Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Final weekend in Nebraska Senate primary — Sasse internal shows him well ahead — Pre-primary reports come in for Ark., Georgia, Ky., Ore., Pa. — Friday standings — Obama gives shout-out to Scott Peters in CA-52
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 09 May 2014 08:06:08 -0600

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

With help from Elizabeth Titus and Tarini Parti

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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DOWN TO THE FINAL WEEKEND IN NEBRASKA-Ahead of Tuesday's Nebraska GOP Senate primary, former Bush Administration official Ben Sasse, banker Sid Dinsdale and former state Treasurer Shane Osborn are jockeying for their party's nomination. Fresh poll data from Sasse's campaign last night show him pulling away, but a shift in focus from Sasse's allies, who are now going after Dinsdale after weeks of attacking Osborn, suggest the three-way race remains fluid.

SASSE OVERNIGHT INTERNAL SHOWS HIM LEADING BY DOUBLE-DIGITS: A new Strategic National poll conducted for Sasse's campaign and obtained by Campaign Pro's Tarini Parti has Sasse leading the crowded GOP field by double digits, taking 34 percent of support among likely GOP voters just days before the primary. Dinsdale comes in at second place with 23 percent support, followed closely by Shane Osborn with 20 percent. The remaining two candidates included in the survey, Bart McLeay and Clifton Johnson, failed to nab support above the single digits and pulled in 8 percent and 3 percent, respectively. The remaining 11.5 percent surveyed said they were still undecided. 'With 4 days to go, this is
 now a two man race between a moderate in Sid Dinsdale and a conservative in Ben Sasse," said Jordan Gehrke, a senior advisor for the Sasse campaign. "We are confident we have the grassroots enthusiasm and cutting edge GOTV systems in place to turn out our vote. We are ready for Tuesday.' The survey of 500 likely GOP primary voters was conducted Wednesday and Thursday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. Toplines for Campaign Pro subscribers: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808189a7ed5ddd973a9ec28bb34d1547a364e85b731ee7afcadc0 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808189a7ed5ddd973a9ec28bb34d1547a364e85b731ee7afcadc0 

ATTENTION SHIFTS TO DINSDALE-The Club for Growth and 60 Plus Association, which have endorsed Sasse, had previously focused their attacks in the primary on Osborn. But both groups are now targeting Dinsdale. The shift represents a sense from Sasse's allies that Dinsdale poses a growing threat - a view bolstered by Dinsdale's decision to loan his campaign $1 million - and it's not worth taking any chances. The Club's six-figure buy portrays Dinsdale as a liberal, hitting him for comments on the debt-ceiling and Obamacare (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081885469f717c88009f326c5b7a0e625cb93bc84214b78c81fe 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081885469f717c88009f326c5b7a0e625cb93bc84214b78c81fe ), and one from 60 Plus also questions Dinsdale's position on the debt ceiling (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808185ed6a1bbfa76a568aa77d830d6cf4d21dc88e298523090a9 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808185ed6a1bbfa76a568aa77d830d6cf4d21dc88e298523090a9 ). 60 Plus is rotating the new ad with its existing $220,000 ad buy targeting Osborn. Meanwhile, Dinsdale is responding to the attacks with his own ad in which he calls out his opponents for using "dark money" to buy their vote (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818d24ae09cfbecda118d0b9681624a48b6fdfe02b57acd0ba1 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818d24ae09cfbecda118d0b9681624a48b6fdfe02b57acd0ba1 ). The buy is worth about $225,000.

FIRST IN SCORE - AMERICAN FUTURE FUND AD BOOSTS HANDEL: National conservative and tea party groups are working hard to get former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel into the number-two spot in the Peach State's May 20 GOP Senate primary - and now the American Future Fund is jumping into the fray on her behalf with a six-figure ad buy. The ad boosts Handel while dismissing her GOP opponents as "Washington talkers." "For Senate, there's a lot of Washington talkers: tons of hollering, but when it comes to results: *crickets*," the ad says. "Want somebody who backed Obama down and has actually balanced a budget? Karen Handel's been there, done that. Handel's not going to Washington to
 chit-chat, she's going to put points on the board." The ad will air statewide on network and cable TV. Watch: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081805e1bbe0f80b96ac2e6e63df0b8a1da0c7d14e0d628f6649 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081805e1bbe0f80b96ac2e6e63df0b8a1da0c7d14e0d628f6649 

PRE-PRIMARY REPORTS COME IN FOR FIVE STATES: Thursday was the pre-primary deadline (the reporting period went from April 1-30) for all states holding May 20 primaries: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania. We're still waiting on numbers from many of the candidates, but here are some of the early figures:

AR-Sen exclusive: GOP Rep. Tom Cotton raised $571,090 in the month of April, his campaign told Score. ... KY-Sen: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell raised $1.07 million for his reelection campaign in April and has more than $10 million on hand, slightly less than the $10.4 million he had at the end of March. No word from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes's campaign on her totals. GA-Sen: GOP businessman David Perdue raised $1,219,267.75 in the month of April (including $1million from the candidate), spent $1,452,088.01 and had $467,275.74 in the bank at month's end. ... More GA-Sen: Democrat Michelle Nunn raised $840,000 in April ... OR-SEN: Republican Jason Conger raised $61,000, spent
 $120,000 and ended with $51,000 on hand in the pre-primary period ... PA-06: Republican Ryan Costello, who doesn't face a primary opponent, raised $67,000 and has $313,000 on hand.

