Subject: POLITICO Huddle: HOUSE GOP FEELING BETTER ABOUT TRUMP – Harry Reid’s last mission: Legacy building – BIG SPENDING IN BATTLE FOR SENATE – Fattah seeks new trial – MARCO’S MASSIVE FUNDRAISING HAUL
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2016 05:53:47 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_5906759.xt.local>

10/05/2016 07:51 AM EDT

By Heather Caygle ([email-masked] or @heatherscope) 

With assistance from Daniel Lippman

TRUMP? EH, NOT SO BAD- House Republicans spent the summer sweating --and not just because of the swamp-like weather in D.C.-- worried that Donald Trump's chaotic campaign could practically hand Democrats control of the chamber. But now, five weeks from Election Day, those fears have largely subsided, reports Rachael Bade. "Republicans are still pegged to lose seats, but top party strategists are increasingly bullish that a cascade of defeats isn't at hand."

"The GOP's internal polling shows not one of their incumbents running behind," Rachael reports, with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy saying Democrats have gone from "cocky" to "nervous." But that could all change "if Trump goes into a freefall in the final weeks of the campaign; his poor performance over the past week isn't reflected in the GOP's private House polling, and Democrats say Republicans are getting ahead of themselves."

FARMVILLE FACEOFF LIVES UP TO EXPECTATIONS- Sen. Tim Kaine had limited success trying to pin Donald Trump's statements and stumbles on GOP running mate Mike Pence Tuesday night, report Kyle Cheney, Burgess Everett and Matthew Nussbaum from Farmville. An "eager and aggressive" Kaine frequently "and frenetically cut off Pence as he attempted to deliver smooth rebuttals to Kaine's repeated - well practiced - barbs, which sometimes missed the mark."

Pence's goal was to help the GOP campaign move past a week of Trump controversies "and it was notable that the Indiana governor declined to bring up more salacious allegations, including that Clinton has been an enabler of her husband's infidelities - charges Trump has hinted he might bring up at the debate five days away."

Next up: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet again at a town-hall style debate Sunday in St. Louis. 

REID'S LEGACY BUILDING- As Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wraps up his final months in Congress, he's got one last big task ahead: Secure the legacy he's worked for years to build. "He has chosen and shepherded a slate of Democratic candidates like [Ruben] Kihuen to replace him at the upper levels of government in Nevada. Strikingly, none of them resemble Reid - they are Latino, African-American, female, young. Those close to Reid say it's a calculated move by a tactician who recognized years ago that the Democratic Party in his state (and elsewhere) needed to be younger and more diverse to succeed," reports Elena Schneider from Las Vegas (behind the paywall). 

The problem? This election has been one of the most unpredictable in recent memory and there's a lack of enthusiasm about the top of the ticket from voters on both sides. "Reid's hand-picked bench - Catherine Cortez Masto for Senate, Kihuen and Jacky Rosen for the House, [Aaron] Ford and others for the state Legislature (and possibly future statewide office) - face an uncertain year." 

TURNT UP FOR THURSDAY, EVEN THOUGH IT'S ONLY WEDNESDAY. Welcome to Oct. 5 You're reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. Water cooler chatter: The world's oldest man celebrated his bar mitzvah over the weekend at 113 years old. The AP with the heartwarming story: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7c8adfe466c4d6ab98423b0f6c5e93c54dac1b730a3cabf655ce47da8e3cd008 

Tuesday's most-clicked: The winner, by far, was the story about Sen. Kelly Ayotte's campaign handing out free condoms at colleges. 

TODAY IN CONGRESS- Both the House and Senate are out. 

AROUND THE HILL- Lots of "Did you see that moment last night?" chatter during afternoon coffee runs. 

MARCO'S MASSIVE FUNDRAISING HAUL- Sen. Marco Rubio raised an astounding $9.6 million in the third quarter, his campaign said Tuesday, "the best three-month haul any Senate candidate has had this election cycle," reports Kevin Robillard. Rubio's opponent, Rep. Patrick Murphy, brought in $3.3 million over the same period. 

