Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score, presented by Sinclair Broadcast Group: Harris, Sanchez still one-two in California Senate poll — Patriot Majority gives Norcross national help in Jersey primary — Trump, Sanders seemingly agree to debate
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 26 May 2016 08:02:29 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 05/26/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Elena Schneider 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)

GOLDEN STATE PRIMARY - Harris, Sanchez lead Senate poll: Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez top PPIC's latest California Senate survey with two weeks to go until the all-party, top-two primary on June 7. Harris took 27 percent in the poll to Sanchez's 19 percent, while all three of the main Republicans running were in single digits. If the results hold, they would be the first two Democrats to face off in a statewide race since California adopted its current primary system in 2010. In the presidential race, Hillary Clinton got 46 percent to Bernie Sanders' 44 percent in the survey. See the poll results here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6880d981c448d4441c9b0e6c69ec3b1d7ed86c4f0b852e7230c13c2e15e7d8cf

GARDEN STATE PRIMARY - "National group aids first-term Democrat in New Jersey primary," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: "Patriot Majority USA, a nationally focused Democratic nonprofit with ties to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, has spent more than $150,000" on mailers backing freshman Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross, "according to FEC documents - an unusual move for the group, which has never before made independent expenditures in a Democratic primary. The big spending is hitting New Jersey's 1st District during the home stretch of Norcross' increasingly bitter primary against political newcomer Alex Law. What's unclear is whether the money signals an incumbent in potential trouble -
 or one trying to flex political muscles and consolidate his position in his first reelection run." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d79b6983a7d53a93a161328ac60ffd86be188a0c52138471062e2dcf362317b4

- Lance expected to beat repeat challenger in NJ-07: On the Republican side, Rep. Leonard Lance is staring down a primary challenger in the 7th District, which stretches from the New York suburbs to the Pennsylvania border. Lance is facing David Larsen, a wealthy businessman who has run against him twice before, winning 46 percent of the vote in 2014. But local GOP operatives say Lance is taking the threat more seriously this time, spending on TV and radio ads. "He's just running a much more aggressive campaign over all," said Matt Mowers, a Republican operative in the state. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6880d981c448d4448f0f76a97cedd12da087a66814644b666626b0ad32f06ab8

THIS IS HAPPENING - "Trump, Sanders seemingly agree to debate," by POLITICO's Ben Schreckinger: "Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have seemingly agreed in principle to give the world the debate it's been waiting for. Appearing on ABC's 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' in a show that aired Wednesday night, Trump said he would be willing to debate Sanders if proceeds from such an event went to charity. Within minutes of the statement airing, Sanders had agreed to the idea. 'Game on. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7 primary,' he tweeted early Thursday morning." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6880d981c448d44431acde61e10b07abcdac9a839f0250044e5141465dfe5ec1

Days until the California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota primaries, North Dakota's Democratic presidential primary and North Carolina's House primary: 12. 

Days until the 2016 election: 166.

Thanks for joining us. You can 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 profiles we'd like to read: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

** 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! **

AIR SUPPORT - Chamber goes up with TV ad attacking Kirkpatrick: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is going up with a new TV ad attacking Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in the Arizona Senate race and giving GOP Sen. John McCain some air support. The spot echoes McCain's first TV ad, which castigated Kirkpatrick for supporting Obamacare. "Arizona has a lot to be proud of," the narrator says. "The beautiful sunsets. The Grand Canyon. The people that make this state great. But what's Ann Kirkpatrick most proud of? It's her vote for Obamacare." The ad, first reported by The Arizona Republic, follows recent Chamber attack ads against Democratic Senate candidates Maggie Hassan and Katie McGinty. Watch
 the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d79b6983a7d53a93b495215dd47596a6940786a23770e011f3a74fdae80a5c6a

FOR WHOM THE POLL POLLS - North Carolina Senate robopoll still tight: Public Policy Polling released a new survey Wednesday that shows GOP Sen. Richard Burr leading the North Carolina Senate race with 39 percent to Democrat Deborah Ross' 36 percent. In April, Burr held a four-point margin. Burr's unfavorables hover at 40 percent, while 28 percent approve of the job he's doing. But Ross, a former state legislator, is still unknown to voters, with 64 percent saying they are "not sure" if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of her. The Democratic-leaning firm robocalled 928 voters from May 20 to May 22. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. Here's the full
 polling memo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6310e0fd65e7b6ca754bf690fb52d2739ee13a34e2149aa128e5235f28a1f3f8 

NOT ATTENDING - McAuliffe won't headline Strickland fundraiser anymore: Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, who'd been scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Ted Strickland's Senate campaign next week, won't be going after all, following the news that he is under investigation by the FBI and the Department of Justice over contributions to his 2013 gubernatorial campaign. "Governor McAuliffe will no longer be attending this event," David Bergstein, a Strickland campaign spokesman, said in a statement. He would not say whether McAuliffe - a longtime Democratic fundraising powerhouse - had been disinvited after coming under investigation or had bowed out voluntarily.

ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE - One last wrinkle in Guinta's FEC saga: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6310e0fd65e7b6ca92f13eec6bb71c73c37e87b2b72f69eed086a605973f196b

- Single anonymous donor shelled out $13.5 million to nonprofit backing Rubio: Documents obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics' Robert Maguire and Anna Massoglia show that Conservative Solutions Project, a nonprofit supporting Marco Rubio's presidential run, raised $13.8 million within weeks of getting off the ground last year - "$13.5 million of which came from a single, unnamed donor." How do we know? Nonprofits, unlike super PACs, aren't required to publicly reveal their donors. But they are required to disclose them to the Internal Revenue Service, and members of the public can request redacted copies of the forms from the IRS, with the donors' names removed but the donation
 amounts still there. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f19f47f43796d8ad8b15f462a10018e081893c9d99d90a9449c1354a5a1a015

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump parts ways with top aide," by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel and Marc Caputo: "Donald Trump's presidential campaign on Wednesday night announced it had parted ways with its national political director Rick Wiley - a move that appears to stem in part from an ongoing turf war atop the campaign. Wiley was the first high-profile hire by Paul Manafort, the veteran GOP operative who Trump brought on board in late March to help professionalize a campaign that had cruised through the GOP primary season with a skeleton staff. But Manafort and Wiley quickly found themselves at odds with Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and key members of the team he had built."
 http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f19f47f43796d8a0a918a804abe17244a7e69e4883d9aa1ef5a745218707b88

- Meanwhile, Manafort opened up about Trump's strategy in a Wednesday interview with The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman. On Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the country: "He's already started moderating on that. He operates by starting the conversation at the outer edges and then brings it back towards the middle. Within his comfort zone, he'll soften it some more." On the border wall: "He is going to build a wall. That is a core thing with him. He will push it strongly, and he will push for the immigration changes just as strongly." On his tax returns: "I will be surprised if he puts them out. I wouldn't necessarily advise him to. It's not really an issue for the people we are
 appealing to." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f19f47f43796d8a31ea902e17e5b53c5610943c9efd0c82eb0c191103f301c0

- "A split over Israel threatens the Democrats' hopes for unity," by The New York Times' Jason Horowitz and Maggie Haberman: "A bitter divide over the Middle East could threaten Democratic Party unity as representatives of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont vowed to upend what they see as the party's lopsided support of Israel. Two of the senator's appointees to the party's platform drafting committee, Cornel West and James Zogby, on Wednesday denounced Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza and said they believed that rank-and-file Democrats no longer hewed to the party's staunch support of the Israeli government. They said they would try to get their views incorporated into the
 platform, the party's statement of core beliefs, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f19f47f43796d8a02e640baa20e9e008590a499ecf31902c36158349092ea3c

- "The Democrats' Wasserman Schultz problem," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti and Daniel Strauss: Debbie Wasserman Schultz isn't going anywhere. Not yet, anyway. Months of Democratic frustration with the leader of the national party burst into clear view this week, leading to widespread speculation on Capitol Hill Wednesday about whether she will be able to finish out her term as Democratic National Committee chairwoman. The debate over her future, however, overlooked one important element: the reality that replacing a party chair would be a complicated - and almost certainly messy - affair, one that the party is eager to avoid as it tries to heal its wounds after a bruising primary
 battle between Sanders and Hillary Clinton." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f19f47f43796d8a67cc07384c2071c75037985203fa0e8a93a97918d565f2b0

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "He gonna win unless we - meaning people like me - screw it up. This is not a hard race." - Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's campaign chairman. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9f19f47f43796d8a31ea902e17e5b53c5610943c9efd0c82eb0c191103f301c0

** A message from Sinclair Broadcast Group: News, opinions, and entertainment surround us 24/7, yet a fundamental truth remains, whether for competitive races or impactful ballot measures, the TV commercial reigns as the medium for reaching potential voters. TV helps strongly at the margins. Television is also the easiest way to reach undecided voters. Those passive folks who don't show up at the rallies or ask for email updates, but will be there to pull the levers on Election Day. At the Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country, we combine TV with targetable digital (mobile, video, email, social media and native) ad
 solutions, to help your messaging break through the noise. Winning is what matters. At the Sinclair Broadcast Group, we have the ad tools necessary to help you to persuade, enlighten and activate. Contact Alan Brittan, Sinclair's Director of Political Ads for more details @ 703-236-9673. **

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