Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: The return of Rubio? — Senate campaign issue of the week: Guns — Cheney releases first ad
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 08:01:55 -0600

By Kevin Robillard | 06/16/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Maggie Severns and Theodoric Meyer

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)

THE RETURN OF RUBIO? - Key ally gives greenlight for Senate run: POLITICO Florida's Marc Caputo has the scoop. "Friends for 20 years, Marco Rubio and Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera were at the scene of the Orlando massacre on Sunday when they had an unusually frank conversation about their political futures. 'You should reconsider running for your seat,' Lopez-Cantera told Rubio as they sat in the senator's pickup truck about an hour before sunset, after witnessing the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. ... Bottom line, Lopez-Cantera said in the interview: "Nothing has changed. I'm still running. Marco isn't." The filing deadline for the race is June 24, when
 Rubio is scheduled to hold a fundraiser for Lopez-Cantera. If Rubio decides to run, Lopez-Cantera won't file. Right now, longtime friends of both men believe Rubio ultimately won't run: The lure of a much bigger paycheck and proximity to his family will outweigh another term in the Senate."

- The ramifications of a Rubio run: Rep. David Jolly had already said he would "make an announcement Friday about my future intentions in congress" before the story broke. Most believe he's going to run for his old Congressional seat vs. former Gov. Charlie Crist. Self-funding businessmen Todd Wilcox and Carlos Beruff are signaling they intend to stay in the race, with Wilcox attacking Rubio in an interview in the Tampa Bay Times. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who has led in traditional fundraising and is the only candidate with significant outside support, told Hugh Hewitt that Rubio's entrance "changes a lot about how I look at the race," but also said a decision "should be made quickly." Patrick
 Murphy, meanwhile, told CNN "you bet" he was ready to "battle" Rubio if he ran. 

- Lopez-Cantera also directly addresses accusations he and Rubio are planning this whole thing: "For weeks, Lopez-Cantera and Rubio had privately mocked the rumors of them striking a deal or hatching some elaborate plot. In one telling, Rubio would run for reelection, win and then resign before the 2020 presidential election cycle, at which point Lopez-Cantera would run for his seat. In another version, Lopez-Cantera agreed with moneyed interests to drop out of the Senate race, endorse Rubio and then run for chief financial officer in 2018. All of it is false, Lopez-Cantera said. 'There is no deal. There is no plan,' Lopez-Cantera said. 'None of it is true. Anyone who says that is lying and
 doesn't know what they're talking about.' But those who haven't been privy to the two friends' talks have been deeply skeptical about what they're up to. And if Rubio ultimately runs and Lopez-Cantera doesn't, some of the rumors will appear true. 'You can't tell me this hasn't been orchestrated,' said one Republican who supports one of Lopez-Cantera's rivals in the Senate race said, echoing Democrats. 'Marco is running and you can talk about all the friendship stuff you want, but this shows Marco is all about Marco.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f8509af79ce8b5af2c6bcb8ca933cd695a4f14cad39e1631a11f0

ISSUE DU JOUR - "Guns move to the forefront in Senate battlegrounds," by your Morning Score host and Maggie Severns: "Democrats believe they can make swing-state Republicans pay a political price for opposing gun control measures, even as those GOP lawmakers work to strike a compromise in the Senate. ... GOP senators have worked to build moderate records on guns. Now, following the attack in Orlando, Democrats are re-upping their push to tie gun background checks to anti-terrorism or no-fly watch-lists, just as the key Senate campaigns heat up. Both New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey had already run ads emphasizing their work to combat gun violence." More here:
 http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f8509b454a5933e1f4b1ed68601619c8bddf457b84e61eac28590

There are 144 days until the 2016 election. There are 12 days until the Colorado, New York, Oregon and Utah congressional primaries. Thanks for joining us. I'm Kevin Robillard, taking a spin at the wheel of Morning Score this week. 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 where Elena Schneider shined in the Congressional Women's Softball game as the press beats the members: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

