Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: PRIMARY PREVIEWS: Republicans resigned to missing out on California Senate race — Trump endorses Ellmers — Portman, Ayotte denounce Trump's judge comments
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2016 08:54:09 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 06/06/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Scott Bland, Kevin Robillard, Elena Schneider, Maggie Severns and Alex Guillen

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)

PRIMARY PREVIEW - "Republicans resigned to missing out on California Senate race," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "Cynics said it would take a perfect storm for two Democrats to advance to California's Senate general election: Increased Democratic turnout, depressed Republican turnout, an energized Latino electorate, and a state Republican Party that failed to identify and coalesce around a single main contender for the seat. For Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who has run in a comfortable second place behind Democratic Attorney General Kamala Harris in every public poll, those factors have all aligned in perfect harmony."

- "California appears poised to witness its first intra-party statewide race since the state instituted its top-two, all-party primary system in 2010. It has already sparked conversations among GOP donors and groups weighing two uncomfortable decisions: Sit out the race entirely, or dive into a campaign for a Democrat they consider to be the lesser of two evils." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8e72617a6b40c54221a33c0ebd2c9eff6a52abd80a966433d443509aabaa1853

- Judge leads Hogg in Iowa Senate poll: Sunday's Des Moines Register brought good news and bad news for former Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's endorsed candidate in Iowa's Senate race. The Iowa Poll, conducted by J. Ann Selzer, found Judge with 42 percent support ahead of the primary. That's 17 points ahead of her closest competitor, state Sen. Rob Hogg. It's also well above the 35 percent mark needed to avoid a convention. The poll of 542 likely primary voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8e72617a6b40c542166586ff90683eefd708e98fe9b4d92aff8de7f621867188 But the paper's editorial board endorsed Hogg. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8e72617a6b40c542689d9aab0bde9d66d480a332a32ff1c36dde1099d648dc47

- "Iowa House primary preview: Dems fight for battleground districts," by Campaign Pro's Maggie Severns: Democrats face off Tuesday in two key Iowa House primaries, hoping to set the stage for November pickups in a pair of battleground districts central to the party's national hopes. ... While EMILY's List-endorsed Monica Vernon has taken the upper hand in the 1st District Democratic primary, the race to take on Young has turned nasty and negative late." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8e72617a6b40c542ad4378c71cbb2cf0ec0dd89c1120d7729501c40ede6f8859

TRUMP CARD? - "Trump backs Ellmers in first congressional endorsement," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "Donald Trump has inserted himself into one of the most contentious House primaries in the country this weekend, endorsing GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers in her member-versus-member race in North Carolina. Trump makes a personal appeal to voters to back Ellmers in a robocall released Saturday. She was 'the first congresswoman to endorse me and she really was terrific and boy, is she a fighter,' Trump says in the call. It is the first time this election that Trump has picked sides in a congressional race. ... Ellmers faces fellow GOP Rep. George Holding and two-time Senate candidate Greg
 Brannon in a June 7 Republican primary for a new district." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c75d1a54991173e3f25f3c57c904792f868726ec82ae398643

- Other late advertising to watch in Nrth Carolina: American Action Network is doing late advertising and phone banking in support of GOP Rep. Richard Hudson, one of several incumbents whose districts were cut in half and redrawn to include thousands of new constituents in court-ordered redistricting this year. AAN has previously spent in several incumbent primaries where GOP challengers managed to get at least 40 percent of the vote.

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: 1. 

Days until the 2016 election: 155.

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 our dismal weather: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer, @maggieseverns.

DOWN THE BALLOT - GOP senators in tight races denounce Trump's remarks on judges: Two Republican senators facing tough races have moved to distance themselves from Donald Trump's attacks on the Hispanic judge handling the Trump University case, as well as Trump's comment on Sunday that a Muslim judge might not treat him fairly, either. "I disagree with his characterization of a judge based on his ancestry," Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio told The Cincinnati Enquirer on Saturday. "The judge is an American, as I'm an American and as Donald Trump is an American." Sen. Kelly Ayotte specifically called out Trump's comment on "Face the Nation" that it was "absolutely" possible a Muslim judge wouldn't
 treat him fairly. "His comments are offensive and wrong and he should retract them," Ayotte said in a statement to The Washington Post. Portman and Ayotte have both previously said they would support Trump as the GOP nominee. 

SILVER STATE SHOWDOWN - "Inside the GOP campaign to snatch Harry Reid's Senate seat," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett in Henderson, Nev.: "Joe Heck has the weight of the Republican Party on his shoulders. It's not a stretch, given his party's poor prospects in other key states and the grim electoral map for Republicans, to say that the GOP congressman's performance in the race for Harry Reid's seat could decide which party controls the Senate next year. As if that's not pressure enough, Heck will be up against the first potential Latina senator in a state with a surging Latino population - with Donald Trump, who polls horribly with minorities, leading his own ticket." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c7ff429d6d671c4d96d11f91d958db00ef172ca275e0c6d9c0

