Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Anonymous super PAC spending hits June 7 primaries — Open CA-24 race wide open with days to go — Ad blitz hits Ohio
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2016 08:04:19 -0600

By Elena Schneider | 06/01/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Scott Bland, Theodoric Meyer, Kevin Robillard and Maggie Severns

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)

SPENDING ON THE SLY - "Late-spending super PACs avoid donor disclosure," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer: "A new super PAC is pouring more than half a million dollars into the California Senate race - but it won't have to reveal its full list of funders," which includes GOP megadonor Charles Munger, "until long after the primary. The super PAC, Californians for Fiscal Responsibility, has shelled out at least $544,000 since it was formed two weeks ago, supporting one Republican Senate candidate, Duf Sundheim, and attacking another, Tom Del Beccaro."

- "... Groups that wait to spend until about three weeks before a primary avoid [the pre-primary] disclosure requirement and don't have to file FEC reports until the next filing quarterly deadline, allowing last-minute donors to stay anonymous until weeks or months after the election. The American Foundations Committee, a super PAC backing GOP Rep. George Holding in his member-versus-member primary against GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers in North Carolina ... has spent at least $170,000 attacking Ellmers and supporting Holding in the past two weeks, starting just after the pre-primary FEC disclosure deadline." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e275233c086e6a808307c834d5e413cd020c5654644ea5eb7b89df94219e97c

COMING ATTRACTIONS - CA-24's open race still wide open: Democratic Rep. Lois Capps announced her retirement from Congress over a year ago, but the race to replace her hasn't gained much clarity since. Most expect Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal, a Democrat, and Republican Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian to advance to the general election, but prevailing presidential winds and outside spending could deliver a surprise for this Central Coast seat. Justin Fareed, a 27-year-old Republican rancher, is making a generational play (a la Marco Rubio), while Helene Schneider, mayor of Santa Barbara, is well-known in the city, but failed to coalesce national support. Democrats worry about
 getting shut out of the top two in the top-two primary. More here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e275233c086e6a885f867120a252aec7239a04fa3dc00ce88e5e0412014e75a

OHIO AD BLITZ - Portman, Senate super PACs hit the airwaves: GOP Sen. Rob Portman's first TV ads of his reelection campaign start today and focus on his work fighting heroin and prescription drug abuse, a recurring theme among Republican incumbents this year. One ad features Portman talking about his work on bipartisan legislation to combat the heroin epidemic. ...A second ad features a parent who lost a son to heroin abuse. ... The third ad features a young girl who is a recovering heroin addict. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e275233c086e6a89a23241ea099d61b355b3ba126267901f85eeaa7c8dd0695 

- Meanwhile, the pro-Portman Fighting for Ohio Fund super PAC is going back up today with another $1.5 million statewide TV buy covering two weeks, according to a media-tracking source. The group already spent almost $1.7 million on ads bashing Democrat Ted Strickland in May. (It had $2.8 million on hand at the end of the first quarter, two months ago.) 

- And Senate Majority PAC is paying about $150,000 this week to air an ad attacking Portman on trade in Toledo, a market that hasn't been covered by a recent string of labor-funded ads. Senate Majority PAC is funding the same ad AFSCME first ran last week in Cleveland and Youngstown, while the American Federation of Teachers has been airing a different spot in Columbus.

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: 6. Days until the 2016 election: 159.

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 rainbows: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

STAFFING SHAKE UPS - "Taddeo loses campaign manager, communications director," by POLITICO Florida's Marc Caputo in Miami: "In a campaign shakeup, Democratic congressional candidate Annette Taddeo has parted ways with her campaign manager, finance director and communications director in recent weeks ... Campaign manager Shaun Daniels left two weeks ago along with finance director Foxhall Parker, and Taddeo's communications director Francisco Bravo's last official day is today. Daniels has been replaced by James Stretch, former manager for Melissa Gilbert's congressional campaign in Michigan. ... 'It was a strategic decision to shake up the campaign and bring us some new energy to get us
 across the finish line,' said an official with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=41cbde9cea7bd368c9917bb9b8a60a9ac3f40e4776deacaf47668350a8c729b4 

COURT, BYE - Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Keyser's campaign: A Denver district court judge dismissed a lawsuit led by three Colorado voters Tuesday that sought to toss former state Rep. Jon Keyser off the Colorado Republican Senate primary ballot. "The attorney representing them, Mark Grueskin, wouldn't say how the three plaintiffs came together, or who is funding the lawsuit," KUSA reported. "Attorneys representing the Colorado Secretary of State and Keyser - who was not named as a defendant -argued the window for a challenge began when the Secretary of State issued a Statement of Insufficiency for Keyser in late April. Attorneys for both camps also argued that without steadfast
 deadlines, challenges to candidacies could continue beyond election day." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=41cbde9cea7bd3682f261e77cf5a98ba44a72defa7ab95d8e6dd8c0755c09206 

GIVE ME THAT POLL-TIME RELIGION - Internal poll: Yoder, Hollingsworth tied in IN-09: Republican Trey Hollingsworth and Democrat Shelli Yoder are tied in Indiana's open 9th District, according to a new internal from Yoder's campaign. Yoder and Hollingsworth each draw 41 percent of likely voters, with another 18 percent undecided. Mitt Romney won the district with 57 percent of the vote in 2012. But the "polling data clearly show that Hollingsworth has been hobbled by attacks on his recent residency by fellow Republicans during the GOP primary," pollsters Garin-Hart-Yang wrote in a memo. The poll was conducted last week and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

