Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Liz Cheney tries again in Wyoming — Analytics firm touts role in bringing down Huelskamp — New End Citizens United ads target Heck, Ayotte as One Nation backs Burr and Blunt
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2016 08:02:07 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 08/16/2016 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)

PRIMARY PREVIEW - "Cheney closing in on congressional seat in second try," by Campaign Pro's Maggie Severns: "So far, Liz Cheney's second campaign for Congress is going better than the first. But concerns about whether Cheney has spent enough time in Wyoming and opposition to her family have still crept into former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter's House bid. Cheney will face seven other Republicans in a primary Tuesday to replace retiring Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis, but she is considered the candidate to beat. Her campaign has been less tumultuous than Cheney's unsuccessful 2014 bid to unseat GOP Sen. Mike Enzi, when Cheney ran afoul of the political establishment in Wyoming and
 endured a public spat with her family over gay marriage." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc855f860178d2afdaeb62d47cbd52853fa2aaf0d603ec3e1a

- Also on tap tonight: Alaska's primaries! Six years after a shocking primary loss to Joe Miller (followed by a write-in general election victory), GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski is expected to cruise easily through Tuesday's contest.

DATA DOMINANCE - "Analytics firm touts role in Huelskamp's defeat," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: "GOP Rep. Tim Huelskamp's primary defeat has been billed as a potential turning point in the conflict between different wings of the Republican Party. Beneath the surface, a GOP analytics firm is also touting it as a victory for advanced targeting and data-analytics techniques that are increasingly migrating down the ballot." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc8f8f6978ba6fe2ecb8871d30488bac3a9d42dfbe6f8f19ca

HOT DOCS - "Hacked DCCC docs dish on strategy, sex and scandal for Florida congressional candidates," by POLITICO Florida's Matt Dixon and Marc Caputo: "Joe Garcia is a 'scandal plagued former Congressman.' Bob Poe mismanaged the Florida Democratic Party and was a serial philander. Susannah Randolph worked for the controversial group ACORN and has a 'profane' Twitter feed in which she once re-tweeted a message calling Gov. Rick Scott 'a real Florida douchebag.' Don't blame Republicans for talking all this trash about these Florida Democratic congressional candidates."

- "These hits were all made in a series of background reports and strategy memos amassed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Both political parties put these kinds of dossiers and battle plans together on candidates but never share them because of the scandalous nature of the attacks and brutally frank nature of their tactics. But the documents became public Monday after the hacker who goes by the name Guccifer 2.0 released them as part of the ongoing compromise of Washington Democrats' networks this political season." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc8e5cd646b9f73c4e5debd8e8c89e30d8152fded658e1e1d7

Days until the 2016 election: 84.

Days until the Arizona and Florida congressional primaries: 14.

Thank 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 the youngs: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

NEW THIS MORNING - New End Citizens United ads target Heck and Ayotte: End Citizens United PAC, which backs Democrats who support campaign finance reform, is going up with its first major independent-expenditure campaign of the cycle today, attacking GOP Rep. Joe Heck, who's running for Senate in Nevada, and GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire. "The money sure has piled up for Joe Heck," the narrator says in the first ad. "Heck voted with the billionaire Koch brother-backed agenda nearly 80 percent of the time." As the narrator speaks, money from campaign contributions piles up on the floor. "Congressman Heck's supporters pile on the cash," the narrator concludes. "We pay the price." The
 PAC is airing the ad as part of a $1.5 statewide on broadcast and cable TV over the next two weeks. It's also spending $225,000 to run the ad online. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bcff92fa350ced471a3bb38fe5cb097641feb2c9bd0ed606b2

- The second ad features several constituents telling an Ayotte lookalike their concerns at a town hall, as lobbyists seated on the other side of the room urge Ayotte to ignore them. "Getting Kelly Ayotte to side with us shouldn't be this hard," the narrator says. The PAC is airing the ad as part of a $1.4 million statewide on broadcast and cable TV over the next two weeks. It's also spending $240,000 to run the ad online. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bcc8176715fb9f07143cfd7c275b9013586c2db6b28def4e90

