Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Ryan finishes House fundraising campaign — DCCC poll finds close race in NJ-05 — Throne-Holst hits Zeldin on gun control in NY-01
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2016 08:03:05 -0600

By Theodoric Meyer | 09/02/2016 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)

CASH HUSTLE - "Ryan wraps up August fundraising tour," by POLITICO's Rachael Bade: "Paul Ryan has wrapped up his month-long, 12-state fundraising swing, barnstorming the country raising money for vulnerable House members and GOP candidates at 17 events. At a time when the National Republican Congressional Committee is cash-strapped, being heavily outraised by House Democrats' campaign arm, Ryan's popularity with donors has provided a much-needed boost. In a three-day sweep between Monday and Wednesday, for example, he raised more than $730,000 for eight members and candidates. That included stops in New Jersey for Rep. Tom MacArthur, New York to help Reps. Elise Stefanik, John Katko, Tom
 Reed, Dan Donovan and Lee Zeldin, and a fundraiser for GOP hopefuls Jack Martins of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d4eafd25b66b1cc7d06adbbca2ba8db398926fc1ffa372dc6

PAC ATTACK - "New Jersey's Garrett hit for comments on gays," by POLITICO's Rachael Bade: "Between his votes supporting the Confederate flag and stand against gay Republican candidates for Congress, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) has more in common with rural Alabamians than the people of northern New Jersey. At least, that's the main message of a new, $162,000 House Majority PAC ad that will air online Friday and hit TV stations in his district Tuesday. In the new spot, dubbed 'Dixie,' the group aligned with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hits Garrett for voting against a ban on Confederate flags at military cemeteries. It also reminds voters that Garrett last year refused to pay dues to
 the National Republican Campaign Committee because he believed the GOP election arm actively backed gay candidates, a controversy first reported by POLITICO. 'His views are perfect for rural Alabama, so why is Scott Garrett representing New Jersey?' the voice-over asks." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7df02180b475960d726e182317651d30e4e098c94cf07cb5fb

- A new poll conducted for the DCCC finds a tight race between Garrett and his Democratic challenger, Josh Gottheimer. Among likely voters, Garrett is leading Gottheimer, 46 percent to 44 percent - within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. When voters are read positive statements about both candidates, Gottheimer takes the lead, 50 percent to 47 percent. At the presidential level, Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump, 43 percent to 40 percent, in the suburban New York City district, which has a slight Republican lean. The poll was conducted by GBA Strategies between Aug. 21 and Aug. 24. Here's the full polling memo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d1e017c8305d1ed4dfc72435188ec08e7f27c1111d1a6c409
 
HEY, BIG SPENDER - Senate Leadership Fund to book $8.1 million in North Carolina Senate ads, per Roll Call's Alex Roarty: It's "a definitive signal that the once sleepy contest between GOP Sen. Richard M. Burr and Democratic nominee Deborah Ross has become a major battleground. The ads from Senate Leadership Fund ... will begin Sept. 13 and run through Election Day. Republicans are nervous about the North Carolina contest ... But GOP operatives believe that Ross, former state director of the American Civil Liberties Union in North Carolina, has a target-rich record, which they plan to exploit in the coming weeks. 'By the time Election Day comes around, North Carolina voters will know more
 than enough about Deborah Ross's record to make her unelectable,' said Ian Prior, spokesman for the PAC." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7df8da86d78ee0b125cde421b13ffdd4cdf59cbd34d6d7b6a8

Days until the 2016 election: 67.

Days until the New Hampshire and Delaware congressional primaries: 11.

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PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Score will not publish on Sept. 5 due to the holiday weekend. Our next Morning Score newsletter will publish on Sept 6. Please continue to follow Campaign Pro issues here.

FIRST IN SCORE - Zeldin opponent debuts tough gun control ad in NY-01: Democrat Anna Throne-Holst is putting gun control front and center of her campaign, going after GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York on the issue in a new, eye-catching attack ad. The ad opens with a classroom going through an active-shooter drill after a loudspeaker announcement. "Kids today are practicing for school shootings, and still Washington isn't doing anything about it," Throne-Holst says in the spot, as police officers sweep the school. "Lee Zeldin voted against background checks for violent criminals and the mentally ill. He opposed banning high-capacity magazines. Lee Zeldin even voted to let people on the FBI's
 terrorist watchlist buy guns." "I'm Anna Throne-Holst and I approve this message, because as a mother, nothing is more important than keeping our kids safe," the Democrat concludes. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d685998700115af901860441534c3b2affa64cf42cae2e487

FIRST IN SCORE - Internal poll: Murkowski far ahead of rivals in Alaska Senate race: GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski is miles ahead of all her rivals in Alaska, according to new internal poll conducted for Murkowski's campaign. Murkowski has 56 percent support among likely voters. Democrat Ray Metcalfe is at 12 percent, Libertarian Cean Stevens is at 5 percent and the independent candidate Margaret Stock - who some Democrats have viewed as their best shot as beating Murkowski - is at 5 percent. Here's the full polling memo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7df7dbfe6567d7340bcabfd05954fea399ed3c27b60069893a

CASH HUSTLE - Ashooh outraises, outspends Guinta ahead of NH-01 primary: GOP Rep. Frank Guinta's challenger raised and spent slightly more than him ahead of the Sept. 13 primary - although neither one exactly raked it in. Ashooh brought in about $76,000 and spent $77,000 between July 1 and Aug. 24, with $131,000 in cash on hand. Guinta raised $62,000 and spent $72,000, with $204,000 in cash on hand. Former Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, meanwhile, raised $161,000 and spent $287,000, with $216,000 in cash on hand.

