Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Clinton wins Democratic primary, AP says — Senate and House races to watch tonight — RGA gets involved in Indiana
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Jun 2016 09:22:51 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 06/07/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Kevin Robillard, Elena Schneider 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)

ALL OF A SUDDEN - "AP declares Clinton winner of Democratic primary," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti in Long Beach, Calif.: "Hillary Clinton became the presumptive Democratic nominee in a surprise development on Monday, making her the first woman ever to win a major party's presidential nomination one day before she was expected to cross the threshold. The historic moment, years in the making, came after the former secretary of state passed the mark with a combination of pledged and superdelegates in her contest against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders," according to The Associated Press, which has regularly surveyed superdelegates. "But Sanders, long suspicious of superdelegates' role in the
 process, refused to concede on Monday night." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d964ba946a87eff01e456d414aaa9b2c0398236b5c8d509548d

- Why the AP called the race: "Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses," the AP reports. "She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count. ... While superdelegates can change their minds, those counted in Clinton's tally have unequivocally told the AP they will support her at the party's summer convention. Since the start of the AP's survey in late 2015, no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing Sanders. 'We really need to bring a close to this primary process and get on to defeating Donald Trump,' said Nancy Worley, a superdelegate who chairs Alabama's Democratic Party and provided one of the last
 endorsements to put Clinton over the top." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d9699ce434983f32fc79e557edd720dae7c3e3f5b51482e6fdd

PRIMARY PREVIEW - Five Senate and House primaries to watch tonight, by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider and Scott Bland: "The final big Election Day of the presidential primaries is also shaping up to be a congressional Super Tuesday. The June 7 primaries cover 87 House districts and two major Senate races across seven states, with multiple House incumbents in danger of losing their seats, millions of dollars from Washington flying into key campaigns, and backers of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders trying to leverage the presidential candidates' support for their own purposes. But five primaries in particular catch the eye at the start of a packed June primary calendar."

- A member-versus-member primary in NC-02: GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers "is running against a fellow Republican incumbent, Rep. George Holding, after a federal court ordered North Carolina congressional districts redrawn this year and the new map combined their territory." Holding raised far more money than Ellmers in the home stretch, but Ellmers could get a boost from a last-minute robocall recorded for her by Donald Trump - making her the first congressional candidate he's backed.

- An all-Democratic California Senate race?: "While two Republicans battle in one North Carolina primary, California's primary setup might ensure that two Democrats keep fighting the Senate race all the way to November. All California candidates run in the same primary regardless of party, and the top two advance to the general election. State Attorney General Kamala Harris has led every poll since she joined the race to replace Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is retiring."

- A Democrat-versus-Democrat contest in CA-17: "California's primary system isn't all fun and games for Democrats, though. It means that Rep. Mike Honda is staring down another primary (and general) election challenge from the Democrat who nearly beat him in November 2014. Attorney Ro Khanna finished second behind Honda in their 2014 primary in a heavily Democratic Bay Area district." (More below)

- A Sanders supporter tries to take down a connected Democratic freshman in NJ-01: Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross, whose brother is the top Democratic power broker in South Jersey, "is facing a challenge from underfunded 25-year-old Democrat Alex Law, who is running a grassroots campaign focused on knocking doors in the district. Law, a Sanders supporter, has used pro-Sanders forums online to raise money and interest in his campaign, but it is not his main selling point in the race." 

- An open seat awash in Washington money in CA-24: "Washington outside groups have made a picturesque stretch of California's Central Coast their political playground this spring, putting about $1.5 million on the line leading up to Tuesday's vote. Democratic Rep. Lois Capps is retiring, and outside spending has flooded into her Santa Barbara-based seat, looking to affect a fluid race to replace her. Two well-funded Democrats and two well-funded Republicans are running, raising the possibility that one party could get locked out of the general election in the battleground seat." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d963167e3dd1996387d97732838fccda4a130e607558d453ede

MORE PRIMARIES TO WATCH - "Republican incumbents on primary alert after North Carolina redistricting," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: More on the N.C. races above: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d96ab3112191cbdcc6dc4ffc753230280ffa35f06526d76b5d6

- PRIMARY PREVIEW, CONTINUED - Watching the margin in CA-17: After Rep. Mike Honda squeaked through his 2014 reelection, the seven-term incumbent suffered several political blows, including an ongoing House Ethics investigation and President Obama's endorsement withdrawal. Honda and Democrat Ro Khanna are poised for a general election rematch, but the primary results will give the first evidence of how much (or how little) Honda's support has eroded over the last year and a half. "I think if we are under 12 points [margin], I really don't see how Honda continues, just look at the math," Khanna said in a forthcoming Campaign Pro story. "If it's between 12 to 15 point margin, then that'll be
 more competitive. And if it's over 15 [point difference], that'll be a real fight." 

- A selection of Campaign Pro's best reporting on tonight's contests ...