- New One Nation ads back Burr and Blunt: One Nation, the nonprofit aligned with Senate Republican leadership, is debuting new TV ads backing Sen. Richard Burr in North Carolina and Roy Blunt in Missouri. Both ads warn about proposed changes to Medicare that an oncologist, Dr. Charles Bane, warns could threaten cancer treatment for seniors. Burr and Blunt have been fighting the changes, a narrator says. The ads echo an earlier spot featuring Bane that thanked GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio for fighting the Medicare changes. Watch the Burr ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc0612abfcdea6247bcd1d497c42a1975f48e968fe7948a53a Watch the Blunt ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc7a424f61540ff112dbf06cb58643092cd5a097560c1bce64

- Vernon ads first general election ad in IA-01: Democrat Monica Vernon, who's challenging GOP Rep. Rod Blum in Iowa, is debuting her first general election today, as House candidates prepare to start going up on TV. "A lot of childish bickering stopping you from getting things done," Vernon says in the ad as children whack each other with pool noodles. "Sounds like Washington. But it was my house as I raised three daughters while starting a small business." Vernon then calls for "affordable child care, expanded family sick leave and equal pay for equal work." The ad ends with Vernon smiling with her husband and three grown daughters. The ad is airing the Cedar Rapids market. Blum is
 considered one of the most vulnerable House Republicans. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72b9941d23aaa69cc668503fd14d90e73061226dc34c76654d8e1e7a7f634beb

FIRST IN SCORE - Kirkpatrick outraises McCain ahead of the primary: Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick raised more than twice as much for her Arizona Senate campaign over a six-week period this summer as GOP Sen. John McCain, according to fundraising numbers released by the campaigns. Kirkpatrick pulled in $1.2 million between July 1 and Aug. 10. McCain raised about $550,000, with $5 million in cash on hand. Kirkpatrick's campaign did not disclose its cash on hand, but McCain will still have a significant advantage regardless.

MORE ADS - New pro-Toomey ad features daughter of Sandy Hook principal: A new TV ad from Independence USA, a Michael Bloomberg-backed super PAC, features the daughter of the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School speaking about GOP Sen. Pat Toomey's commitment to stopping gun violence. "In politics, you see all these ads and you wonder. So let you tell me what I know about Senator Pat Toomey," Erica Smegielski says at the start of the 30-second spot before the camera cuts to images of her mother. "My mom was the principal at Sandy Hook School in Newtown. She died that day, protecting the young children in her care. When it came time to vote on background checks, Pat Toomey crossed party
 lines to do the right thing. That's who he is. And I'm grateful." Dawn Hochsprung, Erica's mother, died during the massacre at the school, which also claimed the lives of 20 children and five other staff members. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc7be25b30791e0e6d7afe840a8c29a84c4aed2cbc966a40ce

- "Pennsylvania's attorney general is convicted on all counts," by The New York Times' Jess Bidgood in Norristown, Pa.: "She was a rising Democratic star. She was the first in her party to be elected state attorney general. She was one of the most powerful women in Pennsylvania. But on Monday night, Kathleen G. Kane, the state's top prosecutor, became a convicted criminal. A jury found Ms. Kane, 50, guilty of nine criminal charges, including perjury and criminal conspiracy, convicting her of leaking grand jury information, and then lying about it, in an effort to discredit a political rival. ... After the verdict, [Democratic] Gov. Tom Wolf immediately renewed his call for her to step
 down." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc82f2bb1ea6703155629cd3ca5e9f8cd3f835be7f8d1de79d