NEW THIS MORNING - Planned Parenthood goes after Heck: Planned Parenthood Votes is spending $70,000 on radio ads in Nevada attacking Rep. Joe Heck. The ads respond to an earlier Spanish-language radio ads from the conservative America's PAC, which attacked Democrat Catherine Catherine Cortez Masto on abortion rights. The ads, one in English and one in Spanish, say "Joe Heck's friends are running a racist and offensive ad that implies women can't make their own decisions about healthcare." Notable: The Spanish-language spot notes Heck supports Donald Trump, while the English-language one doesn't. Listen to the English spot: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c7d9a909b46623ea9e957be1c21917b4cc32746a862983a8cd Listen to the Spanish
 spot: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c726c011c8928e4b17c49badf5215478457455c06d09326f8d

FLORIDA MEN - "Rubio Senate rumors undercut GOP campaigns in Florida," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "GOP leaders' surprise move to draft Marco Rubio into the race for his Florida Senate seat has frozen the campaign in the state, throwing into jeopardy a seat the party desperately needs to maintain control of the Senate. The Republican campaigns already running for Rubio's seat complain that the improbable move to lure the senator into the race has paralyzed donors during a crucial stretch of the electoral calendar. And it doesn't help, they say, that leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are proclaiming that only Rubio can win in November, essentially warning donors
 not to waste their money - or that outside groups, including Senate Leadership Fund and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have indicated they might sit Florida out unless the sitting senator is on the ballot." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c71e69ccfe8aa35283b5a5d70ee18ba41811f9b80f8d2f5e19

- "Florida poll: Murphy and Beruff lead, but half of voters want Rubio for reelection," by POLITICO Florida's Marc Caputo: "By 49-39 percent, voters said Rubio should run for reelection now that his bid for president has ended, the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research survey said. Rubio pulled outsized support from Republican voters, 77 percent. And independents favored a Rubio reelection bid by 48-37 percent. Only Democrats were opposed by 25-62 percent. But ... Rubio has essentially guaranteed he's making good on his promise not to run for reelection this year. On the Democratic side, Murphy leads fellow U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson 31-23 percent in their party's primary." Among current GOP
 candidates, "Beruff leads the pack narrowly with 17 percent of the GOP primary vote, followed by U.S. Rep. David Jolly (13 percent), U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis (10 percent), Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera (9 percent) and defense contractor Todd Wilcox (2 percent). http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c720b5f913c7f675fb254bdd0cf18281cfdef5eef176a4bc8c

AIR QUALITY - NRCC add $7 million in fall TV reservations: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c7d80b64a05a69fe93eb2b57926a5c818448d51cbc7a50de9a

- One Nation beginning major multi-state media buy: The Senate-focused nonprofit is going back on the air in several states over the next week, starting in New Hampshire. NH1's Paul Steinhauser reports that the group will spend $4.6 million over three weeks starting Tuesday, plus another week in mid-July: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c7ebaaa93581b255beb46f7b60cd5480bbe5302d8c0089dcd7 One Nation has also reserved millions more in airtime in states including Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, according to a source tracking ad spending; stay tuned for more.

- House candidates are making their own fall reservations, too: In Colorado: GOP Rep. Mike Coffman has reserved $1.2 million of fall TV time, covering the last five weeks of his general election campaign against Democrat Morgan Carroll, according to a source close to Coffman's campaign.

NAME GAME - "Doubling Dan: Another Sullivan runs for Senate in Alaska," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c70bac7eab415e575ec7c321b68c19df6c3400077c01768afb

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Clinton wins Puerto Rico primary," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "Hillary Clinton won Puerto Rico's primary on Sunday, putting her on a trajectory to claim the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday. At the time the race was called, she had 64 percent of the vote to 34 percent of the vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders. ... Clinton, who won the territory by a landslide margin in 2008 over Barack Obama, was the heavy favorite to win the territory's primary." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c77928ac0b3f7bbc9503eda7748bb1d65aee1618aab424e7f6

- "2020 contenders struggle to maneuver around Trump," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "It's June 2016. Times to think about the 2020 election. The 2016 GOP convention is still weeks away, but would-be contenders - from Ted Cruz to Tom Cotton - are already laying groundwork for the next Republican presidential primary. While some are lining up blue-chip staff, scheduling trips to early primary states and setting up political action committees, others are huddling with the party's biggest financiers. But they're all struggling with the same conundrum: how to get around Donald Trump." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c754ce4d5e0a6d6f1ffb11a28fe2f3e23b47934de772980449

- "Donald Trump adds well-known G.O.P. adviser to campaign staff," by The New York Times' Ashley Parker and Maggie Haberman: "Donald J. Trump's campaign is adding staff members to key areas it has been criticized for neglecting, bringing on Jim Murphy as its new national political director and preparing to beef up its communications team. Mr. Murphy, the head of JLM Consulting, was a senior adviser to Bob Dole's 1988 and 1996 presidential campaigns and managed floor operations at three Republican conventions. Previously, he was president of DCI Group, a public affairs firm. ... The campaign has only one person, Hope Hicks, the campaign spokeswoman, overseeing communications, and is hoping
 to add at least two new hires to help as early as this week." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c75c544acc7af33a8b49d7576be421e7ccfbf716ca9f73e1c4

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I had a really nice car. You can drive 103 and it not be dangerous." - Carlos Beruff, who's running for Senate in Florida. The car in question: a Mercedes-Benz S550. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d56fc6574f77b0c72c2f2c8c74cb7d7ba206fc3d35a0d43e85dfcadd35e1b2c3

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