all else, the president looks to capitalize politically on his jobs plan and New Hampshire Republicans get a new chair, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

THE STAKES - FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: The first full week after Labor Day brings the Sunday anniversary of 9/11, a Monday presidential debate and two Tuesday special House elections. With these in mind, we have these five questions for the week ahead.

(1) If Dems blow the NY-9 special, who gets thrown under the bus-Weprin or Obama?

(2) Does NY-9 also suggest Obama might have a south Florida problem?

(3) Other than Michele Bachmann, who else tries to get a slice of the Social Security fight between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry in Monday's GOP presidential debate?

(4) Which second-tier candidate swings hardest at Perry tonight?

(5) Who makes the biggest 9/11-related gaffe this week?

DEBATE CURTAIN-RAISER - WATCH THE TEA PARTY DYNAMIC: CNN's Republican presidential debate, cosponsored with the Tea Party Express, airs live tonight at 8 p.m. ET from the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. From the cable network's preview: "A battle over Social Security launched last week between the top two GOP presidential contenders doesn't show any signs of quieting down as candidates prepare for round two." Wolf Blitzer moderates. Additional questions will come from tea party activists, supporters in the audience and voters in Arizona, Ohio and Virginia.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c759708f1a5aabda157282bcb8bcbfb011681a15f8f8ed794c3c4337880d4002 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c759708f1a5aabda157282bcb8bcbfb011681a15f8f8ed794c3c4337880d4002 

Here are six things to watch, per Alex Burns and Maggie Haberman: 1. What kind of weapons will Rick Perry bring to the fight? 2. Will Mitt Romney come prepared with fresh material from "Fed Up!"? 3. Does Michele Bachmann take aim at Perry? 4. Can Jon Huntsman build on his last performance? 5. Who will Rick Santorum be gunning for?

Says Veteran Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio: "I don't think Romney is going to take his foot off the gas, especially in Florida, on Social Security. In fact, we may see him trot out something else...[and] Perry's trying to prove that he's not like the rest of these guys. He'll upset the apple cart and he's not afraid to upset the apple cart because that's what's needed right now."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4b4d86dfa1977bc9c4f11a2de6e56766f37374dba114507c62d61296bf96e51a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4b4d86dfa1977bc9c4f11a2de6e56766f37374dba114507c62d61296bf96e51a 

AT THE DEBATE - BACHMANN WILL HIT PERRY: Desperate to stay competitive, Michele Bachmann will seek to create a contrast with Perry tonight. Aides have been explicit on this count. 'She strongly disagrees with his position on [Social Security], and it's clearly not something that's going to sit well with the people of Florida and Iowa and South Carolina and many of the early states, where there is a large population of seniors who rely heavily on Social Security," one adviser tells Byron York of the Washington Examiner. He notes that the Minnesota congresswoman has always been "quite cautious on the issue." She voted for the Ryan budget but promised her own plan and has avoided putting
 forward specifics that could open her up to attack.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49521f67b832af607fec78c55c7aa1d2c829be72df53598c82ac788aba0878e9 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49521f67b832af607fec78c55c7aa1d2c829be72df53598c82ac788aba0878e9 

MORE ON SOCIAL SECURITY - THE HOTTEST ISSUE IN THE CAMPAIGN RIGHT NOW:

OUT THIS MORNING - FLORDIA DEMS WELCOME REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES WITH WEB VIDEO: Ahead of the debate, the state Democrats will send out a video later this morning on "A Gamble Seniors Can't Afford." It includes video of Perry talking about Social Security at last week's POLITICO-NBC debate and quotes from his book "Fed Up." The spot also accuses Romney of wanting to privatize Social Security. From the voiceover: "And all the Republican candidates have endorsed ending Medicare as we know it. Now they're coming to Florida - where millions of seniors rely on Social Security and Medicare to survive." Watch it here:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8d628e0139f7458e2f1ea5dec21caddc5348c51afeb04c9417e63fac2937689a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8d628e0139f7458e2f1ea5dec21caddc5348c51afeb04c9417e63fac2937689a .

SNEAK PEEK - DEMS NERVOUS THAT PERRY STANCE MAKES ROMNEY LOOK MAINSTREAM: The New Hampshire Democratic Party will send out an email from Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Granite Staters later this morning that accuses both Perry and Romney of wanting to "do great harm to Social Security if not dismantle it entirely." The DNC chair writes: "One candidate, Rick Perry, was honest about his hostility toward Social Security while the other, Mitt Romney, was not. Don't let that fool you. Mitt Romney's support for privatizing Social Security is as dangerous to the future of the program as Rick Perry's attitude and over the top rhetoric." National Democrats increasingly worry that Romney will come out
 of his fight with Perry looking like the candidate who wants to preserve Social Security, which could make it harder to use entitlements against Republicans up and down the ballot next year should he win the nomination. Watch for upcoming Dem attacks on Perry to somehow tie Romney in.

