Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score, presented by Pandora: Planned Parenthood will play in Senate — Club for Growth endorses Shimkus challenger
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 2016 09:02:17 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 01/07/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Elena Schneider, Kevin Robillard, Scott Bland and Isaac Arnsdorf

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)

MOVING INTO ATTACK POSITION - "Planned Parenthood gears up for 2016 offensive," by POLITICO's Anna Palmer: "Planned Parenthood, facing attacks from conservatives in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail, is ramping up its election-year political efforts in key battleground states, adding senior staff and preparing to spend more than $20 million." The group plans to shell out on the presidential race as well as Senate races in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, Colorado and Nevada. "The women's health care group is also shoring up its in-house talent, bringing on Matt Burgess, national political director for Everytown for Gun Safety, as its political director."
 politi.co/1ZadWIE

HOW THEY VOTED - Few break party ranks in Planned Parenthood vote: Almost no Democrats voted for a bill on Wednesday that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and strip funding for Planned Parenthood, and almost no Republicans voted against it. The exceptions: Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, a longtime abortion opponent, backed the bill. GOP Reps. Bob Dold of Illinois and John Katko of New York, both of whom are expected to face tough Democratic challenges in November, voted against it, as did GOP Rep. Richard Hanna of New York, who is retiring. The DSCC leaped on Nevada GOP Rep. Joe Heck's vote fo the bill, in particular. President Barack Obama is expected to veto the
 legislation.

SEAL OF APPROVAL - Shimkus challenger scores Club for Growth endorsement: The Club for Growth today endorsed GOP Rep. John Shimkus' primary challenger, Illinois state Sen. Kyle McCarter. McCarter is only the second incumbent primary challenger the Club has endorsed this cycle, after Jim Duncan, an opponent of GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers' in North Carolina. Club president David McIntosh called Shimkus "the epitome of what's wrong with Congress" in a statement, noting his lifetime Club vote score of 66 percent, including a 34 percent mark in 2014. McCarter filed to run in October and hailed the Club's endorsement in an interview. "They define what a conservative is," he said.

Days until the Iowa caucuses: 25. Days until the 2016 election: 306.

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GETTING THE NOD - Craig lands endorsements in MN-02 run: Hours after Mary Lawrence exited the Democratic primary race for Minnesota's 2nd District, her Democratic opponent, Angie Craig, picked up several key endorsements in her bid to replace GOP Rep. John Kline. EMILY's List, the pro-abortion rights group, backed Craig on Wednesday, calling her a "progressive champion and business leader," in its statement. And Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Tim Walz, both fellow Minnesota Democrats, also announced their support for Craig.
 
SCORE INTERVIEW - Democratic self-funder in FL-18 says he'll spend 'whatever money it takes': Randy Perkins cleared his own primary path after the businessman said he would be willing to spend an unlimited sum on campaign to replace Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, who's running for Florida's open Senate seat. Melissa McKinlay, a Palm Beach County commissioner, dropped out of the primary in November, specifically citing "a multimillionaire self-funded candidate," as her reason for exiting. For his part, Perkins calls that move "her decision." Perkins raised more than $420,000 in the last month, but he'll still likely face stiff competition in a late general election, including a possible
 self-funding opponent. 

- On what he's willing to spend of his own money to win: "I'm committed to put in whatever money it takes. We'll make that decision as we move forward, so there's no set limit to where we're going to stop putting money in, but I'll also aggressively raise money in the district and other places, as we already have." 

