Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Walsh talks up military service, veterans’ issues in new Mont. ads - Grimm indictment expected today - Comstock wins VA-10 firehouse primary - Gomez Reyes goes on air in CA-31 - Sullivan goes after Begich in new radio ad
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 08:03:05 -0600

By Emily Schultheis (
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[email-masked] ; Twitter: @emilyrs) and Jose DelReal (
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[email-masked] ; Twitter: @jdelreal)

 With help from Elizabeth Titus, Tarini Parti and Juana Summers

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro&#39;s Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races - and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day&#39;s most important campaign news - sign up for Campaign Pro today. (
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WALSH ADS TALK MILITARY RECORD, VETERANS ISSUES: Campaign Pros saw it first: Montana Democratic Sen. John Walsh may now be an incumbent senator, but he's still introducing himself to the state's voters. In his latest pair of ads, he focuses on the issues facing combat veterans and his own tenure in the Montana National Guard. "For many veterans, it's a long and lonely road when the return,' he says in the first ad. 'That's why one of my very first bills is the SAV Act, the Suicide Prevention for America's Veterans Act: to finally give the care our heroes need, so they know they're not alone." The second ad looks at Walsh's bio, outlining his time in the Montana National Guard, and also
 features his young granddaughter. 'During his 33 years in the Montana National Guard, John led Montanans fighting forest fires here at home, and over 700 of Montana's finest into combat in Iraq,' the ad says. 'Preparing him for his most important mission: Grandpa.' With these ads, Walsh is both sharing his biography with the state and acknowledging his incumbency by referencing work he's doing in the Senate. The ads are part of a "significant" buy, running statewide on broadcast and cable until June, and were made by Kully Hall. Walsh will likely face GOP Rep. Steve Daines in the general election. Watch:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fa6013eaaa1f07df4279e5927b04c5869df815bcfe357f20d 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fa6013eaaa1f07df4279e5927b04c5869df815bcfe357f20d , 
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ALSO HITTING THE MONTANA AIRWAVES: Walsh isn't the only candidate in Montana playing up his military background this week. Ryan Zinke, one of the GOP candidates in the race for the state's open at-large House seat, is out with an ad that talks about his time on the Navy's SEAL Team 6: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fb8a41a7a073bb840dc76a910d5f8aefb881afdd0570672e2 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fb8a41a7a073bb840dc76a910d5f8aefb881afdd0570672e2 

IT&#39;S SHOWTIME FOR GRIMM: Federal criminal charges against New York Republican Michael Grimm are expected to be unveiled Monday, after his lawyer launched a preemptive strike late Friday to say Grimm would be 'vindicated' in the coming case. Speaker Boehner may stop short of calling for his resignation, even as a House GOP leadership aide acknowledges 'it&#39;s a total mess,' POLITICO&#39;s John Bresnahan reports (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f0c9ef821fa1e99927467a7a80bb03325b8a96f09ede01042 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f0c9ef821fa1e99927467a7a80bb03325b8a96f09ede01042 ). Grimm does not plan to drop out of his competitive reelection race at this point, mentor and former Rep. Guy Molinari told POLITICO Sunday evening after speaking to Grimm this weekend. Grimm is defending the Staten Island/Brooklyn swing seat against Democrat Domenic Recchia. 'No question about it,' Molinari said about Grimm staying in for now. Local party figures don&#39;t appear to be bailing on Grimm so far, the Staten Island Advance reports. They are likely stuck with him, anyway, unless he changes course and leaves the state or is quickly convicted, according to the newspaper. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f5f938a34aad8a290901a53d4907f46287a29ed3a73452a40 
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COMSTOCK WIN KICKS OFF EXPENSIVE RACE FOR WOLF'S SEAT: Virginia state Del. Barbara Comstock's win in the VA-10 firehouse primary this weekend ensures an expensive general election contest for both parties. Comstock will face Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust, who had more than $625,000 in the bank at the end of March. Of that total, Foust loaned himself $250,000, according to his campaign's first-quarter FEC reports. Comstock had about $520,000 on hand in early April and will likely have no trouble catching up to Foust. The race to replace retiring Rep. Frank Wolf will also likely see tons of outside money pouring in. Virginia's 10th congressional district - which stretches from McLean
 west to Winchester in Northern Virginia - is a top target for Democrats. Mitt Romney carried the seat by just 1 point in 2012. 
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OTHER NOMINATIONS THIS WEEKEND: In VA-08, Republican Micah Edmond won the GOP nod for retiring Democratic Rep. Jim Moran's district (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f3deaf8e0984d2fa889ac9e68823e0d227c1e3e5f3275d431 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f3deaf8e0984d2fa889ac9e68823e0d227c1e3e5f3275d431 ). (The very crowded Democratic primary is the main thing to watch in this deep-blue seat.) In UT-04, former Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love won the GOP nomination at the state party convention (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fc80a532eedd0d0b63e9043eb43d3e691145db68df4841f99 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fc80a532eedd0d0b63e9043eb43d3e691145db68df4841f99 ). With Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson retiring in this district, it's likely that Love will win the seat.

As Thom Tillis looks for 40 percent, Dan Sullivan goes after Mark Begich and the Granite State GOP smells a rat, here&#39;s POLITICO&#39;s Morning Score: your daily guide to the 2014 midterms.

DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION: 190.