FATTAH WANTS NEW TRIAL, CONVICTION OVERTURNED- "Lawyers for ex-Rep. Chaka Fattah want to apply a pivotal Supreme Court ruling that overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell to his own case, delaying a sentencing that was scheduled for Tuesday," reports Roll Call's Rema Rahman. 

A BETTER WAY? When it comes to budgets and spending bills, the House hasn't changed all that much under House Speaker Paul Ryan, argues the Huffington Post's Matt Fuller: "Ryan said the House would do a budget early this year and then start the appropriations process a month ahead of schedule. ... But House Republicans never agreed to a budget ― the Senate didn't either, for that matter... John Boehner (R-Ohio) was able to get a budget done every year of his speakership. And that was during a period marked by internal House Republican dysfunction." 

"As Ryan knows, the House only passed five regular appropriations bills this year. And that's after the speaker clamped down on the process, restricting which amendments could be offered to bills, something Boehner was able to avoid with a process that was almost entirely open." 

BIG MONEY IN BATTLE FOR THE SENATE- Spending in the fight to control the Senate next Congress has crossed the half-billion dollar mark, reports the Hill's Reid Wilson. "With five weeks to go before Election Day, candidates, parties and outside groups have reserved or purchased $561 million in television time across 27 states, according to sources tracking the advertising market."

By comparison: "The two presidential campaigns and their outside affiliates have reserved or spent a relatively paltry $346 million on television advertising." 

SENATE RATINGS UPDATE: 50/50 SPLIT POSSIBLE- Could the Senate be split evenly between Democrats and Republicans after Election Day? CNN's Manu Raju says that is a "distinct possibility" looking at the seats most likely to flip. 

NRSC ANNOUNCES COORDINATED AD FOR JOHNSON- A day after canceling $1.1 million in Wisconsin advertising reservations for Sen. Ron Johnson, Senate Republicans' campaign arm launched a coordinated ad for the struggling incumbent, reports Roll Call's Simone Path&eacute;. The ad is "a six-figure investment, the specifics of which the campaign and the committee would not disclose."

HOMETOWN OP-ED: "McConnell blames Obama because Congress didn't do its homework," from the Lexington Herald-Leader. 

BARBS FLY OVER VETS CRISIS BILL- "Rep. David Young is blaming Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid for holding up final passage of bill to improve a suicide hotline for troubled veterans. But Reid's spokesman says the Iowa congressman should be faulting majority Senate Republicans," reports William Petroski for the Des Moines Register. 

DISPATCH FROM THE TRAIL- House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra is making multiple stops this week in places Democrats hope to pick up seats, including NJ-05, where Josh Gottheimer is running against GOP Rep. Scott Garrett. Becerra joined Gottheimer in Hackensack on Tuesday, visiting with senior citizens to talk about Social Security and Medicare. 

"Folks were thrilled that we would pay them a visit, something the incumbent Congress member hasn't done. The seniors invited us back -- in English and Spanish! -- and asked Josh to make their place one of his first stops after he wins his election," Becerra wrote. He was also in upstate New York Monday campaigning for Zephyr Teachout and Colleen Deacon. 

ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES- The Senate Appropriations Committee is bringing on Fitz Elder IV as deputy staff director today. Elder was a senior executive at the Russell Group and worked in the Senate for more than a decade before that. Jessica Paska has been promoted to communications director in Rep. Morgan Griffith's office. Lauren Gaydos has left her job as press secretary for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and is now the communications director for Rep. Brett Guthrie.

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER- Jon Deuser was the first to correctly guess that Rep. Rob Wittman was director of the Virginia Health Department's Division of Shellfish Sanitation in a past life. 

TODAY'S TRIVIA- Shelby Boxenbaum has today's question: Name the only father, mother, and son team to serve in the Senate and the years they each first came to Congress. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in tomorrow's Huddle. Get at me: [email-masked] 

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