Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Carlos Beruff's rough path ahead — ClearPath Action backs Stefanik, Reed — Internal polling in PA-16
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2016 08:02:46 -0600

By Elena Schneider | 06/30/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Kevin Robillard 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)

CLIMBING MT. EVEREST - "Beruff steels for expensive fight against Rubio," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "Carlos Beruff is not planning to go quietly. A few weeks ago, there were five Republican candidates running for Senate in Florida. Now, Beruff is the only one remaining alongside Sen. Marco Rubio, who reversed himself last week and announced he would run for reelection. Beruff, a self-funding home developer and first-time candidate, now faces an Everest-level climb to top Rubio in the eight weeks before their primary - but Beruff is willing to spend $20 million along the way.&quot;

- The reality check: "While Beruff had already spent $5 million and built small polling leads in the open race, before Rubio dove back in, multiple primary polls released since Rubio's return show the senator topping the businessman by more than 50 percentage points. Rubio's allies have quickly begun discrediting Beruff's credentials, portraying him as just another political insider trying to buy his own seat, playing off everything from Beruff's long history of political donations to Beruff's family connection to Liberace." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac32eb1789fb89287ab63af826b6813bd184063df1595137173c

NEW THIS MORNING - ClearPath Action Fund endorses Stefanik, Reed and releases TV spots for Ayotte, Portman: ClearPath, a conservative clean energy group backed by GOP megadonor Jay Faison, is supporting two New York Republicans, Reps. Elise Stefanik and Tom Reed, and will tout them as "clean energy champions" in a six-figure digital ad buy on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. ClearPath is also releasing four sets of ads in a larger six-figure digital ad buy, boosting New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, both of whom the group has endorsed. The ads cast Ayotte and Portman as bipartisan leaders on "smart energy policy." 

- Watch the Ayotte 15-second ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac327b444fd66a124d952257e68dcaf05831288e6cca86814198 ... And 30-second ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac32d72e385521afeaf3dfbb00e301e9a32e6fff7e5eb6c6b98d ... Watch the Portman 15-second ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac320b03ca125123382bb47117f884904f192b163b94cce46536 ... And 30-second ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac3296fd92f07f3499f18b35e3a5c349a8b3829909cd39d68b4d 

FIRST IN SCORE - Dem internal robopoll shows Republican Smucker with narrow lead in PA-16: An internal PPP poll conducted for Democrat Christina Hartman's campaign last month showed GOP state Sen. Lloyd Smucker with a narrow lead in Pennsylvania's 16th District. Among registered voters, 48 percent support Smucker and 43 percent support Hartman. It's the latest in a string of House Dem internals that have been released recently, as potential map-expanding candidates and districts compete for attention from the DCCC and other sources of major campaign money.

- GOP Rep. Joe Pitts has represented the district, which includes Lancaster and Reading in southeastern Pennsylvania, for two decades, and Democrats haven't targeted it this cycle, even though Pitts is retiring. The district leans Republican, although President Barack Obama narrowly won it in 2008. The previously unreported poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling between May 3 and May 4 and surveyed 920 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. Here's the full polling memo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b798aa35f1cfe2dd8a3fa0f6747f675bf15d4ad11daadc0472c530475a23f5e3

BUILDING THE FARM TEAM - NRCC adds 11 to Young Guns program: The additions to the NRCC's top-tier candidate recruitment list include: Scott Jones (CA-07), Justin Fareed (CA-24), Denise Gitsham (CA-52), Tonia Khouri (IL-11), Amie Hoeber (MD-06), Stewart Mills (MN-08), Don Bacon (NE-02), Danny Tarkanian (NV-03), Jack Martins (NY-03), John Faso (NY-19), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-08).

Days until the 2016 election: 130.

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 (but probably should do more of) Destiny's Child: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer, @maggieseverns.

ON THE STUMP - Roy Cooper and Deborah Ross, the Democratic nominees for governor and Senate in North Carolina, will join Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama when they visit Charlotte next Tuesday in their first joint appearance, the Cooper and Ross camps confirmed. "Obama had previously been scheduled to campaign with Clinton on June 15 in Green Bay, Wis., but that event was canceled" after the Orlando terror attack. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac32478f094d240688ae4eafad55f10160cae92b5160ce2f63bd

GETTING THE NOD - "In rare move, Scott endorses Rooney in GOP primary" for FL-19, reports POLITICO Florida's Matt Dixon: "In addition, Scott is holding a fundraiser for" Francis Rooney, the former Vatican ambasssador, on "July 15, according to the candidate's website. "When [Scott] first ran in 2010, he was considered an outsider with the entire Republican establishment against him in the G.O.P. primary. Because of that, Scott has chosen not to pick sides in Republican primaries. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b798aa35f1cfe2dd2418b9436554d7bd85dedea1492d52017c9bbad8bf7ee000

- FIRST IN SCORE - Citizens United Political Victory Fund endorsed Dan Bongino: The conservative super PAC is backing Bongino in the FL-19 GOP primary, per a statement from the group. Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, nearly knocked out Democratic Rep. John Delaney in a Maryland House race in 2014. The Fund is donating $5,000 to his campaign. "Dan Bongino is a conservative change agent who fully understand that Congress is broken and that the federal government needs reforms across the board," said Citizens United president David Bossie.

SUNUNU GETS FLACK FROM BOTH SIDES AFTER PLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTE - Executive Councilor Chris Sununu, the New Hampshire political scion who is now the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for New Hampshire governor, voted today to support state funding for Planned Parenthood after voting against such funding last year during the heat of the controversy over undercover videos of the organization. Why? Sununu said in a statement the lack of criminal prosecution for Planned Parenthood changed his mind. That pleased no one. From Susan B. Anthony's List: "Shame on Councilor and GOP Gubernatorial candidate Chris Sununu for going back on his vote." From Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas, one of his GOP
 rivals: "Executive Councilor Chris Sununu has betrayed New Hampshire taxpayers and has also turned his back on conservative grassroots activists." And from the Democratic Governors' Association: "New Hampshire voters will hold Chris Sununu accountable for his vote to block reproductive health care. Chris Sununu has shown that he'll always put his own political ambition first."

