Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Down to the wire in Kentucky — Sanchez, Guinta apologize — Feingold speaks
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 08:02:00 -0600

By Kyle Cheney

With Elena Schneider, 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. (
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=998052777196992b21938134e215cf740cce76d1146d062f17c0ee9c952182e6 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=998052777196992b21938134e215cf740cce76d1146d062f17c0ee9c952182e6 )

TODAY ON CAMPAIGN PRO - Kentucky governor's race on the edge of a knife, by Campaign Pro's Kyle Cheney from Lexington, Ky.: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=243d88e42906381e04384cc1d077040fc6cb4e1bdae4ecb60abb040719d35ddc 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f51a2c3b8ca770c34eda3fece89f3338a7640e055e395501fb2d7ae033d3c612 

MORE KENTUCKY - Courier-Journal: Comer makes conflicting statements about gift from former girlfriend. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ca45d60799d56a952ce72c1b79a6eed4476ce90c1ce7b66e99b1a9ebaaa8cb7 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ca45d60799d56a952ce72c1b79a6eed4476ce90c1ce7b66e99b1a9ebaaa8cb7 

- First in Score: Democrats have been largely quiet in the GOP primary, but the DGA is out with a video this morning highlighting the intraparty discord. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f0ad7aebe3f20deafcc8409a88f9fc080759a4bc4c4f2d64b1aabd0c35cd63e6 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f0ad7aebe3f20deafcc8409a88f9fc080759a4bc4c4f2d64b1aabd0c35cd63e6 

As Toomey rethinks train funding and the Iowa straw poll rests with Scott Walker, here&#39;s Campaign Pro'&#39;s Morning Score: daily news, notes and essential information for the 2015 and 2016 election cycles.

Days until the 2015 election: 169; Days until the 2016 election: 540.

Thanks for joining us - you might have noticed the rotating cast of Morning Score authors. Email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] , 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] , 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] , 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked]  and 
mailto:[email-masked] 
[email-masked] .

WHOOPS - "Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez appears to disparage American Indians," by the Sacramento Bee's Christopher Cadelago and David Siders: "In a video shown to The Sacramento Bee and posted online shortly after, Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, describes a pending meeting she had with an East Indian. 'I am going to his office, thinking that I am going to meet with a,' she said, holding her hand in front of her mouth and making an echo sound. 'Right? ... because he said Indian American.'" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=481d0d70a33113887000489972a73539f1c65112a96bcbfe8db01faea71828cf 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=481d0d70a33113887000489972a73539f1c65112a96bcbfe8db01faea71828cf 

- In a speech at the state Democratic Party convention on Sunday, Sanchez apologized, chalking the misstep up to the fact she doesn't "hide behind the handlers." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e069a158abf65aee2417cd7fd834263d239752ec5740db53739d2f99705f9647 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e069a158abf65aee2417cd7fd834263d239752ec5740db53739d2f99705f9647 

ON A DIFFERENT TRACK - "Toomey changes his tune on train safety system," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle: "For years, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey has campaigned to delay a multibillion dollar railroad safety technology, calling it an 'exorbitantly expensive unfunded mandate.' But officials say the technology would have prevented this week's deadly train crash in Philadelphia. And Democrats argue that the railroads were starved of the money necessary to finish it. Interviewed two days after the crash, Toomey had abandoned some of his budget-cutting bombast of years past. He's dropped his sponsorship of legislation that would postpone the safety system rollout for several
 more years, after supporting it in previous Congresses. And he says the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that he was trying to protect from unnecessary spending no longer needs a delay." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbd3ef2222076edff1bdd1856dad052345f62d2c9fe1b95b420b2cb1ddc1215a 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbd3ef2222076edff1bdd1856dad052345f62d2c9fe1b95b420b2cb1ddc1215a 

- "Portman takes friendly fire from GOP on currency amendment," by POLITICO's Manu Raju: "The Ohio Republican is locked in an increasingly tense battle with his party over his plan to target countries trying to suppress the value of their currency, a measure GOP critics say is so toxic it would kill the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest trade accord in history. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) and the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), are adamantly opposed to the currency measure, with Cornyn and Portman clashing during a committee meeting last month. The conservative editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal have repeatedly lashed Portman's
 'killer amendment," saying he's "abandoning his policy chops in favor of re-election politics.'" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04bbc42ec9d903c4d8fda9fb000f9520e3c6f0b3c16314b28592b2b1111a1231 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=04bbc42ec9d903c4d8fda9fb000f9520e3c6f0b3c16314b28592b2b1111a1231 

RUSS SPEAKS - Feingold gives first interview as a candidate to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Craig Gilbert: In his first interview since announcing a rematch against GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, former Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold called the pending trade legislation "a raw deal for American workers." He said Johnson "almost never sides with workers or consumers." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=73c1e8294a7a89b57b17934f6065947018237be6a2b075ff356b8130f501cab4 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c6a3507f02b9fd04461af5527b939545cd52c7562df153d79318adcdd1c378f2 