- Hollingsworth's father, who gave at least $500,000 to Indiana Jobs Now ahead of the primary, has kicked in another $400,000 to the pro-Hollingsworth super PAC, USA Today reports. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=41cbde9cea7bd368c9ecafad8cf5d1dd57e1f13b7507de469ace048b0320dc7d

NEW HAMPSHIRE POLL - GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte takes 48 percent to Democrat Maggie Hassan's 47 percent in the new Franklin Pierce/Boston Herald poll: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=41cbde9cea7bd368125e96878a799155d4bfbd110e8af4411493de3860adf00a

McCONNELL STILL THIRSTY FOR RUBIO AS BERUFF RELEASES POLL: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is continuing his public pleading for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to change his mind and run for reelection. "I and my colleagues have been trying to convince Senator Marco Rubio to run again in Florida," McConnell said on Hugh Hewitt's radio show while promoting his book, "The Long Game." "He had indicated he was not going to, but we're all hoping that he'll reconsider, because poll data indicates that he is the one who can win for us." (Emphasis ours.)

- Meanwhile, businessman Carlos Beruff's campaign is trying to argue that Rubio would be no lock in a GOP primary, releasing an internal poll conducted by OnMessage showing him at the front of the Republican pack (with 17 percent of the vote). Rep. David Jolly had 16 percent, Rep. Ron DeSantis had 9 percent, businessman Todd Wilcox had 5 percent and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera was at 3 percent. The accompanying polling memo appears to be squarely aimed at Rubio: "Clearly the results of the presidential primary just 2 &frac12; months ago were no fluke, as primary voters are demanding new leaders from outside of the political ranks," pollster Wes Anderson wrote, adding later: "Carlos Beruff
 is exactly the type of businessman outsider candidate the voters want to support." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=55fa855ec4fb6ceed51ae7665af214c963c572f80f90152b83e738615f3a82fe 

UP ON THE AIRWAVES - New ads in California, negative spots in FL-23, NC-02: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e275233c086e6a885f867120a252aec7239a04fa3dc00ce88e5e0412014e75a

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Corker: Fed probe won't hurt me with Trump," by POLITICO's John Bresnahan: "Sen. Bob Corker insists that the federal investigation into his personal finances won't hurt his chances of being tapped as Donald Trump's vice president - not that he's angling for the job, anyway. 'In some ways, you could look at what has happened over the course of the last year - if that was something that was gonna matter - you could almost look at it as a blessing,' Corker (R-Tenn.) said in an interview, referring to the FBI and SEC inquiries. 'From the standpoint of my finances, I will be the most vetted person here.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a38d0b6d5ab8b1e5251b9dbd4411aba4e85d5d1310f5b7c7bafff3d81b76986a 

- "Clinton's polling quagmire," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard: "From Bernie Sanders' primary victories to the State Department inspector general's report on her email, the month of May hasn't been kind to Hillary Clinton - or her poll numbers. Her lead over Donald Trump has shrunk to the low single-digits. State polls tell a similar story: Clinton and Trump have run neck-and-neck in two separate polls in each of these four key electoral battlegrounds - New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida and Ohio. The two candidates even ran close in a New Jersey poll released Tuesday. Clinton's favorable ratings - currently 41 percent favorable and 55 percent unfavorable, according to HuffPost Pollster - are
 virtually unchanged over the past month." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a38d0b6d5ab8b1e59cde9e0fbe47c4cdf39d6e71e4fa2e4fb7fbed45721ea54a 

- "Trump taunts media to its face," by POLITICO's Eli Stokols and Nolan D. McCaskill: "Donald Trump, whose entire campaign can seem like an experiment in free media, was simply trying to keep a low profile when he held an impromptu, televised fundraiser for veterans groups back in January in lieu of attending a GOP primary debate. At least that's the story the presumptive Republican nominee was spinning to dozens of reporters gathered in the lobby of Trump Tower Tuesday morning - and to millions more watching the cable networks' live blanket coverage of the entire 40-minute press conference - as he chastised the media for failing to give him his due, blasting one reporter as a 'sleaze' and
 another as 'a real beauty.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a38d0b6d5ab8b1e54144d9152667a671be24a5cc11a77ab6198a1564df0568f8 

- Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, meanwhile, went on CNN and defended Trump's donations to veterans charities as well-intended, even as journalists criticized him for missing his $6 million goal: "I mean, if the only thing he did was donate a million dollars to the cause, that's pretty good isn't it?," Johnson said. "So, maybe, he didn't make the six million. I've certainly been involved in enough charities where sometimes it is a little difficult to collect the pledges. So, listen, you know, wonderful intention."

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I look forward to following what he has to say," 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney tweeted after news broke that some are pushing David French, a conservative lawyer, to mount a third-party bid.

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=55fa855ec4fb6cee0f47566b0f4be6a030a9800d4b0e60997b6bd757727c5afd
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=55fa855ec4fb6cee9093baa9ec1a294ed3a63591031c27258ff4b5efdae5e029 or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=c1c81b2ef644fde1dd3c1f6178ef6a8ea3ee660992025bd4e1c254927a61bae054c86c15ff3ebad44c39e37617c63e3b82830df272433adfThis email was sent to [email-masked] by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

To unsubscribe,http://www.politico.com/_unsubscribe?e=00000155-0c43-da5b-afd5-5fc3b0400000&u=0000014e-f0fe-dd93-ad7f-f8fffbc40000&s=08edd267bcbc8c475e40dc712315a14c491bc9adbbd2245633856db393546eea4d4f46cbcc1395f1cadf5ded33a846865040830c0b9a75ec36fa17d30339d1ef