Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Nebraska, West Virginia primaries today — Romney back Beauprez in Colo.—Aiken’s NC-02 challenger dies in accident
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2014 08:04:27 -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, Tarini Parti and James Hohmann

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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PRIMARY DAY IN NEBRASKA, WEST VIRGINIA: Voters in Nebraska and West Virginia will head to the polls today, with a set of GOP contests that will again test the staying power of establishment versus conservative groups - but without the clear dividing lines of last week's North Carolina Senate primary. In all three races, Republicans are favored in the general election. In Nebraska, former Bush administration official Ben Sasse has held the lead in the state's closely-watched GOP Senate primary in recent days, as Omaha banker Sid Dinsdale has gained momentum and former state treasurer Shane Osborn has lost some steam. Sasse and his allies have significantly outspent his opponents, with groups
 like 60 Plus Association and Club for Growth attacking Osborn and Dinsdale on the airwaves. A Sasse victory would give conservative groups a win in a year that's not shaping out too well for tea party Senate candidates. Dinsdale's campaign hopes that a backlash over the negative advertising from Osborn and Sasse's allies will help him pull off an upset.

On the gubernatorial front, a crowded field is vying for the chance to succeed GOP Gov. Dave Heineman. The incumbent threw his support behind attorney general Jon Bruning last week; wealthy businessman Pete Ricketts has picked up an endorsement from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who held a campaign event in the state last week. Those two men are seen as the frontrunners; other candidates in the GOP race include state auditor Mike Foley and state Sens. Beau McCoy and Tom Carlson. 

In West Virginia, seven Republicans are vying for Senate candidate Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's seat representing the 2nd District. Conservative groups like Senate Conservative Fund, Madison Project and Tea Party Express are backing Alex Mooney, a former Capitol Hill staffer who also served in the Maryland state senate and as chairman for the Maryland Republican Party before moving to West Virginia. Mooney is facing former U.S. International Trade Commissioner Charlotte Lane and self-funding pharmacist Ken Reed. The rest of the candidates haven't spent little money. The Charleston Daily Mail predicts the nominee could win with fewer than 10,000 votes, and anything could happen in a
 low-turnout race (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5ba849c3e51b3bbcb68eadf546e33b17f2d6fa2893e1f58f5 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5ba849c3e51b3bbcb68eadf546e33b17f2d6fa2893e1f58f5 ). Among the Democrats, former state party chair Nick Casey is expected to win over state Delegate Meshea Poore.

ROMNEY ENDORSES FOR CO-GOV: Mitt Romney is backing former Rep. Bob Beauprez for Colorado governor, Beauprez&#39;s campaign plans to announce later Tuesday. 'I'm deeply honored to know Bob and his wife Claudia,' Romney wrote in an endorsement letter. 'Ann and I had the opportunity to get to know them on the campaign trail in 2012. ... Colorado will play a key role in reversing Obama's arbitrary and oppressive policies. But the real road to &#39;hope and change&#39; begins here...with the election of Bob Beauprez as Colorado's governor.' Beauprez has a bigger war chest than any of the other three GOP candidates in the June 24 primary, and he becomes the latest beneficiary of Romney&#39;s
 increasing political activity after Thom Tillis in North Carolina and Monica Wehby in Oregon. Campaign Pros can read Romney&#39;s letter here: 
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CLAY AIKEN CHALLENGER IN NC-02 DIES IN ACCIDENT: Keith Crisco, the Democrat who as of Monday still narrowly trailed former "American Idol" star Clay Aiken by fewer than 400 votes in last Tuesday's NC-02 primary, died suddenly on Monday. Representatives from the company he founded said the 71-year-old died at home from a fall. Crisco had planned to concede the race to Aiken on Tuesday, a campaign strategist said. It's not immediately clear what happens in the race - a statement from the State Board of Elections Monday evening did not address how Crisco's death will affect the final results. 
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As Tom Wolf gets pummeled at a final debate, Pat Roberts is ruled a Kansan and Tim Donnelly takes his pants off, here&#39;s POLITICO&#39;s Morning Score: your daily guide to the 2014 midterms.

DAYS UNTIL THE ELECTION: 175.

Good Tuesday 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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TODAY ON POLITICO-

HOW BIG COULD A GOP WAVE BE IN THE SENATE?: U-Va.'s Larry Sabato looks at a wide range of potential outcomes in POLITICO Magazine: "Some of these scenarios have virtually no chance of happening, particularly the ones where Democrats play even in the Senate or even gain a seat. The Democrats have only a couple real chances to play offense, and their odds in either case are not great.... Democrats, or at least the more optimistic ones, might argue that I'm overstating the GOP's chances. After all, Republicans were widely expected to gain several Senate seats in 2012 and ultimately lost two. But Democrats had the ocean winds at their backs in 2012. Not only did President Obama end up winning a
 decent-sized re-election, but many Republican Senate candidacies fell flat." 
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JEB 2016: THE BUSH BATTLE WITHIN: POLITICO&#39;S Maggie Haberman reports: "The opinions of [Jeb Bush's] family members are critical, as Bush has made no secret that his decision will come down to family considerations. But as with any momentous decision involving family dynamics, especially dynastic family dynamics, it's complicated. The intentions of Jeb himself, who is 61, are hardest to read. He says he will decide by the end of this year. As one of Jeb Bush's friends put it, he speaks with '2,000 people on a variety of subjects, but when it comes to key decisions'' - like his political future - the voices that count are people named Bush. Who knows how the conversation will go the next
 time the family gathers at their Kennebunkport oceanside estate, a family retreat since the late 19th century. But some patterns are unmistakable." 
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OTHER NEWS-