FOLEY TIED WITH MALLOY IN LIKELY CONN. REMATCH-A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and 2010 GOP nominee Tom Foley tied at 43 percent in Malloy's bid for a second term. Foley holds a wide lead among the GOP field, one week before the party's rank-and-file meets to deliver their endorsement. The nomination will officially be awarded following an August primary. Malloy's approval rating is at an all-time high (48 percent), but he's significantly underwater on key issues: economy/jobs, state budget and taxes. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808186a2aaa8ffc5272f01c777c6992346cd18203ea292573c12b 
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As the RNC tries to take control of the 2016 GOP debate sked, Joni Ernst packs heat and Anthony Brown gets made up, here&#39;s POLITICO&#39;s Morning Score: your daily guide to the 2014 midterms.

DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION: 179.

Good Friday 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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FRIDAY STANDINGS-Here&#39;s Morning Score&#39;s take on how some of the most important candidates, campaigns and political players should answer the question: Are you better off now than you were a week ago?

YES: (1) North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, who avoided what would have certainly been a messy and expensive Senate runoff and can now focus all his attention on Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan; (2) Republican Sid Dinsdale, who's seen his stock rise in the Nebraska Senate race and is now getting attention from outside groups as a result; and (3)Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has a huge financial advantage over his GOP opponents, especially considering they still have to fight it out in a primary.

NO: (1) Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, whose efforts on behalf of North Carolina Senate candidate Greg Brannon didn't help push Brannon into the GOP runoff; (2) New York Rep. Charles Rangel, whose opponent, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, picked up the backing of the city teachers' union, a major coup; and (3) Pennsylvania state Rep. Brendan Boyle, who's now getting attacked not just by his PA-13 fellow candidates, but by EMILY's List and NARAL as well.

TODAY ON POLITICO - RNC CLAMPS DOWN ON '16 DEBATES: POLITICO's James Hohmann and Dylan Byers report: "A group of 13 RNC members, essentially operating under the control of party Chairman Reince Priebus, will choose the timing, location and media partners of the 2015-2016 Republican primary debates. They will insist that conservative panelists join moderators from the mainstream media. To make it stick, the plan would crack down on candidates who participate in debates that aren't sanctioned by the party - by barring them from ones that are. The biggest surprise about the overhaul is how little resistance it met. The new regime will benefit top-tier candidates who don't need the free media
 exposure, as well as broadcast networks that spend big money to produce debates and don't want to put on more than a few of them. The losers are underdog candidates and cable channels, which draw bigger-than-usual audiences on debate nights. It will also mean fewer sponsorship opportunities for non-TV media properties." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818ae886a5aeb8af686e7318a0485c455d90389c659cfe048fb 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818ae886a5aeb8af686e7318a0485c455d90389c659cfe048fb 

FACTCHECK 'WHOPPER OF THE WEEK': Texas Gov. Rick Perry gets a Double Whopper. The former (and future?) presidential hopeful says he is "really worried about those 90 million people that are out of work," and claims there are "more women out of the workforce now than at any time in our history." He's doubly wrong. It's true that 92.6 million people are "not in the work force," according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but only 6 million of them "want a job." More than 86 million are retirees, students, stay-at-home parents and others who don't want a job. His claim about women is based on BLS figures dating to 1988 - not "at any time in our history." And he ignores the full BLS data set,
 which goes back to 1948 and shows the women's labor force participation rate is now more than one-and-half times what it was in 1948. The full story: "
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818d01646ac1aa9d18d39a7a210be73752338a7ce98f127063a 
Perry Misleads on Jobs ."

LIGHTER CLICK-Think Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown looked good during Wednesday night's gubernatorial debate? That's because he hired and brought his own makeup artist. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808188c92e1b66d4ce52ad15f0a6f2f6b910d560ef2e21bf5ca26 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808188c92e1b66d4ce52ad15f0a6f2f6b910d560ef2e21bf5ca26 

QUICK HITS ACROSS THE MAP - 

-IA-Sen: Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst is facing criticism after her campaign on Thursday confirmed that she has carried a concealed firearm into the Iowa Capitol in the past. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081811a57861dcd0a425253c0fdc9e6ed32c89c36a6e944d8aed 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081811a57861dcd0a425253c0fdc9e6ed32c89c36a6e944d8aed 

-LA-Sen: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed Air Force Col. Rob Maness in the GOP primary. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818abf076f581a070c8c929f05fbb88e0e8b6699793fa8fca3b 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818abf076f581a070c8c929f05fbb88e0e8b6699793fa8fca3b 

-More LA-Sen: A poll from Southern Media & Opinion Research finds Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu with 36 percent of the vote, followed closely by Republicans Bill Cassidy at 35 percent, Maness at 7 percent and Paul Hollis at 4 percent. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818a04bf911c2561597acd59b1f2fca667fd1014748b7871594 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818a04bf911c2561597acd59b1f2fca667fd1014748b7871594 

-NY-01: Republican George Demos, running against state Sen. Lee Zeldin in the primary, released a new ad focusing on education and Common Core. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081856b2b83e22948eae8a230846583185f9bda752808f53c10f 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c8081856b2b83e22948eae8a230846583185f9bda752808f53c10f 

-OR-Gov: A new poll from DHM Research finds Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber beating state Rep. Dennis Richardson by 12 points, 48 percent to 36 percent. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808188d012298d826d51ff66d66dbeafefe67932ab4323cf438d9 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c808188d012298d826d51ff66d66dbeafefe67932ab4323cf438d9 

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Congressman Braley and I have never had a controversy as far as I know." -Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, to whom Braley referred to as merely "a farmer from Iowa" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818f4f7bfe0704445df30c604c18f730dc0d5b92253236a122c 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=53e220aff8c80818f4f7bfe0704445df30c604c18f730dc0d5b92253236a122c 

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