Subject: POLITICO’s Morning Score: Kitz changed his mind on resignation -- GOP tries to pile on Strickland -- Gavin Newsom launches bid for governor … in 2018
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2015 09:09:43 -0600

By Kyle Cheney

With Tarini Parti, Sandhya Raman and Steven Shepard

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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OREGON INTRIGUE - "John Kitzhaber planned to resign, changed mind Wednesday, sources say," by the Oregonian's Laura Gunderson: "Gov. John Kitzhaber decided to resign Tuesday but then changed his mind, insisting Wednesday afternoon that he&#39;s staying, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned. Events developed as the Democratic governor, now in a historic fourth term and fighting multiple investigations, faced eroding support from other elected officials and even his own advisers. The governor decided to pull back from resigning - set for Thursday or Friday - after meeting with his attorney, Portland lawyer Jim McDermott, and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes. Hayes&#39; role in his administration has
 been the source of much of his troubles. ...To resign, Kitzhaber needed Secretary of State Kate Brown, who would succeed him if he steps down. But Brown, 54, was in Washington, D.C., for a conference of the National Association for Secretaries of State. Kitzhaber called Brown on Tuesday night, telling her she needed to return to Portland for a face-to-face meeting as soon as she could. She was on a plane by Wednesday morning. The governor&#39;s staffers set to work Wednesday morning, planning for a resignation announcement that all understood was imminent." 
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TODAY ON CAMPAIGN PRO - Strickland's tough path to the Senate, by Kyle Cheney: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=830324e8bed92d34774438c1d572c08443b0160f243f274ea0208d94814b6634 
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GLITCHES - "Jeb's rocky tech debut," by POLITICO Pro's Darren Samuelsohn: "Jeb Bush had hoped to gain glowing headlines from the recent hiring of Ethan Czahor, a Southern California-based millennial who could help build him the Next Big Thing in political technology. But on Tuesday, Bush had to fire his political action committee's new chief technology officer after reporters combing through the staffer's online history found dozens of insensitive comments about women, homosexuals and African-Americans. Bush's tech image took a second hit a few hours later when he accidentally published online some Floridians' Social Security numbers, email addresses and other personal information as part
 of a super-sized cache of 270,000 emails exchanged during his two terms in Tallahassee."

"The former Florida governor - already challenged over campaign skills seen as rusty and not put to the test since 2002 - was forced to play defense after the online errors that could have been avoided with more advance preparation. His mistakes also served to resurrect questions over whether Republicans have a deep enough bench of digital and data talent to staff a dozen or more presidential primary campaigns and ultimately match up against what's expected to be a Hillary Clinton tech juggernaut." 
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As one governor dodges on evolution and another dodges resignation, here&#39;s POLITICO&#39;s Morning Score: daily news, notes and essential information for the 2015 and 2016 election cycles.

Days until the 2015 election: 264; Days until the 2016 election: 635

Thanks for joining us. We're eager for your news and feedback. Email us at 
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EARLY START IN CALIFORNIA - Newsom gets an early start on 2018 gubernatorial fundraising: California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that he'll be creating a campaign committee in preparation for a 2018 run for governor. "I've never been a fan of pretense or procrastination," he wrote in an email to supporters. "[T]he reality of running for Governor - even four years from now - in America's largest, most diverse state demands that I start raising resources now ..." A gubernatorial campaign committee has higher contribution limits than Newsom's current committee - and by creating the account now, he'll be able to raise money at those higher limits for both the 2016 and 2018 cycles.
 Newsom faced only nominal competition for reelection in 2014, which allowed him to bank more than a million dollars for a future campaign. He ended 2014 with more than $3 million in his account.

CASH RACE --"Forum becomes campaign cash free-for-all," by the Center for Public Integrity's Dave Levinthal: "[L]iberals and conservatives used the Federal Election Commission's forum to argue for their pet political money agendas while routinely, if politely, talking past one another. Big money has become 'a source of cynicism for our elections,' argued Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch project ... 'We don&#39;t need less money in the political process, we need more,' said lawyer Dan Backer, who successfully represented plaintiff Shaun McCutcheon in the McCutcheon v. FEC case that was supposed to be the subject of today's meeting." Other conservatives and advocates
 of a laissez-faire campaign finance system expressed fear that the FEC's three Democratic appointees will try to regulate political speech on the Internet and reveal the identities of donors to politically active nonprofit groups." 
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2016 GOP - "Walker 'punts' on evolution question," by Jonathan Topaz: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday declined to answer whether he believes in evolution. The Republican governor, during a question-and-answer session after a speech in London, where he is on a four-day trade mission, was asked whether he believes in or accepts evolution. 'For me, I'm going to punt on that one as well,' Walker said, prompting some murmurs in the crowd at Chatham House, a major London think tank. 'That's a question a politician shouldn't be involved in one way or another. So, I'm going to leave that up to you.' When pressed on the issue, Walker, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, said he didn't
 want to focus on the issue. 
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#FITN IN D.C. - POLITICO's Cate Martel files from the Newseum on Wednesday night, where Bloomberg's Al Hunt led a panel with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), along with James Carville, Tom Rath and New Hampshire Union Leader Publisher Joe McQuaid.The group shared anecdotes of years of the primary and made predictions for the 2016 cycle. Carville predicted that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush must take New Hampshire to have a chance at the nomination - and if Bush loses, it could coax Mitt Romney back into the race.

-- When Hunt asked whether the New Hampshire Primary will matter in 50 years, McCain said he prays it will. "I don't want campaigns to be decided by who can buy the most commercials," he said.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: " "Every home run was real. Every great catch was real." - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on why the Jackie Robinson West Little League team should have its national championship reinstated. per the Chicago Sun-Times. 
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FORMER OBAMA ADVISER AXELROD TALKS WITH POLITICO's GLENN THRUSH about his new book, "Believer: My Forty Years in Politics," and defends his claim that the president hid his true feelings on same-sex marriage for political reasons.
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