Good Monday morning and welcome to the abridged version of POLITICO Campaign Pro's Morning Score. As always, send your tips, thoughts, and suggestions to 
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emilyrs . You can also get your Campaign Pro news at @
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promorningscore .

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD -

1) Which outside groups spend the most in North Carolina in the final stretch before next week's primary?

2) Will Tillis hit 40 percent in any forthcoming pre-primary polling?

3) How big will Tom Wolf's lead be in the next poll of the Pennsylvania governor's race?

4) How bad is the fallout for Michael Grimm?

5) Will any Georgia GOP candidates be able to break away from the pack now that many of them are on the air?

EIGHT DAYS LEFT - TILLIS SHIFTS TONE IN N.C. PRIMARY: The Charlotte Observer looks at how state House Speaker Thom Tillis is working to bolster his conservative credentials ahead of his May 6 primary: "Last week, he mailed a flier to voters that attacked his top GOP rival for not paying his property taxes on time. He also debuted a TV ad that trumpets his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Tillis hit the social conservative issues Saturday in his speech at the 2nd Congressional District GOP convention in Sanford. &#39;We need a Congress that understands the sanctity of life, the sanctity of traditional values, the sanctity of traditional marriage,&#39; he said. The shift in
 approach is an uneasy transition for the House speaker, who is not a loud voice on social conservative issues compared to Greg Brannon, a Cary obstetrician and tea party candidate who wants to outlaw abortion, and Mark Harris, a Charlotte pastor who helped lead the 2012 campaign to ban gay marriage." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f4bf6dbc8d6022160efd917494f9711ce1d74fbf05c5bb844 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f4bf6dbc8d6022160efd917494f9711ce1d74fbf05c5bb844 

TODAY ON POLITICO - CANTOR FIGHTS GOP BATTLE AT HOME: POLITICO's Jake Sherman looks at House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's GOP primary campaign back home in Virginia: "Though Cantor's team denies he is in any real electoral danger, they are not taking chances. He is running two commercials on Fox News in the Richmond and Washington television markets. One talks about Cantor standing up to President Barack Obama, and another claims that Brat worked for then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who is now in the Senate. ([Primary challenger Dave] Brat was on a statewide board of economists.) Cantor is also running radio advertisements during conservative talk shows. Amid charges on the right that
 Cantor supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, the majority leader's aides sent reporters a description of a phone call with Obama, saying that he rebuffed the president's offer to work together on immigration reform. The White House responded by saying Obama simply called him to wish him a happy Passover." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f5718ca1fe03161e990f6c9f24530f0c699a8b0ffca71e6d9 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667f5718ca1fe03161e990f6c9f24530f0c699a8b0ffca71e6d9 

SNEAK PEEK - SULLIVAN RADIO AD HITS BACK AT BEGICH: Alaska GOP candidate Dan Sullivan will release a new radio ad today, this time swiping at Democratic Sen. Mark Begich for "telling outright lies" about him and saying Begich "and his DC friends have no shame."'Dan Sullivan has never taken a dime from the Koch Brothers and Sullivan worked hard to keep the Flint Hills refinery open while he was our DNR commissioner," the ad says. "It's Begich who has taken campaign cash from the Kochs, and it was Begich who was unconcerned about the closing of the Flint Hills Refinery - saying, &#39;It's the private sector making a decision.&#39;' Sullivan's last TV ad was geared toward GOP primary voters,
 playing up his endorsement from the Club for Growth and touting his conservative credentials. But this radio ad is aimed squarely at Begich and the general election, perhaps a sign of Sullivan's confidence in his position in the GOP field right now. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fc3ec4df33d22f7cef9188dafa8b2237354ba5eeaea1e000c 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fc3ec4df33d22f7cef9188dafa8b2237354ba5eeaea1e000c 

HAPPENING TODAY - NH GOP FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST SHAHEEN: The New Hampshire Republican Party is filing a formal FEC complaint against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, alleging she used her website to coordinate talking points with Senate Majority PAC. Read the complaint: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fc0b7530df59f2eeedd64bf050f982e91443131d37510ea82 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667fc0b7530df59f2eeedd64bf050f982e91443131d37510ea82  Meanwhile, Democrats are going after Brown for saying he decided to run for Senate on Valentine's Day - before his contract with Fox News was suspended. They'll hit him in a release this morning.

TEA PARTY GROUPS SPEND LITTLE AIDING CANDIDATES: The Washington Post's Matea Gold looked this weekend at how top tea party groups, which have backed challengers to incumbent GOP members of Congress, are putting very little of their money toward helping those challengers: "Out of the $37.5 million spent so far by the PACs of six major tea party organizations, less than $7 million has been devoted to directly helping candidates, according to the analysis, which was based on campaign finance data provided by the Sunlight Foundation. ... Three well-known groups - the Tea Party Patriots, the Tea Party Express and the Madison Project - have spent 5 percent or less of their money directly on
 election-related activity during this election cycle. Two other prominent tea party groups, the Senate Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks, have devoted about 40 percent of their money to direct candidate support such as ads and yard signs. On average, super PACs had spent 64 percent of their funds on directly helping candidates by roughly this stage in the 2012 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667ff20f3642049703bf2240e76db23707130c0f15d8c8647db7 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2215391dd86d667ff20f3642049703bf2240e76db23707130c0f15d8c8647db7 

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I'm the only Republican running this year that every crazy liberal in the country's heard of." -Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, at a campaign event in Kentucky 
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