Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Money matters: McCain raised nearly $1 million, Rep. Will Hurd $300,000 in Q4 — EMILY's List goes with Demings in FL-10 — ActBlue celebrates fundraising records
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:02:44 -0600

By Elena Schneider | 01/11/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Theodoric Meyer, Scott Bland and Kevin Robillard

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)

FIRST IN SCORE - GOP Rep. Will Hurd brought in about $300,000 in the fourth quarter, ending the year with $1 million in cash on hand, according to Hurd's campaign. Hurd's kept a steady fundraising pace throughout the year as he prepares for a potentially tight race with the district's former Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego, who's seeking a rematch. Gallego's team has not yet released his numbers yet. Texas' 23rd District leans Republican, but in a presidential year with potentially higher Hispanic turnout, the race is expected to be tight.

CASH DASH - "GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona raised $957,000 in the fourth quarter of 2015, his campaign said Saturday. The Republican incumbent spent through his cash nearly as quickly as he raised it, though, as his campaign prepares for primary and general election challenges in 2016. McCain finished 2015 with $5.1 million on hand; he had already banked nearly $5 million by the end of the previous quarter. More here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc2ae214de661206d2fe7758a7eb01052f8e6b9b3839abe4b0d70ed4bfe0d43b

CASH DASH ONLINE - ActBlue, Democrats' digital fundraising hub, is closing in on $1 billion raised: ActBlue raised its 900-millionth dollar last week, following up on a record-breaking fourth quarter that saw online donors use it to make more contributions to Democratic committees than ever before. (That's including the crunch-time quarters of the last two federal election years.) The group's number of "Express" users (ones who can make one-click donations because they've saved credit card info from a previous donation) grew to over 2 million, which helped push the share of mobile donations to 35 percent last quarter. At the equivalent time before the last presidential race, less than 3
 percent of contributions were coming in via mobile device.

- "That's the big question," said ActBlue executive director Erin Hill, on when dollar number one billion will come through. "I think we'll have a pool in the office soon. The last hundred million came in less than four months." Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is the single biggest driver of that right now, but giving is up across the board, and it's getting easier for more people to do it again because of that Express feature - something Republicans will be watching closely in congressional races as they heat up later this year. "It's going to be a very powerful investment in the fall when a lot of people are going to want to give and will be able to give as simply as possible," Hill
 said.

Days until the Iowa caucuses: 21. Days until the 2016 election: 302.

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GETTING THE NOD - EMILY's List endorses Demings again: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4b2da6c8815246ae542cdcaf0c08ad4c7ffb2e73443f119d3eba285a0ea5d1f0

AMBASSADOR BOLTON'S BACKING - John Bolton, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, pledges support for eight Republican Senate candidates (seven incumbents) and eight Republican House incumbents for reelection. "In 2014 the John Bolton PAC helped elect majorities in both the House and the Senate and it is of the utmost importance that we keep these majorities intact for our next Republican president," Bolton said in a statement Friday. "These Senators and Representatives have a proven track record of sponsoring and voting for legislation that promotes and protects America's interests abroad." Bolton's super PAC spent nearly $6 million on congressional races in 2014,
 according to OpenSecrets.

- Endorsed candidates: U.S. Senators John McCain (AZ), Mark Kirk (IL), Joe Heck (NV), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Richard Burr (NC), Rob Portman (OH), Pat Toomey (PA), Ron Johnson (WI), and U.S. Representatives Martha McSally (AZ-7), Mike Coffman (CO-6), Bob Dold (IL-10), Lee Zeldin (NY-1), Elise Stefanik (NY-21), John Katko (NY-24), Will Hurd (TX-23), and Barbara Comstock (VA-10).

You're Invited - Morning Money with Rep. Kevin Brady: POLITICO's Ben White discusses the upcoming State of the Union Address, the U.S. economy and what it means for your hometown with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) AIA District Architecture Center - 421 7th St. NW; Monday, January 11 - 5 p.m. RSVP: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4b2da6c8815246ae6cf62840e0311178bd93a59bbe6c5053e0bae0b8a68ef444

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - SETTING THE STAGE - "Obama aims to rise above 2016 in final State of the Union," by POLITICO's Edward-Isaac Dovere: "...The closest Obama's going to come to 2016 politics in his State of the Union is setting the grand vision and offering an optimistic, aspirational contrast to the doomsday at-the-barricades mentality that's dominating the GOP primary race. In what will likely be his final night with all the national attention focused on him, Obama's taking a last shot at telling America what he thinks it can be, and trying to brand the future. It won't be a recap of his presidency, nor will Obama make the case for the third term that Clinton's been insisting on the
 trail she doesn't want. He also won't spend much time talking up the good parts of his record to push back on what Republicans call the failed Obama-Clinton economy and foreign policy. A speech like that, close Clinton allies say, would have been welcomed, and it would have reassured Democrats who are nervous that Obama doesn't intend to throw himself into securing the White House for his party." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4b2da6c8815246ae3828266aa9b430788b60f67b8b007c48f3378662a31ee643

- "In a tightening race, Clinton and Sanders go after each other's strengths," by the Washington Post's Karen Tumulty, John Wagner and Anne Gearan: "The two leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination intensified their attacks on each other Sunday, reflecting a tightening race in the early-contest states. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are each taking aim at the other's political strengths, not their weaknesses. The former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic favorite is emphasizing the issue of gun control as a testament to her liberalism - and undermining Sanders' case that he is more in tune with the passions of the party's left-leaning base. Meanwhile, the
 Vermont senator, a democratic socialist, is making the argument that he is the more electable candidate against the ultimate Republican nominee. That has been Clinton's appeal to Democrats' pragmatism." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4b2da6c8815246ae1bb68f690332a53e82cb74a6b8ecfc6e5ee6f28db98cea95 

- "Vegas billionaire donor keeps GOP candidates guessing," by The Hill's Jonathan Swan: "Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson has joked privately that he belongs to a divided household: He likes Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and his wife Miriam likes Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. But the truth, more than half a dozen sources close to Adelson say, is more complicated. The casino owner, who together with his wife spent nearly $100 million in the 2012 campaign cycle, is still weighing his options. "The guy is cagey," said a conservative leader with ties into the donor community who spoke with Adelson recently. "He said 'I like Rubio,' he did not say 'I support him' ... But he also said that his spouse
 feels more strongly about Cruz." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4b2da6c8815246ae5334ab2fa2dc1df46f1d158d8ab8f1df40e99e7b52e2a33b

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Eva Longoria and America Ferrara aren't just beautiful, talented actresses. They're also two people who your future president, Donald Trump, can't wait to deport," said Ricky Gervais, host of the Golden Globes last night. 

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