LIVING LIKE THERE'S NO POLL TOMORROW - In North Carolina ... A Civitas poll found that GOP Gov. Pat McCrory leads Democrat Roy Cooper, 45 percent to 40 percent, while 10 percent of voters are undecided. When asked if voters leaned toward a candidate, McCrory still leads with 46 percent to Cooper's 41 percent. The poll also found that about half of voters approve of McCrory's job performance, while 40 percent disapprove. Cooper is less well-known, with just over 40 percent who gave no opinion on him, while 32 percent approve of him and 25 percent disapprove. The poll surveyed 600 voters from June 21 to June 23, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Read the full memo
 here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac32bcd2c48047c7e32c663109edfba47cfb0051551212f322ae 

- And in NV-03 ... "An internal poll conducted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee found Democrat Jacky Rosen with an edge over Republican Danny Tarkanian in the Las Vegas-based 3rd District. Rosen took 40 percent to 34 percent for Tarkanian in the race to replace GOP Rep. Joe Heck, who's running for Senate. A quarter of voters are still undecided, per the poll. In the presidential race, Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump 43 percent to 35 percent." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b798aa35f1cfe2dd842da2aa63b2c0bc7d97576a1284d19bde36d849eeb989d3 

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Clinton reshuffles the swing state deck," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti in Denver: "Wisconsin is out. North Carolina is in. When President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton take the stage for their symbolic joint rally on July 5, it will send a subtle but unmistakable signal about the evolving outline of the swing state map. ...It's a reminder of the fluidity within the swing state universe, but also a sign of Trump's decline in national and swing state polling over the past two weeks. Holding Clinton's highest-profile rally yet in North Carolina suggests national Democrats see an opportunity to go on the offensive and expand their map there - an investment
 that could have a higher return than placing it in a battleground state like Wisconsin where Republicans have lost in seven straight presidential elections." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac32794e1f1541de74a326b3bc4023e55abe1eba3a02d5afbd5a 

- "Clinton considers expanding ad campaign to Pennsylvania," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard: "Hillary Clinton's campaign has inquired about expanding its television-advertising campaign to Pennsylvania - another indication the state's 20 electoral votes are up for grabs this fall despite Democrats' six-election winning streak there. Pennsylvania wasn't among the eight states where the Clinton campaign launched its first general-election advertisements earlier this month, nor was it part of the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA Action's initial ad buys. But Priorities recently reversed course and began placing ads that are set to begin airing next week." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac32b824a754887b9f57208de9dfabfd67a49345707a302d1a72

- "Super PACs backing Donald Trump struggle to gain support, traction," by NBC News' Leigh Ann Caldwell: "A number of super PACs supporting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump are struggling to meet expectations and fundraising goals, forcing them to retool their efforts with just four months until Election Day. ... When Rebuilding America Now launched in early June, founder and California hedge fund investor Tom Barrack said he had $32 million in commitments. Nearly a month later, the group has spent just $1.5 million on two different television ads ... Ken McKay, former campaign manager to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's presidential effort who is running the super PAC, said
 the $32 million has not materialized. 'All we can do is ask. And we are asking,' McKay said of donors. ... Meanwhile, the oldest of the pro-Trump groups, Great America PAC, formed in early February, has raised just $2.5 million the four months since its inception. ... A third super PAC, Committee for American Sovereignty, which is run by a former top aide to Ben Carson, Doug Watts, launched with the goal of raising $20 million by the convention. Watts said the group will come up 'short of our pre-convention goal.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac3251ddd3640a94a71c7c04ced1ef1c128637ce555f992da214

- "Trump fundraising emails overseas prompt complaints here and abroad," by The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan and Max Bearak: "Sir Roger Gale was puzzled when a string of emails from Donald Trump's presidential campaign landed in his inbox. As a Briton and a member of Parliament, Gale is barred by U.S. law from giving Trump money, much less voting for him. ... The emails to Gale were among a wave of fundraising pleas inexplicably sent by the Trump campaign in recent days to lawmakers in the United Kingdom, Iceland, Australia and elsewhere. The solicitations prompted watchdog groups in Washington to file two separate complaints Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission alleging that
 the Trump campaign was violating federal law by soliciting funds from foreign nationals." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8996bf4214b2ac32606c1b6583dbc6c6f7b745627fddc04bc78f0177efce9efe 

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I don't think we're going to have a wave election this year in any event," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about November's Senate elections. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b798aa35f1cfe2ddef622d62d96a9733f042c5dc377ebd24fdf8aa9767d2e878 

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b798aa35f1cfe2ddee9195bef7d4ae3779a1e3598ed763e60c6930f2deb998ba
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b798aa35f1cfe2ddafbbbad60b14566dc3a6289c65c5bf4eb0116effd5b7da06 or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=c1c81b2ef644fde1dd3c1f6178ef6a8ea3ee660992025bd421c03d533caea9cb85968ce05c970595b9cd2c218fcf52fdfd9df17657399195
This 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-a19c-d8e1-adf7-addd13560000&u=0000014e-f0fe-dd93-ad7f-f8fffbc40000&s=02fd29efe468442afb8b880ae0eb24c6d5426e39fd3595589b6d2695b790d1da06eaf2c409ee70cd4ce0ac1b38254c39f9fbb0224b2891c6602b6358e586aadd