NEW THIS A.M - CHENEY AIRS FIRST AD IN WYOMING: Liz Cheney's first ad in the race for Wyoming's open House seat focuses on praising the people and land of the state, featuring shots of workers and landscapes. "In Wyoming the beauty of our mountains is matched only by the grit of our people," Cheney says in a voice-over. "We believe deeply in the rights guaranteed by our Constitution - the right to bear arms, the right to determine our children's education, and the right to earn a living as the people of our great state have for generations, and not as Washington, DC dictates." The 60-second ad will air on broadcast and cable statewide. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f850925c0a1426248f7777817765ff043701a46343b63ba292e4d

- MORE AIR TIME - Heaney cancels TV ad buys ahead of NY-19 primary: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f850992e78c7b92c5d3f58918def1cbfcda1abb2ae958667d1dd9

- Deacon has new ad in NY-24: Colleen Deacon is out with a new TV ad with less than two weeks to go before the Democratic primary. The ad emphasizes her background as a single mother and her support for equal pay for women and paid family leave. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f8509b212dd9defe1e88f94434f7bcc05194fef681f23dc0e0b48

POLL ME MAYBE - Feingold leads in Wisconsin: Former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold leads GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, 45 percent to 41 percent, among registered voters in the latest Marquette University Law School Poll. Republican enthusiasm for participating in the 2016 elections has dropped significantly, according to the survey, meaning the gap is wider (51 percent to 42 percent) among likely voters. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f8509fa157e66ff208909072471045800706c72a4ee78c51e147a

TODAY IN NAVIGATING TRUMP - Maryland governor won't vote for Trump: GOP Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, one of the nation's most popular chief executives, told local media on Wednesday he would not vote for Donald Trump under any circumstances. "I guess when I get behind the curtain I'll have to figure it out. Maybe write someone in. I'm not sure," Hogan said, according to the Washington Post. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f8509131a905ac472e6274478f03b0f54966acdc5513e19b8fa05

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump oppo book appears to show Democratic attack strategy," by POLITICO's Ben Schreckinger and Daniel Strauss: "An anti-Trump opposition book published online and purportedly stolen from the servers of the Democratic National Committee reveals a strategy for painting Trump, above all else, as a man with 'no core' who is a 'loyal only to himself' and a 'liar.' Two DNC spokesmen did not immediately respond to questions about the authenticity of the document, which was posted by Gawker and The Smoking Gun on Wednesday afternoon. ... Trump immediately hit back at the document, and presented an alternate theory for how it got out. 'We believe it was the DNC that did
 the 'hacking' as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader,' Trump said in a statement released Wednesday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f850976d1986709e0529e30b200af95cf80387774e0a4c2108928

- "Trump's relationship with RNC sours," by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel, Eli Stokols, and Alex Isenstadt: "In recent days, RNC chairman Reince Priebus has privately grumbled that his advice doesn't seem welcome with Trump, according to one RNC insider. Other party officials have expressed frustration that Trump's campaign is trying to take too much control over a pair of fundraising committees with the party while adding little to the effort ... Meanwhile, there's deep skepticism on Trump's campaign about the RNC's commitment to the presumptive GOP nominee, with some campaign officials questioning how hard the RNC is working to help Trump and to raise money for his campaign's joint
 committees with the party. ... Several Trump allies said their distrust spiked this week when they learned that Rick Wiley, who was fired from the campaign last month, had been spotted in the RNC's Capitol Hill offices and had participated in a Tuesday RNC conference call." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f85096fa330ecaa2ba84588be93cc533565a1e6cb0340a65941c4

- "Clinton to unleash TV hell on Trump," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "Just hours after the votes were cast in the final Democratic primary, the Clinton campaign started reserving advertising blocks in eight battleground states on Wednesday, marking the presumptive Democratic nominee's first significant attempt to define Donald Trump. ... By reserving time in key swing states - at least Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia - the Clinton camp is sending an unmistakable message to the presumptive GOP nominee that it intends to press into traditionally Republican territory without spending too much time worrying about defending traditionally
 Democratic destinations where Trump insists he will compete, said a handful of high-level Democrats close to the Clinton effort. The ad barrage [is] slated to start on Thursday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f8509af79ce8b5af2c6bcb8ca933cd695a4f14cad39e1631a11f0

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It's amazing that our country can continue to survive, but you know? Eventually it's not going to survive. Just so you understand. Eventually it's not." - Donald Trump at a speech in Atlanta. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82dcba3cb23f85098df9be108a98a9cf1508c5e48656d24add5984fa3cab2066

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