- California Senate: "Republicans resigned to missing out on California Senate race" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d968498bc1e67804d102b80e26da3a34fcc6b66ca710d3d9ccc - "Late-spending super PACs avoid donor disclosure" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e864f32c657b7922f5243b8753ca116fa85028528dfd1804326 - "The Senate's biggest spenders" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e865242c0de525d74ccb7e1fc37fd9fd1382b4d01cb2b5c3d12 - CA-07: "Labor, Bera test each other after 2015 trade votes" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e86fff7bcdde04927ed523728930c3cc18cf0107afd98a40aad - CA-17: "In tight House race, Obama won't endorse embattled Honda" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e862bc7692499908da7848e71b394714e5a44bcdba6a03dfa7a - CA-24: "GOP mailers aim to scramble California primaries" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e86d5edf2fa9ebc2f74a742b2883049708c0b5e8368e9d82f94 - Iowa Senate: "Supreme Court vise
 closes on Grassley" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d9654be8461b9373161e9c086a8bfd71971954c887cf036d1d2 - Iowa House: "Iowa House primary preview: Dems fight for battleground districts" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e8673d978fda6125ff49684e54ba18aea8d8598b21f3b80cec8 - NJ-01: "National group aids first-term Democrat in New Jersey primary" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e867df68affa77d76ed5ca21ac3ec0d15753c6d88cc37c0b356 - NC-02: "Trump backs Ellmers in first congressional endorsement" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d9621927074c7a6f454948fd20a558f0bf99af732d2224b86ff - "Low-turnout North Carolina primaries spark heavy incumbent spending" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e868bcb1cf311e839a9467235af0e949791129ab848c43e6bd1 - "Koch-backed group targets first GOP incumbent in primary" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d96801717e2a426eaae7dbe2f03bd36b261bf188eb83f4f3797

Days until the District of Columbia Democratic primary and the Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia congressional primaries: 7. Days until the 2016 election: 154.

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 just tweet exclamation points: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer, @maggieseverns.

AIR SUPPORT - "RGA takes over Pence TV buys to go negative," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d96ad5116bf9eba72fef9648ff63774f82417da420e3cde5a91

- Hassan wants Ayotte to ask nonprofit to pull attack ad: New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan is asking GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte to ask One Nation, a Republican nonprofit, to pull its ad attacking Hassan over the state's heroin epidemic. Ayotte, in the past, has said "strongly that we should not politicize this issue." The Ayotte's campaign response? You had your chance to prevent outside groups from running ads. "The problem with third party outside spending is that candidates can't control it, and that's why Kelly proposed the same People's Pledge that Jeanne Shaheen signed. Hassan didn't sign the pledge, and now we've seen millions in negative attacks flooding our airwaves," Liz Johnson, an
 Ayotte campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement. Here's the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=79d0ba01c0a06e8654f3d0729247b0674f0f5947de39309e76accc241acd6c3e

- The ad is part of a larger blitz by One Nation, which plans to spend nearly $16 million advertising in five battleground Senate states over the next month, according to a media-buying source. The group, which is affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC and the other groups in the Crossroads network, will air ads in Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

DIGITAL GOLD - Sanders' legacy: One of the most valuable donor lists ever," by POLITICO's Shane Goldmacher: "For all the chatter about who will get ahold of Bernie Sanders' powerful email list of donors, one group already has it - along with the names, credit card numbers and addresses of the vast majority his nearly 2.5 million donors. It's called ActBlue, a nonprofit little known outside the cloistered world of digital political circles that serves as the unsung central hub of donating via the web for Democrats everywhere. And the fact that Sanders used the platform - and that ActBlue gets to keep a database of Sanders supporters who collectively pumped more than $200 million into his
 campaign - is expected to redound to the benefit of down-ballot Democrats, from small town council candidates to incumbent U.S. senators, all across the country." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d96a50cfd7cf88186fb7ef69e37dbc7800062c0930552cb5655

TOP OF THE TICKET - "Trump train derails on Capitol Hill," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim: "In the first major test of relations with Capitol Hill Republicans since becoming the party's nominee, Trump's attacks on federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel are sapping any goodwill he had accumulated in private meetings and phone calls with congressional Republicans. ... 'I don't think there's a place for the comments that were made,' said Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.)," who's facing a competitive reelection campaign. "Asked if Trump's comments might make him reconsider his endorsement, he replied: 'If they were inconsistent with things we've seen up to this point in the election I would
 tell you it might. But I think we're all sort of used to remarks being made that we don't expect.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d9695ba61378a05d11dd826fff9f31a8ac087400b2c112625fc

- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump opponent, told The New York Times that Trump's comments were "the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy." "If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it," Graham told The Times' Patrick Healy, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin. "There'll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d960ca2f4c92ced75bd62c97c4ce9530cbb3b968756e4183bfe

FIRING BACK - Patrick Murphy dismisses reports he's embellished his r&eacute;sum&eacute;: Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy blamed Republicans on Monday for stories examining whether Murphy had exaggerated some aspects of his r&eacute;sum&eacute;, including a POLITICO Florida report that he overstated his experience as an accountant. "This is just more baseless attacks by the Republicans who are clearly just trying to help my primary opponent, Alan Grayson," Murphy told reporters. But as The Tampa Bay Times notes, the stories haven't come from GOP tips. "They've come, instead, from reporters at the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times and Politico Florida vetting Murphy's background," the newspaper's
 Kristen M. Clark writes. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d965ded15d49dd0c9e7986574a44f7103ad4cf24dd9a627c55d

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I don't think this race is over at all. People have to realize that what we're seeing on television and in the media is an illusion and it's been pushed too far. They can't decide." - John Gates, a 29-year-old Bernie Sanders supporter, who was not happy about the AP's decision to call the race. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a181023acd29d9695195186496fe10ab31cff7d41dd9ba0f440823bf8edbfd4

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