GUINTA: I'M SORRY. UNION LEADER: GET OUT. - "Guinta apologizes to supporters in statement," from the New Hampshire Union Leader: "In a statement posted on his web site and emailed to supporters on Sunday night, Rep. Frank Guinta doubled-down on several assertions about his campaign finances that federal officials found violated election laws, landing him one of the biggest fines levied against a congressman this year. Guinta said documents he provided to the Federal Election Commission proved the funds he loaned his campaign - $355,000 during his first primary election - belonged to him. But federal officials said the loan illegally came from money in his parents' account. The FEC said
 Guinta received several checks from his parents totaling $381,000. Of that money, $355,000 ended up in Guinta's campaign war chest, according to the FEC report." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cdd0a2619a2488e4d2ed0432a633fa777c32ee95016805dbd7295a478117f8a0 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cdd0a2619a2488e4d2ed0432a633fa777c32ee95016805dbd7295a478117f8a0 

- The Union Leader called for his resignation - after running a one-line editorial on Friday in which publisher Joe McQuaid called the congressman "a damned liar": "Guinta's story about his illegal campaign contributions is not credible. When others questioned his story, he attacked their character and lied about the investigation. His disgraceful behavior has shattered the trust placed in him by the people of New Hampshire. The only action he can take now to salvage any sliver of a good name for himself is resignation. He should do it immediately." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=365176c48a754d12fc00a08057590bbdc27ce4873cfd2c496fd6a4539d402b39 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=365176c48a754d12fc00a08057590bbdc27ce4873cfd2c496fd6a4539d402b39 

POLITICO PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPEED READ: 

 - "Scott Walker's Iowa dilemma," By James Hohmann and Katie Glueck and Eli Stokols: "When Jeb Bush revealed this week that he will blow off the state GOP's famed August straw poll, he left the future of the event to Scott Walker. Since all of the top-tier presidential prospects are waiting to see who will compete before they commit to the straw poll this year, if the Wisconsin governor - and current Iowa front-runner - declines to participate, there's a good chance Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and other candidates will follow suit." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bd8f82eb0fd7ec24211e4b96b4da25bd91c6c1a4ad58bd4cce78b34cae0e3aa5 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bd8f82eb0fd7ec24211e4b96b4da25bd91c6c1a4ad58bd4cce78b34cae0e3aa5 

- "Iowa GOP Lincoln Dinner: 5 takeaways," by Eli Stokols from Des Moines: "Most of the major Republican candidates could be found pressing the flesh in some corner of the first-in-the-nation caucus state, culminating with 11 hopefuls converging here in a downtown ballroom filled with 1400 party members and activists Saturday night. All were hoping for a breakthrough moment at the Iowa Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner - the kind of electric response that Scott Walker generated in a single January speech that propelled him to the head of the pack." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=da8cc5f8961c2632b6b5b02139520587f416296f79b789c911b2743860349a97 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=da8cc5f8961c2632b6b5b02139520587f416296f79b789c911b2743860349a97 

- "Clinton backers defend link to PAC," by Gabriel Debenedetti: "When the pro-Hillary Clinton group Correct The Record announced on Tuesday that it would register itself as a super PAC, it brought an operation built by a devoted Clinton ally closer to the campaign itself - and potentially closer to the limits of campaign-finance laws that require separation between super PACs and campaign organizations." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a8107a4fffffd39020eb9fef6756bc2dc494594d350807ce9f7ef67360882210 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a8107a4fffffd39020eb9fef6756bc2dc494594d350807ce9f7ef67360882210 

- "Bush insists he's not writing off Iowa," by Eli Stokols from Des Moines: "Between his low standing in state polls, the socially conservative bent of the Iowa GOP base and his decision to skip the state's straw poll in August, Bush has lots of incentives to give up on Iowa next year. Republicans here know it, which is why the former Florida governor spent his weekend reassuring them he hasn't already written off the state as a lost cause." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=feff0f9a7e29a105ac0683f8716525eb0a553d01fc6fe2a1e18c3adcb86bf359 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=feff0f9a7e29a105ac0683f8716525eb0a553d01fc6fe2a1e18c3adcb86bf359 

- "Jeb bends with the wind," by Marc Caputo: "After a week of misinterpreting, misspeaking and mismanaging the media over his position on the Iraq war, Jeb Bush's hoped-for shock-and-awe campaign-in-waiting looked nothing like a political juggernaut ... [M]any supporters are getting jittery because he appeared ill-equipped to appreciate and manage the demands of the modern-day, 24-hour news cycle. And, they note, this isn't the first time Bush has floundered over what he believes - a waffling that could undermine his reputation as a deep-thinking ideas man comfortable in his own skin." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2b974f7bbd320262d17e5d23782f8964a89ff91bd1f2eab4461a0781fedd923 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2b974f7bbd320262d17e5d23782f8964a89ff91bd1f2eab4461a0781fedd923 

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I'm going to be here. I'm here right now! Why would I be here if I wasn't going to compete in Iowa?'" - Bush, at a fundraiser for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) over the weekend

Go to POLITICO Morning Score Now >> http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d547460e280d258ba5f5f062bca14d3096e946c5b25be9fc0bd46cc9c48c9f87

Go to this edition >> http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c449d4c38cec7bf72eb71b5f051e08da22506c53d11d69d566406b9042707704

=================================

2015 POLITICO, LLC

POLITICO Morning Score.

To unsubscribe, http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d7d4d2a2ad3d8985095259d5c25fd3f1b32a79c6776daa8ae3c8859af3c6c97d

=================================