Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: New House race rankings — GOP wants to stop Angle Senate bid
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 08:04:46 -0600

By Elena Schneider | 10/26/2015 10:03 AM EDT

With Kevin Robillard and Theodoric Meyer

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro's Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races - and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day's most important campaign news - sign up for Campaign Pro today. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

TODAY ON CAMPAIGN PRO -- "Campaign Pro's House race rankings: Ryan settles the landscape," by Campaign Pro's Steve Shepard, Theodoric Meyer, Elena Schneider: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1afb741ef5fe96ccae6e0dc8253f4ff2f8f820565881f08a28980fa7e37f6bac

NEVADA HEADACHE -- "GOP tries to head off Angle Senate bid," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Elena Schneider: "Republicans have had enough of Sharron Angle, the one-time Senate hopeful who crashed and burned against then-Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010. And now the GOP in Nevada and Washington is trying to chase her out of another campaign that could again jeopardize their chances of capturing Reid's Senate seat. ...Republicans do not believe that Angle can beat Heck, who is a major recruiting coup for Republicans in one of the only competitive open-seat elections in 2016. But there are two worries: That she could drag Heck to the right and leave Cortez-Masto running room in purple
 Nevada, and that she could drain Heck's resources before an expensive general election. ...A divisive GOP food fight in Nevada would unquestioningly aid Democratic efforts to win the four or five Senate seats the party needs (depending on the result of the presidential election) to win back control of the chamber." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1afb741ef5fe96ccb20928f710e975eb31af7ba821611271ba78402e00e667d4

Days until the 2015 election: 8. Days until the 2016 election: 379.

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ON THE RECORD WITH ANDREA ZOPP -- On a spin through Washington last week, Zopp stopped by POLITICO to talk about her Democratic primary against Rep. Tammy Duckworth as they fight to take on Republican Sen. Mark Kirk next year. But first, Zopp must overcome poor name recognition, up her fundraising totals and survive a primary, where she says she'll make her mark with her "breadth of experience" and "track record of addressing issues." Whereas Duckworth, Zopp said, hasn't used her time in the House "to move the needle on anything that's difficult." 

On Duckworth: "She's fairly unique in that, in my view, she has a personal story that is compelling in its own right ... we've seen in the past that that doesn't always translate into people coming out to vote." 

On why she's the better candidate against Kirk: "If the base doesn't come out, and you're looking at moderate to conservative Democrats, I can appeal to them in a way that I don't think she can." 

On the 2016 Democratic field: "I am a supporter, unsurprisingly to you all, of a strong primary, I think it's good for the party and I'm thrilled to see that. As long as it continues to stay strong, I think it's a great thing. So I don't have a candidate." 

On a possible 2018 gubernatorial run: "Right now, no. Right now, I'm focused on this race. ... After that is after that. I haven't gotten that far." 

On short-term criminal justice goals: "My Brother's Keepers' Initiatives that the president's working on, some of the police trainings, the buy-backs to get some guns off the streets, are some immediate things you can do, so yes, there's a lot you can do as senator to push those resources."

VITTER MEETS THE PRESS: Sen. David Vitter gave a rare interview to the New Orleans Advocate the day after squeaking into the state's gubernatorial runoff and said stories about his 2007 sex scandal and the arrest of a private investigator working for his campaign were irrelevant to the campaign. "They don't want to talk about the issues," Vitter said. "They don't want to talk about the votes and [John Bel Edwards'] history." Vitter, accused of dodging debates during the preliminary election, is eager to have debates during the runoff. "I look forward to those," he said. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eb1ef4908c78e0897ed4372769f5873ccea1132838efb8ad53d7a10e2fed51b7

SPEAKING OF WHICH, ICYMI -- "Vitter barely makes Louisiana governor runoff," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "David Vitter barely survived months of attacks - including explicit references to his 2007 prostitution scandal - to outlast two other Republicans in Saturday's Louisiana gubernatorial primary and earn a spot in a runoff election next month. But now the toughest test yet looms for Vitter: What was once expected to be an easy race against the lone major Democratic candidate has the scandal-marred second-term senator again fighting for his political life. State Rep. John Bel Edwards - who finished first in Saturday's open primary with 40 percent of the vote, according to The
 Associated Press - starts the month-long sprint to the runoff ahead of Vitter in the polls. Louisiana is an unlikely pick-up opportunity for Democrats - a party that doesn't control a governorship or state legislative chamber in the Deep South after decades of dominance." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eb1ef4908c78e089b57d872ba3944423aa6209c1cd170014ce838161628d8268

FIRST IN SCORE -- " GOP FRIGHT FEST" -- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will release a series of Halloween-themed reports this week. First up, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who Democrats are criticizing for his comments on a possible default crisis. The report will read: "A default would have a disastrous impact on our economy at a time when many working families are just regaining their footing, but Senator Toomey seems to care more about Washington parlor games than stopping this catastrophe and Pennsylvania families deserve better."

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Bernie Sanders goes on the attack at Iowa Democratic dinner," by Annie Karni and Glenn Thrush in Des Moines: "Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary Clinton a pass on her "damn emails," but he's giving her hell on just about everything else. On Saturday night, at the high-stakes Democratic Jefferson-Jackson dinner, the Vermont senator launched a new, frontal attack on Clinton's record, caution and character - a direct response to her recent surge in the polls here and nationally, and fueled by her strong performance at the first Democratic debate earlier this month. The shift represents a gamble: Can a nice-guy candidate publicly dedicated to running on substance turn
 to attack mode without sacrificing his reputation as an authentic voice of the people?" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eb1ef4908c78e08909ca2db9747acdf5776a3c9477b66b6f71538d0e9e7d5b4d 

Trump mocks Bush campaign cuts at Jacksonville rally," by POLITICO Florida's Daniel Ducassi in Jacksonville, Fla.: "Donald Trump descended on North Florida on Saturday and took shots at nearly all of his presidential rivals, including Floridians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, in a meandering hour-long speech before more than a thousand supporters. "Here's a guy who wants to run our country, and he can't even run his own campaign," Trump said of Bush, referring to the former Florida governor's move to make drastic cuts to his campaign . "He's cutting back big." Trump said Bush has "no money" and "no votes," and referred to his rival's fundraising trip to Houston this weekend, saying Bush is
 'meeting today with Mommy and Daddy and they're working on their campaign.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eb1ef4908c78e089ecbe457be20a21a386c0b9e4c9a461d37b4770fb1983785c

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Yeah, I brought the old [man] with me." -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), bringing Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as they stumped for Graham's presidential campaign in New Hampshire. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eb1ef4908c78e0898adbcc660237d34ababbc077d794131d61f08aa49671dd7c 

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