- On self-funders, like Donald Trump, in 2016: "[Americans] feel that [economic disparity] is because of special interests who have the money to invest political races, to buy influence, to buy favors, and I just think that you really see it all come together in this election cycle in how angry and mad they are. So we're very careful and selective about how and who we're going to raise money from." Pros can read more here: politico.pro/1OcULn6

FIRST IN SCORE - Citizens United endorses Shelby challenger: Citizens United Political Victory Fund has endorsed Jonathan McConnell, who's challenging Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby in the Republican primary on March 1. "Over the 37 years Richard Shelby has been in Washington, he has gleefully presided over the out of control federal spending habits that has resulted in our $19 trillion national debt" Citizens United President David Bossie said in a statement, adding that Alabamians who support Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Ben Carson should vote for McConnell. The PAC also gave McConnell $5,000 - a pittance compared to the $19.4 million Shelby had in his campaign account at the close of the third
 quarter.

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Sanders cracks Clinton's Nevada firewall," by POLITICO's Annie Karni in Las Vegas: "Hillary Clinton has been on the ground in Nevada since last April. Bernie Sanders only began building up his organization here late in the fall. But the state that's been touted as Clinton's firewall against the Vermont senator in the event he generates any momentum out of the whiter and more liberal states of Iowa and New Hampshire is suddenly looking like it's in play, potentially opening another unexpected early state front. Sanders is playing catch up - and fast. He has now hired almost twice the number of staffers on the ground in Nevada - 40 to Clinton's 22. And he has opened
 nine field offices across the state compared to Clinton's five." politi.co/1VKLEiy

- "Rubio ditches thrift and flies private jets almost exclusively," by POLITICO's Shane Goldmacher: After spending most of 2015 bragging about its thriftiness when it came to flying commercial and coach, Marco Rubio quietly has been using a private jet almost exclusively for his campaign travel for nearly two months and plans to continue to do so through the primaries. The jet-setting represents a dramatic about-face for the Rubio campaign. As recently as last September, Rubio campaign manager Terry Sullivan bragged that "Marco flies 95 percent commercial, always coach." But not anymore. "Now, Rubio is spending an estimated tens of thousands of dollars every day to keep a small Cessna
 Citation Excel plane by his side." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f9c8a04b9493947aa8d14413f2162febbe03f78871df8abc282aae86b2e6df8e

- "Marco Rubio's campaign has hired Gary Marx, a prominent Republican strategist with deep ties to the evangelical world, as his senior adviser for conservative outreach," National Review's Tim Alberta reports. Marx was working for Scott Walker's campaign before he dropped out of the race. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f9c8a04b9493947a14227a8e1b9bb8e67adfa4aba4a58f45b0afbafd22ac2396

- "Rand Paul says he's not sure if Ted Cruz is eligible to be president," by BuzzFeed News' Andrew Kaczynski: Following Donald Trump's lead, "Rand Paul said on Wednesday that he's not sure if his Canadian-born rival for the Republican presidential nomination Ted Cruz is eligible to be president of the United States. 'You know, I think without question he is qualified and would make the cut to be prime minister of Canada, absolutely without question, he is qualified and he meets the qualifications,' the Kentucky senator said of Cruz on the radio show 'Kilmeade and Friends.'" bzfd.it/1ONQD2J

- Christie returns to the air in the Granite State: Chris Christie's campaign is returning to New Hampshire's airwaves for the first time since September with a small $22,000 buy. Christie's new ad swipes back at the Marco Rubio super PAC's attacks against him with clips from a recent speech in which Christie implored Republicans to work together to defeat Hillary Clinton. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f9c8a04b9493947a65a7100eaeba95dfa65a2992f8d9cf03095f0a3a5996dbe3

- Biden's lament: "I regret it every day," Vice President Joe Biden says of his decision not to run, via The Associated Press. apne.ws/1ZOwUBy

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Listen middle class people like me have had enough or Harry Reeds bullshit and yours to. People like you and Reed steal our money and piss it away. Why don't you go get a real job like cleaning the floors at the Oboma Mansion in Hawaii." - Keith Kalbach, writing in an email to Federal Election Commissioner Ann Ravel released Tuesday by the FEC. Kalbach apparently was not amused by a request by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid to continue using the money in his campaign account after he leaves office next year. 1.usa.gov/1IS0Clh

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