Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score, presented by Sinclair Broadcast Group: Republican governors head to Vegas — Edwards hits back on refugees in Louisiana — The Kochs' intelligence arm
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2015 09:01:53 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 11/18/2015 10:00 AM EDT

With Kevin Robillard, Elena Schneider and Scott Bland

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)

RGA CONFERENCE PREVIEW - "Republican governors: A winning machine," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "When the Republican Governors Association gathered in Miami for its annual conference after the 2008 election, nearly the entire roster of GOP chief executives managed to crowd onto a small stage behind Rick Perry, then the governor of Texas and the group's chairman, for a press conference. If the GOP governors want to try the same trick at their 2015 conference in Las Vegas this week, they'll need a bigger stage. The group's sheer size highlights how it became one of the most successful organizations in politics in the past seven years." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b7933c0796b83b943c8d7dfea2c9094527f0a61d70d40e184852455f834a0666

AIR WAR - New John Bel Edwards ad emphasizes opposition to bringing Syrians to Louisiana: A new ad from Democrat John Bel Edwards, the Louisiana gubernatorial candidate, released on Tuesday strikes back against an ad from his GOP opponent, David Vitter, that accused Edwards of working with President Barack Obama to bring Syrian refugees to Louisiana in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris. "Following the attacks in Paris, I immediately called for an end to bringing Syrian refugees to Louisiana," Edwards says in the ad, as text on screen notes that he's been endorsed by the state sheriffs' and state troopers' associations. "It comes as no surprise that David Vitter is distorting the
 facts and trying to use this tragedy to save his desperate campaign."

- Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b7933c0796b83b943ee094fbe080390e9bd7b7521b4f2e74bc0ea5d5942c50d5

COVERT OPERATIONS - "The Koch intelligence agency," by POLITICO's Ken Vogel: The political network helmed by Charles and David Koch has quietly built a secretive operation that conducts surveillance and intelligence gathering on its liberal opponents, viewing it as a key strategic tool in its efforts to reshape American public life. The operation, which is little-known even within the Koch network, gathers what Koch insiders refer to as "competitive intelligence" that is used to try to thwart liberal groups and activists, and to identify potential threats to the expansive network." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b7933c0796b83b94781ff31e3a4c67b011840bfa3db528b9f55cf7e1a0ada9f1

Days until the Louisiana runoff: 3. Days until the 2016 election: 356.

Thanks for joining us. Email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked].

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about the Maryland Terrapins: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @kyledcheney.

** A message from Sinclair Broadcast Group: Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest and most diversified television broadcasting company in the country today, delivers not only TV, the primary medium for reaching potential voters, but also targetable digital (mobile, video, email, social media and native) ad solutions. Contact Alan Brittan @ 703-236-9673. Sinclair, busy - Making Political Ads Work! **

REDISTRICTING CHAOS - "Virginia redistricting proposal threatens Randy Forbes' career," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb5b598b6e7f5381565f2811dc4b8983bf62c2a4a3071c677ed

ROUND TWO - Hanna to face primary challenger again in a rematch: GOP state Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney, who came close (46.5 perecent of the primary vote) to unseating GOP Rep. Richard Hanna in New York's 22nd District last year, will challenge Hanna again in 2016, she announced on Tuesday. "I came closer than even I thought I would" last year, Tenney told Campaign Pro when asked why she was running again. It was one of the closest calls any House Republican faced in a primary last year, just weeks after then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his renomination race, and Tenney says she's better this time around. She entered the last race less than three months ahead of the primary.

"This time we're starting early," she said. "We've got seven months until the primary, which will give us time to get our message out." Tenney's campaign still had more than $110,000 in debt left over from her last run at the end of the third quarter, according to her Federal Election Commission report, but she's hoping fundraising will be easier this time since she can point to last year's race to show viability.

