Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: House Republicans wait and see on Trump — Ricketts to endorse Trump, Rauner to skip convention — How Stutzman lost the Indiana Senate primary
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 May 2016 08:02:58 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 05/06/2016 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)

WITHHOLDING SUPPORT - "House Republicans fear possible 'Trump effect,'" by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer and Scott Bland: "In the 48 hours since Donald Trump essentially clinched the GOP presidential nomination, many House Republicans facing tough elections this fall have grasped for a third way between embracing Trump and rejecting him: stalling for time. House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke for many of his members Thursday when asked on CNN whether he was ready to support Trump, saying "I'm just not there yet." A number of Ryan's most vulnerable colleagues had already said much the same thing. Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman said Trump had a long way to go to earn his support. Reps. Rod Blum (Iowa)
 and John Katko (N.Y.) simply did not respond to requests for comment. Several congressional Republicans, like Michigan Rep. Mike Bishop, tempered statements that they would support the GOP nominee with criticism of how Trump has conducted his campaign."

- "The filibustering reflects a spot of rare agreement, for once this year, between Democrats and Republicans: Trump's poll numbers are worse than any presidential nominee's in history, but there is no evidence yet that Trump's unpopularity is harming Republicans running for Congress down the ballot. Polling in the swing district of Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Long Island Republican who endorsed Trump this week, showed Trump leading Hillary Clinton there, Zeldin said. ... 'It's probably been decades since you've had a Republican nominee this poised to crush it in this district,' Zeldin said. ... The DCCC has spent the two days since Trump's Indiana win relentlessly linking GOP House members to 'the
 Trump ticket,' laying the groundwork for a break later in the cycle." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e2128bdfbe257eaa1437912ca6fe44e685d9dd20e2102b2dc31

- "How Ryan decided to ditch Trump," by POLITICO's Jake Sherman: "On Wednesday morning, not even 24 hours after Donald Trump effectively clinched the Republican nomination, Paul Ryan convened his top advisers for a call. ... Ryan never expected Trump to lock up the nomination so quickly. He didn't think Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would drop out of the race in May. In fact, Ryan's orbit was preparing for a contested convention in Cleveland, where he is slated to serve as chairman, effectively the emcee of the Trump coronation. The decision was made quickly. The next day he would go on CNN and make it official, in no uncertain terms." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e2122327103742c52e57a4630c5af6418a9c9aca85374fc483d

- GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois, meanwhile, says he won't endorse Donald Trump or attend the Republican National Convention, The Chicago Tribune reports. But Rauner had previously said he would support the Republican nominee even if it was Trump, and aides "stressed their are various levels of 'support.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e218a8cc2b6969caaca13c5a6c54c2d1d61470d8b2a24e39b46

- But Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts will. He's expected to endorse Trump tomorrow at a rally in Omaha, The Wall Street Journal reports. The endorsement is notable because Ricketts' wealthy family had previously helped fund Our Principles PAC, an anti-Trump super PAC. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21358bbf3ce32e2598da5fbbee837465b8b296607640970484

HOW HE LOST - "Former Stutzman allies blame shakeup, strategic mistakes for loss," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21909cda83f7bbeb015758a0853e04c90d6af2691f8f6cd622

Days until the Nebraska and West Virginia primaries: 4. Days until the 2016 election: 186. 

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

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SUCCESSFUL APPEALS - Blaha, Frazier return to Colorado GOP Senate primary ballot:  Businessman Robert Blaha and former Aurora city councilman Ryan Frazier will both appear on the GOP Senate primary ballot in Colorado, but votes for Frazier will only be counted if he wins an appeal before the state's Supreme Court. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21660d137a5be3e88cc6e438167425e1767e0cbabb14d1ef73

A DEMOCRAT FOR TRUMP - Local Democrats won't support House nominee in IN-03: "Democrats in northeast Indiana apparently have nominated a Donald Trump supporter as their congressional candidate," The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's Brian Francisco reports. "Tommy A. Schrader of Fort Wayne emerged Tuesday from a three-way contest of little-known candidates, winning 37.5 percent of the vote in the Democratic Party's primary election. Schrader, a perennial candidate who captured his first congressional nomination in five attempts, did not publicly campaign or report raising money for the race. On March 31, Schrader called The Journal Gazette from a Starbucks and left this message: 'I was thinking
 about endorsing Donald Trump because he's pro-life and he speaks the truth.'" State Sen. Jim Banks, who the GOP primary, is expected to win easily. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21e7ef995331f2693bdb166442cb9a67a7149dba58671a8913