FIRST IN SCORE - Rogers castigates Babeu in new AZ-01 radio ad: Wendy Rogers, the retired Air Force colonel running for an open House seat in Arizona, is out with a new radio ad attacking her GOP primary rival, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, in deeply personal terms. "Sheriff Babeu talks tough on immigration, but he makes bad choices," the narrator says. "Babeu engaged in a sexual relationship with an illegal immigrant from Mexico. And when the men parted ways, Babeu threatened his ex-boyfriend with deportation. He chose to abuse the power of his office. Then Babeu chose to post naked photos of himself on the Internet." (Babeu has denied that he threatened to deport his ex-lover, and a
 state attorney general's investigation found no evidence he had.) The ad also praises Rogers for her military service and for endorsing Donald Trump. The Rogers campaign is spending $30,000 to air the ad across the district. Listen to the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72b9941d23aaa69c98571e1de3b0669b751a15c344ce25bf24d3445962fcc561

MEET THE PRESS - Bayh faces flurry of negative coverage: Three separate news outlets ran stories on Monday raising questions about whether former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, who jumped into the Indiana Senate race at the last minute in July, is more Washington than Indiana now. CNN reported that Bayh had listed his homes in D.C. as his primary residence instead of his condo in Indianapolis. BuzzFeed News reported that he switched his charitable foundation's address from Indianapolis to Washington after he left the Senate. And The Indianapolis Star dug into his work in the private sector shortly after leaving office. 

PERSONNEL MOVES - Young campaign brings on two staffers: GOP Rep. Todd Young has hired two new staffers for his Senate campaign. Jay Kenworthy, who formerly worked for Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and for the state party, will serve as the Young campaign's communications director. Mariah Clark, who previously worked for Kip Tom's unsuccessful House campaign in Indiana's 3rd District, has been hired as a deputy finance director. 

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Clinton preps for Trump's Lewinsky attack," by POLITICO's Annie Karni: "It's one of the most uncomfortable and important jobs in Democratic politics: trying to embarrass the woman who could be the next president. The person picked to be Hillary Clinton's sparring partner in her upcoming debate prep sessions is expected to confront her about the death of Vincent Foster, label her as a rapist's enabler, and invoke the personally painful memories of Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers. Clinton's team is beginning its preparation ahead of the first general election debate scheduled for Sept. 26 at Hofstra University. And one of the key components of that prep,
 campaign allies said, is finding a person who can stand in as Donald Trump during mock debates and launch personal attacks on the former secretary of state that will make the real Trump look tame by comparison." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc7ab39abf7cef58b0a4acf6f39e39475dbdc05699ce7e9595

- "Voting for Trump through gritted teeth," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney: "Peter Greathouse, a Republican from Utah, says he's not 'comfortable' with Donald Trump as his party's nominee. Jane Lynch, a GOP veteran from Arizona, says she'll likely cast her personal vote for libertarian Gary Johnson or a write-in candidate. Loren Byers, a Texas Republican, calls Trump 'a loose cannon.' ... Interviews with Republican members of the Electoral College - all from the red states Trump has his best chance of winning - reveal that the divisions that have wracked the GOP for months have also reached this oft-overlooked body with the ultimate authority to decide the election." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bccde0f049628ce5b6b71342695d5c9d0549f03f81df3487ce

- "Mike Pence's other life," by POLITICO's Matthew Nussbaum in Columbus, Ind.: "On Monday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence returned to his role as Donald Trump's running mate, joining his beleaguered partner in Ohio and talking about a plan to defeat the Islamic State. It was a far cry from Saturday, when Pence talked strategy for defeating a different nemesis: raccoons. 'We have a serious raccoon problem,' Pence explained to Kim Hoeltke at a Columbus, Indiana, farmers market, discussing the vegetable garden behind the governor's mansion. 'We really do.' ... Per the governor, the creatures really enjoy sweet corn, including the stock growing behind the governor's mansion." 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bc03a4ad612aa9297fb05f41a8066a712c8f51e1bda956967c

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I've basically gotten into one of the toughest races in the country, on almost the very last second possible, in an environment where I don't control what's happening at the top of the ticket." - Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who told The Miami Herald's editorial board that it would have been easier to run for president again if he hadn't run for reelection. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5a192e0b7cb0a9bca88da85bef871c434b11b69666a776697c423e3eaf309241

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