THE SON ALSO RISES - Jimmy Panetta running for California House seat: Jimmy Panetta, the son of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, announced today that he will run for retiring Rep. Sam Farr's safely Democratic seat, KSBW reported. Panetta served in the Navy Reserve, then joined the Monterey County District Attorney's Office as a prosecutor. Several other Democrats are reportedly eyeing the Central Coast seat, including state Sen. Bill Monning, Assemblyman Luis Alejo, and Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett. Casey Lucius, a Pacific Grove city councilwoman, is the lone announced Republican in the race. California's 20th District backed President Barack Obama by more than 70 percent in 2012 and
 2008. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb5ae845c74591796e07d5fc5d518e9c4d159a9aa442e364b1d

FIRST IN SCORE - CounterPAC targets Duckworth, Kirk in new ads: CounterPAC, a super PAC dedicated to combating outside political spending, will air new ads asking GOP Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois and one of his Democratic opponents, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, to disavow all outside money in a race that's likely to be flooded with it. The Kirk ad jokingly accuses the senator of being a "kitten killer" in response to Kirk's stated fear of a super PAC accusing him of strangling kittens. "Take the CounterPAC pledge to reject all outside money, or you might just get more ads like this," the narrator says. The 30-second spots will run online and during the Chicago Bears game on Sunday.

- Watch the Kirk ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb5abdce3890d0ad95d12489b93766433946d514c1c664c577a

- Watch the Duckworth ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb5f64f5841399c9ba7be3ece69f466f9c1f2acc685e1515feb

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Bobby Jindal drops out of White House race," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: The Republican presidential field shrunk to 14 candidates on Tuesday when Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana governor who's deeply unpopular in his own state, quit the race. "Jindal had struggled to gain traction as he centered his campaign on Iowa, a state with a large pool of evangelical voters, to whom the governor aggressively sought to appeal. He often failed to poll at even 1 percent in some surveys and underwhelmed in the money race - he had less than $300,000 in the bank heading into October. His low standing in polls meant that he failed to qualify for any of the prime-time Republican
 debates and was forced to participate in the less-watched undercard debates." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb5dfb341b57600c5816e1ba48dd65f0f03f6f4bda19a085d85

- "Rubio plans advertising push in New Hampshire," by The Boston Globe's Matt Viser: "Marco Rubio is preparing a New Hampshire advertising blitz in the final two months before presidential primary voters head to the polls, an onslaught that challenges rival Republican Jeb Bush for airwaves dominance and highlights the Granite State's importance to his nomination hopes. Rubio and an outside group supporting him have already reserved more than 1,900 spots - representing $2.8 million worth of television ads - on Manchester-based WMUR-TV, the state's dominant television station, according to a Globe review of filings with the Federal Communications Commission." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb58416b8faad971a60c84be6c14196808f94313c1ae8766518

- "Trump extends lead in New Hampshire poll," by POLITICO's Nick Gass: "Donald Trump is widening the gap between himself and his closest rivals in the first-in-the-nation primary, according to the results of a new WBUR poll released Wednesday morning surveying likely New Hampshire voters likely to vote in February's election. But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is the best-liked candidate." Trump led with 23 percent support, followed by Ben Carson and Marco Rubio at 13 percent each. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb536d1cde6abb2fd02e13b0237ac2183c4eb845116f0d7ea59

- "Ben Carson is struggling to grasp foreign policy, advisers say," by The New York Times' Trip Gabriel: "'Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East,' said Duane R. Clarridge, a top adviser to [Ben] Carson on terrorism and national security. He also said Mr. Carson needed weekly conference calls briefing him on foreign policy so 'we can make him smart.'" The Carson campaign pushed back against the story almost immediately, accusing The Times of taking "advantage of an elderly gentleman." (Clarridge is 83.) http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb597742732a4a7b7bc7456a8f05d1a8645bb1d4f8a97399e5a

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We spent a lot of time developing detailed policy papers, and given this crazy, unpredictable election season, clearly there just wasn't a lot of interest in those policy papers." - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who dropped out of the presidential race on Tuesday after GOP voters showed less interest in his campaign's policy papers than he had expected. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=701ef9551546cdb5d01524e66eb740f23395d8ff7cea6ed3412b87259e11f610

** A message from Sinclair Broadcast Group: The race for influence in the 2016 election cycle is gaining speed. Everyone is looking to reach as big of an audience as possible and get significant portions of that audience motivated and educated enough to vote and mobilize probable supporters. As the pace quickens, more will be trying to find an edge to influence voters their way. Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest and most diversified television broadcasting company in the country today, can help you break through the clutter. Utilizing both TV, the primary medium for reaching potential voters and targetable digital (mobile, video, email, social media and native) ad solutions, Sinclair
 Makes Political Ads Work! The bottom line is the bottom line - winning elections. At the Sinclair Broadcast Group, we have the ad tools necessary to help you to persuade, enlighten and activate voters. Contact Alan Brittan, Sinclair's Director of Political Ads for more details @ 703-236-9673. **

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