WHAT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL THINKS - "NEITHER CANDIDATE IS HELPING THE CAUSE OF REFORM": The lead editorial in today's WSJ casts a pox on the houses of both Romney and Perry, the former for sounding like a Democrat and the latter for sounding so extreme that voters won't actually listen to what he has to offer. "Give Mr. Perry credit for addressing one of the third rails of American politics, but that doesn't mean he has to invite electrocution. The problem with his hot rhetoric is that it can turn off many voters before they even get a chance to listen to his reform proposals, assuming he eventually offers some. He's even technically right that Social Security is a species of Ponzi scheme
 (if not a criminal enterprise) in the sense that young people today are putting more into the system than they can possibly get out in retirement...We'd give Mr. Romney more credit for his professed political prudence if he were at least proposing some Social Security reforms of his own."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bbf94efdb25d096226ac4d408e9c42891817c7079da68a679cb26b48298b4956 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bbf94efdb25d096226ac4d408e9c42891817c7079da68a679cb26b48298b4956 

HOW BADLY DOES THE "MONSTROUS LIE" ACTUALLY HURT PERRY IN FLORIDA? Paul West of the Tribune Washington bureau went to Tampa to talk with a bunch of Republican seniors about whether Perry's position will turn them away. One well-connected Florida Republican strategist told him: 'If Perry doesn't correct the way he's talking about Social Security, he's toast.' Sara Taylor Fagen, a former White House political director for George W. Bush who worked for Tim Pawlenty, says that the outcome of the contest will ultimately turn on Perry's ability to consolidate conservative support in early voting states and then confront Romney in Florida. 'If this is a Perry-Mitt race, and Perry continues to
 improve as a candidate, smoothing out the rough edges, as I expect him to do, Perry is well-positioned to win,' she said. 'If there are three or four candidates on the right, Mitt will be favored.' West's Sunday story notes that Marco Rubio won last year after proposing an increase in the retirement age. But don't forget: Rubio won with a plurality in a three-way race during a 2010 wave when entitlements were not salient to seniors. And Marco Rubio is not your ordinary candidate.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e61d8dfc15c8d8c720307f8cbd844a57a460ac69e8e73496c9e076180bd041dd 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e61d8dfc15c8d8c720307f8cbd844a57a460ac69e8e73496c9e076180bd041dd 

PALIN DEFENDS PERRY: 'What Rick Perry was trying to say I believe is that there needs to be reform. Status quo is not acceptable because these programs are insolvent," the former Alaska governor said on Fox News. "So he's saying reform is necessary, and we either reform these entitlement programs ourselves or the world capital markets will reform them for us.'
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2fd328c81627cad45dc70f1ac2cb406354d3c0f301ee502ba3afd1c91edd4aa 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2fd328c81627cad45dc70f1ac2cb406354d3c0f301ee502ba3afd1c91edd4aa 

NON-SOCIAL SECURITY DEVELOPMENTS:

SUPER PAC ATTACK - PRO-BACHMANN GROUP GOES AFTER PERRY ON IMMIGRATION: The pro-Bachmann PAC Keep Conservatives United will begin airing an ad hitting Perry for being soft on illegal immigration. It will air during conservative talk radio shows in South Carolina. 'Michele Bachmann believes employers should be required to check the legal status of people they hire with E-Verify,' the ad says. 'Perry doesn't, so illegals take jobs.'
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f9163dd2d8b0aa3f62fea63bdb60ce76203b5de2b5109f8d54fe284fd774701 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f9163dd2d8b0aa3f62fea63bdb60ce76203b5de2b5109f8d54fe284fd774701 

STILL CONSIDERING - GIULIANI OFFERS NOTHING NEW ON 2012: "I'm gonna sorta put my thinking off for a couple of weeks until I get over the emotion of this and-- and see where everything stands," Giuliani said on "Face the Nation," speaking from Ground Zero. "I understand the realistic problems I'd have getting nominated. So I have to take that into consideration. And around 9/11 I don't like to think about politics as much." This sounds like someone who will not run.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a945ba35a70adfbed59a3cd891e1ae1b9af826be8f20e010a156c46afd2ea9fc 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a945ba35a70adfbed59a3cd891e1ae1b9af826be8f20e010a156c46afd2ea9fc 

WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS UP TO - SENDING THE JOBS BILL TO CONGRESS: The president will give a speech in the Rose Garden to announce that he's sending his American Jobs Act to Congress this evening. Joining him for the photo op will be teachers, police officers, firefighters, construction workers, small business owners and veterans. This will earn cheap free media on jobs before the president heads out to the battlegrounds of Ohio on Tuesday and North Carolina on Wednesday.