FIGHT NIGHT IN PHILLY - PA. DEMS TRASH WOLF IN LAST DEBATE: The four Democratic gubernatorial candidates met at Drexel University in Philadelphia Monday night for their final debate before the May 20 primary - and the knives were out for frontrunner Tom Wolf, with one opponent even invoking disgraced L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d59c52896b03331ae6ebb1e49d9dd0c57c142f20177e0fc708 
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STATE BOARD BACKS ROBERTS IN KANSAS RESIDENCY CHALLENGE: Milton Wolf has long alleged that incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts isn't a Kansan anymore - but a state elections board ruled Monday that Roberts is in fact a resident, officially putting Roberts on the ballot and ending any legal repercussions for him. That said, there's no doubt that Wolf will continue to drive the narrative between now and the Aug. 5 primary - and residency questions can be damaging to a longtime incumbent (just ask Dick Lugar in Indiana). 
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BREAKING OVERNIGHT - DFA POLL GIVES SCHATZ 15-POINT EDGE: A new poll from the progressive group Democracy for America, conducted by Public Policy Polling, finds incumbent Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz opening up a 15-point lead over Democratic Rep. Colleen Hanabusa. He takes 49 percent in the poll, compared with 34 percent for Hanabusa and 17 percent who were undecided. While previous polling in the race has shown a close contest with either candidate leading by a few points, this is the first time we've seen a double-digit lead for Schatz - meaning his financial advantage, and the ads he's been running across the state, may be having an effect. (Hanabusa has not yet gone on air.) That said,
 DFA has backed Schatz, and polling is difficult in Hawaii, so always a good idea to take polls like these with a grain of salt. 
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QUICK HITS ACROSS THE MAP - Quick takes from races around the country:

-FIRST LOOK MI-Sen: Democrat Gary Peters's campaign released a memo hitting GOP candidate Terri Lynn Land on women's issues on National Women's Health Week: "When it comes to women's health care, accessibility, choice, and affordability, Michiganders cannot count on Terri Lynn Land."

-More MI-Sen: Peters released a new ad hitting Land for "bulldozing her childhood home" and evicting the people who lived there. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5272704c773aa33ee177a4ba11778156a68746b28f31621d4 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5272704c773aa33ee177a4ba11778156a68746b28f31621d4 

-DSCC, AK-Sen: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee booked a $3.5 million buy that will run statewide in Alaska from Sept. 23 to Election Day. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5e8be97c6aeb5f4fbc5281b28b6709ab85cc6b2bdfee9c111 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5e8be97c6aeb5f4fbc5281b28b6709ab85cc6b2bdfee9c111 

-AR-Sen, GA-Sen, KY-Sen: An NBC News/Marist poll out Monday found Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor leads Republican rival Rep. Tom Cotton by 11 points; Georgia Democrat Michelle Nunn in a tight race with most of her GOP challengers; and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell locked in a margin-of-error race with Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5c1d42ebb92ae524d5f6962311387a94d1bc0ce4ef775aceb 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5c1d42ebb92ae524d5f6962311387a94d1bc0ce4ef775aceb 

-NH-Sen: Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen released a TV ad touting her support for small businesses. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d52ebb2182e5756ce61c7cd0c44f1d989b26a17a3d5954e612 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d52ebb2182e5756ce61c7cd0c44f1d989b26a17a3d5954e612 

-SC-Sen: GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham released statewide TV and radio ads emphasizing his support for the Keystone XL pipeline. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d5b719220fb81947e2808bd77ddc732ddae8c10d5ccd6af62e 
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-ME-02: The League of Conservation Voters is hitting Democratic state Sen. Troy Jackson with a $150,000 mail campaign and has added him to their "Dirty Dozen" program. Jackson is facing LCV-backed candidate state Sen. Emily Cain in the June 10 primary. 

-FL-Gov: Democrat Charlie Crist raised $2.2 million in April, more than GOP Gov. Rick Scott's $1.3 million; however, combined with the money Scott raised for the state GOP, Scott raised a total of $3 million. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4c971cb309c3e6d576f58f6e2e2565f65a842aff121602f77a24d24bd558d12e 
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Tim Donnelly is campaigning for governor, and he's not wearing any pants." -Bay Area news station KQED, in a story on GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly 
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