FOR WHOM THE BELL POLLS - DCCC internal poll: Myers and Tenney tied in NY-22: Democrat Kim Myers and Republican Claudia Tenney are tied in the race for an upstate New York open seat, according to an internal poll released by the DCCC. Tenney and Myers both took 35 percent support, with the independent candidate Martin Babinec - who has said he will caucus with Republicans - at 21 percent. (We wrote in yesterday's Pro Score that Babinec was playing a big role in the battleground race.) The polling memo, first reported by Roll Call, does not include presidential numbers. The poll was conducted by Anzalone Liszt Grove between Aug. 14 and Aug. 16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9
 percentage points. Here's the full polling memo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7df7b4e3f924ddd38bf0f9111d7559554e1b1595caabaa7619

- WMUR poll: Hassan 44, Ayotte 42: A new poll from WMUR finds GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte and her Democratic challenger, Gov. Maggie Hassan, essentially tied, with Hassan at 44 percent and Ayotte at 42 percent among likely voters. The poll was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center between Aug. 20 and Aug. 28 and has a margin of error of plus of minus 4.7 percentage points. Here's the poll: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7df6f0a17930c7a3b04d6c54f693699b6b2f3ab31d43f7cc4d

- Ayotte, meanwhile, debated her long-shot GOP primary rival, former state Sen. Jim Rubens, on Thursday night. Democrats are likely to be gleeful about one moment in particular: While discussing trade policy, Ayotte said, "This is where I agree with Donald Trump, because I think he would be a much stronger negotiator. Expect the words "agree with Donald Trump" to make their way into an attack ad soon. Here's the clip: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d1a878db5148147f099068e58a442c95a75e4eff3ea621659

AIR WAR - Gatsas goes negative in new pre-primary ad: Republican Ted Gatsas, the mayor of Manchester, is out with a new ad attacking his New Hampshire gubernatorial primary rival Chris Sununu as insufficiently conservative on abortion rights and education. The ad charges Sununu "supported Obama's Common Core agenda" and "sided with Hillary Clinton and voted to fund Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars." While Sununu hasn't gone negative on the air just yet, his campaign's response did attack Gatsas for rising crime in Manchester and not doing enough to stop the state's opioid epidemic. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d09cb5ea65478d22c5093ef57ca99ee4707402eaaada1bb47

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Clinton's advisers tell her to prep for a landslide," by POLITICO's Annie Karni: "Advisers to Hillary Clinton's campaign have identified so many paths to an Election Day victory they are now focusing not only on the one or two battlegrounds that would ensure a win but on opening up the possibility of an Electoral College landslide. ... Revealing a level of confidence Clinton's inner circle has been eager to squash for weeks, outside advisers have now identified victories in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire as the path of least resistance, delivering for the Democratic nominee more than the 270 electoral votes needed to take the White House. And they are projecting
 increased confidence about her chances in Republican-leaning North Carolina, a state that could prove as critical as Ohio or Pennsylvania." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d34eb83d5d271af751a9d1c2b7b75f6b8d87b582980bb18b5

- "How Trump got from Point A to Point A on immigration," by The Washington Post's Jenna Johnson, Robert Costa and Philip Rucker: "The morning after Donald Trump once again embraced his hard-line immigration positions in a shouted speech, at least four members of his two-week-old Hispanic advisory council said they might not vote for the Republican presidential nominee and warned that his harsh rhetoric would cost him the election. At meetings Thursday on the 14th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan, the candidate's top aides held the opposite view. They thought his tough talk on immigration - combined with a whirlwind trip to Mexico on Wednesday - had, in the words of one adviser, 'won him
 the election.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7db0d38ba550b3f0bd8ce96349d9f24d42a2d79f7a64242a28

- "Donald Trump revised immigration speech after Mexican leader's tweet," by The Wall Street Journal's Monica Langley: As Donald Trump arrived in Phoenix late Wednesday, fresh from a visit to Mexico City's presidential palace, he had in his hands a big immigration speech that omitted the usual line that Mexico would have to pay for his proposed wall along the U.S. southern border. Just after landing, though, Mr. Trump discovered that Mexican President Enrique Pe&ntilde;a Nieto had tweeted that he had told the Republican presidential nominee during their private meeting earlier that day that his country would refuse to pay for the wall. ... So Mr. Trump hurriedly inserted a new sentence in
 his immigration speech, and he soon boomed out from the podium his traditional declaration that the wall would be paid for by Mexico-adding, "They don't know it yet but they're going to pay for the wall.' 'I had no choice,' Mr. Trump said in an interview on Thursday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d79160f0cacb8563441667eed38eda8c7c322246851926279

- "Trump enlists veteran operative David Bossie as deputy campaign manager," by The Washington Post's Robert Costa: "David N. Bossie, the veteran conservative operative who has investigated the Clintons for more than two decades, has been named Donald Trump's deputy campaign manager. The Republican presidential nominee revealed his hire in a phone call with The Washington Post. 'A friend of mine for many years,' Trump said, speaking from his office in New York. 'Solid. Smart. Loves politics, knows how to win.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7d2bde8c6c8be827c90c6e222ca40c2982431a435cabd1fcb6

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I will take care of all your booking needs. PLEASE DO NOT BOOK ON YOUR OWN ANYMORE." - Bryan Lanza, a Trump campaign press aide, in an email to Trump surrogates asking them not to book their own media appearances after a series of embarrassments for the campaign. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f98bd8cc0195b7dad18733f5ed04ab475980aab9d110bca9cb356c4029792d3

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