DNC BACKUP - AD CAMPAIGN SUPPORTS OBAMA JOBS PLAN: The Democratic National Committee is backing the president up with a several-week ad campaign that begins Monday. Per the AP: "The DNC ads don't target any specific lawmakers, or make any reference to the looming 2012 presidential campaign. But they're airing in key markets in some of the most critical swing and early voting states: Denver; Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Des Moines, Iowa; Las Vegas; Manchester, N.H.; Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.; Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; and Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke, Va.; as well as Washington, D.C. The 30-second spots open with footage of Obama exhorting Congress during his speech to a joint session
 last Thursday, telling lawmakers: 'The next election is 14 months away. And the people who sent us here, the people who hired us to work for them, they don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months.' As dramatic music plays, lettering on the screen urges viewers to read the jobs plan and fight for it." The story:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f71b51208c8ca9c5b68363555027912d151dd70fb4e7a3119205294d3bd22de3 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f71b51208c8ca9c5b68363555027912d151dd70fb4e7a3119205294d3bd22de3 . Watch one of the two ads:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f31d1a45078cb23e6127e904d6bb9759eb4c5df5e1e3cd0c6ba1da25e2ba6b8 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7f31d1a45078cb23e6127e904d6bb9759eb4c5df5e1e3cd0c6ba1da25e2ba6b8  .

THE FORGOTTEN SPECIAL - NV-2 LOOKS LIKE REPUBLICAN HOLD: Public Policy Polling released new numbers overnight that put Republican Mark Amodei up 13 points (50-37) over Democrat Kate Marshall ahead of Tuesday's special election. From poll director Tom Jensen: "When PPP polled this race three weeks ago it was considerably more competitive with Amodei ahead only 43-42. Marshall had 2 things going for her then that are no longer the case. The first was that Democrats were more enthused about her... The second big thing that has changed is who's planning to come out and vote on Tuesday... Marshall has not proven to be a strong candidate [50% negative]. Full results:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2513bf288359045fe91988986466b011c194a0981d57b741f4573040c87755a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2513bf288359045fe91988986466b011c194a0981d57b741f4573040c87755a .

DNC WRAP -RT RYBAK BECOMES VICE CHAIR AT CHICAGO MEETING: Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak officially became vice chairman of the DNC during the committee's fall meeting in Chicago this weekend. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who picked him, said in a statement: "In 2007, Mayor Rybak was the first mayor of a major US city to endorse President Obama and he has been an ardent and vocal supporter ever since." Some speculate that Rybak could wind up with a cushy job in a second-term Obama administration.

SNEAK PEEK - INDIANA DEMS TO TOUT TEA PARTY SUPPORT FOR MOURDOCK: The Indiana Democratic Party will begin highlighting, starting with a release coming out later today, the tea party groups and leaders who are coming out in support of state Treasurer Richard Mourdock over Sen. Richard Lugar in the Republican primary. Many Democrats believe Joe Donnelly could beat a more conservative candidate, but not the entrenched incumbent, in next year's general. A coalition of tea party groups united in their desire to topple Lugar is meeting in Greenfield for a statewide convention on Sept. 24.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01d300e86681e0b8a334344fe673ce00512a66069d0b04a879ea632012c19284 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01d300e86681e0b8a334344fe673ce00512a66069d0b04a879ea632012c19284 

NH GOP - NEW CHAIR TRIES TO END THE NIGHTMARE IN CONCORD: The Sunday Concord Monitor profiled Wayne MacDonald, who replaced Jack Kimball as chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party this month. He has been vice chair since 2003, serving under six different chairs. RNC committeeman Steve Duprey says: 'He's one of best political operatives and organizers in the state that most people don't know." He's not well-known to a lot of the tea partiers, but he has deep relationships with the state's establishment. Nice color: "Above MacDonald's desk at 10 Water St. hangs a portrait of Richard Nixon, whom he admired as a teenager. He has read all of Nixon's books, belongs to the Nixon Library and
 beams when pointing to his new 'What Would Nixon Do?' mug."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0950581505bb47f1517462ca35c2e4e681d3c6e659cf248248e60caac9b89ba9 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0950581505bb47f1517462ca35c2e4e681d3c6e659cf248248e60caac9b89ba9 

CODA - QUOTE OF THEDAY: "It will be said of us that we kept that faith; that we took a painful blow, and emerged stronger." - President Obama, speaking at the Concert for Hope to commemorate the 9/11 anniversary at the Kennedy Center Sunday night.

Go to POLITICO Morning Score Now >> http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d22f4ac364b346fdbe87e9cf9e0d45334849c7f291e04af15257286d2f6c79e7

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