AIR SUPPORT - Super PAC backing Portman starting TV today: A super PAC formed to back GOP Sen. Rob Portman's reelection bid will run its first TV ads Friday. It's the first major expenditure for the group, which is the best funded of a host of single-candidate super PACs that have sprung up to support Republican senators this year. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21df666f0172eed16ebdd3321f6155b2350ba8edbef8db43be

- Senate Majority PAC starts making fall TV reservations in New Hampshire: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e2109a3f24e427edad624c3662e90930f51ba25e1fb7344abeb

CASH RACE - Comer outraises GOP rivals ahead of KY-01 primary: With 11 days to go before the primary, James Comer has far more cash left on hand than either of his two GOP primary rivals in the race for retiring GOP Rep. Ed Whitfield's seat in Kentucky's 1st District. Comer, a former state agriculture commissioner and gubernatorial candidate, has raised more than $700,000 and had about $373,000 left in his campaign account on March 27, the end of the pre-primary reporting period. Mike Pape, Whitfield's longtime district director, has raised about $306,000 and had about $96,000 left ahead of the May 17 primary. Jason Batts, the Hickman County attorney, has raised about $170,000 and had about
 $39,000 left. The western Kentucky seat is safely Republican.

GOING POSITIVE - Pence follows Gregg onto the airwaves: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is out with the first ad of his reelection campaign, one day after Democratic nominee John Gregg released his own spot. Like Gregg's spot, the ad features Hoosiers getting up and going to work. But it puts a more positive spin on the situation. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21c7c1c2b4fe0654e389ddf83a1c90f41b4b92325b53fc0e9b

GOING NEGATIVE - Feingold ads hit back on VA: Democrat Russ Feingold's Wisconsin Senate campaign is out with a new ad aiming to rebut claims that he did little to prevent a scandal at the VA Hospital in Tomah, Wis. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21c48a0d76443e89b0aa96135630bf25bfd27b6737787f897c

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Sheldon Adelson says he will support Donald Trump," by The New York Times' Thomas Kaplan and Maggie Haberman: "The casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson said on Thursday night that he would support Donald J. Trump now that he has become the Republican Party's presumptive nominee. 'Yes, I'm a Republican, he's a Republican,' Mr. Adelson said in a brief interview. 'He's our nominee. Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17 - he was one of the 17. He won fair and square.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e210d787cac0760f641fed9e76fdb31a0751de3a3d10aa3ae7b

- "Trump tasks aide Michael Glassner with convention planning," by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel and Alex Isenstadt: "Donald Trump is tasking one of his closest aides - deputy campaign manager Michael Glassner - with putting the presumptive GOP nominee's mark on the party's convention, multiple sources with knowledge of the move tell POLITICO. Glassner is set to travel next week with a delegation from the campaign to the convention site, Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, to assess the convention planning and receive a briefing from Republican National Committee officials involved in convention planning, according to the sources." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21160f7cc1e72f5502344c11a414de9c604c83adb89b70f1ee

- "Sanders poised for May win streak," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "Here's one reason Bernie Sanders is reluctant to give up the fight: May is shaping up to be a pretty good month for him. On the heels of his Indiana victory Tuesday, Sanders is well-positioned for wins in the upcoming West Virginia and Oregon primaries. That might explain his it's-just-a-flesh-wound approach to the nearly insurmountable delegate math confronting him, and his dogged insistence that" he'll stay in until the last votes are counted. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21787b1c0d3ddfcb5d1f48b43e12c7ada9e102eda740208d0e

- "Hillary forces target Bush donors," by POLITICO's Ben White in New York: "Hillary Clinton's supporters in recent days have been making a furious round of calls to top Bush family donors to try to convince them that she represents their values better than Donald Trump, multiple sources in both parties told POLITICO. The moves come as Clinton and the Democratic Party try to take advantage of deep unease among establishment Republicans on Wall Street and elsewhere with Trump's emergence as the presumptive Republican nominee. ... One person close to Clinton said supporters of the former secretary of state drew up a list of Wall Street donors who supported Jeb Bush and other unsuccessful
 Republican candidates months ago but wanted to wait until Trump locked down the nomination before beginning to make the calls." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21095bcf0d406d412b0b4c8ee761476bb8359d6712f890dbb6

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "That's frankly just in the class of kind of nutty things." - GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, asked by CNN's Manu Raju about Donald Trump's proposed wall. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0713ee4c4a0c4e21a6696ee96708f2bebd0a4f1fc4c2fd014973753b9d457729

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