Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: THE AFTERMATH — Trump campaign staffers eye White House jobs — Ayotte concedes — N.C. governor's race still uncalled
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 09:04:21 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_6038282.xt.local>

By Theodoric Meyer | 11/10/2016 10:00 AM EDT

With Elena Schneider and Scott Bland

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)

TWO DAYS LATER - "Trump staff line up for White House jobs," by POLITICO's Eli Stokols: "The political cast-offs, never-have-beens and backbench legislators who surround Donald Trump were warned that their work for the nominee would forever stain their resumes. Now they're in line for the most influential jobs in Washington. Resumes are rolling in from operatives looking for administration work - offering one of the surest signs that whatever wound was opened during the ugly GOP primary has been healed by Tuesday night's stunning victories that handed both the White House and Congress to the Republican Party. 'He couldn't even staff the campaign because no one wanted to be associated with
 him," said one Trump ally. "It's different now, but there's going to have to be a lot of forgive and forget. A lot of people who stayed away from this campaign could be a lot of help now, and both sides will have to get over it.'" Full story.

- DEMOCRATS' DAY AFTER TOMORROW - "Democratic Party in crisis," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "Democrats awoke Wednesday facing something they had worked hard to convince themselves was a problem exclusively of the right: a party in crisis. Swept dramatically from power as Republicans assumed control of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives and stood poised to make Supreme Court appointments that will dictate the direction of the judiciary for a generation, the Democratic Party is only beginning to grapple with enormous questions - everything from who will lead to what the party will stand for. ... 'We thought this would happen in 2018, not 2016,' added a senior
 Democratic aide who woke up on Wednesday unsure of his party's shape for the first time in years, especially given the forbidding [Senate] map two years down the line. 'It could get worse before it gets better.'" Full story.

SENATE SEAT FLIPS - "Ayotte concedes to Hassan in New Hampshire," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett: "GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte conceded to Democrat Maggie Hassan on Wednesday evening, declining to pursue a recount in the nation's closest Senate race and tipping a second seat to Democrats after Tuesday's election. Hassan led Ayotte by just 1,019 votes out of more than 738,000 cast, according to the secretary of state's official tally. The margin was well within the limits for a recount, but Ayotte conceded to Hassan a day after the polls closed. 'I just spoke with Gov. Hassan to congratulate her on her election to serve in the U.S. Senate," Ayotte said in a statement. 'I wish Gov. Hassan, her
 husband Tom, and their children Ben and Meg the very best.'"

- "Hassan was one of Senate Democrats' most prized recruits this year, and Democrats needed every bit of the sitting governor's popularity to take on Ayotte, who also remained more liked than not by New Hampshire voters throughout the campaign. Both Senate nominees picked up thousands more votes than the two presidential candidates did in the state." Full story.

STILL UNCALLED - Cooper leads by narrow margin in North Carolina governor's race: Election officials in North Carolina are still canvassing absentee and provisional ballots, with Democrat Roy Cooper leading GOP Gov. Pat McCrory by fewer than 5,000 votes. Local boards will deliver final results to the State Board of Elections on Nov. 18, and if the margin is 10,000 votes or less, the race could go to a full recount. Cooper declared victory on Tuesday, but Chris LaCivita, McCrory's campaign strategist, said in a statement that "claiming an outcome before the process has concluded is irresponsible and disrespectful to the voters of North Carolina." LaCivita also cited "grave concerns over
 potential irregularities" in Durham County, where a handful of precincts stayed open longer to accommodate polling-machine problems. 

- But Cooper's consultant, Morgan Jackson, said he's still confident Cooper will win, noting that "historical trends" suggest that Cooper will "lose some, maybe 1,000 in absentee, but gain a much larger portion of the provisionals." "The fact that Roy Cooper was able to survive, to reverse that Trump-Republican wave says a lot about Cooper and McCrory," Jackson said. 

- Just two House races are still uncalled, both in California. In the Sacramento area, Democratic Rep. Ami Bera leads Republican Scott Jones 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, according to the California secretary of state. And in the San Diego suburbs, GOP Rep. Darrell Issa leads Democrat Doug Applegate 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent. Neither Jones nor Applegate has conceded, and both races could remain uncalled until next week. There are over 1 million absentee and provisional ballots still left to count in the two counties that cover Issa's district, according to the local election authorities.

THE MARGIN - Democrat will pick up five to eight seats in the House: Democrats are poised to gain five to seven seats in the House, depending on the outcomes of the Bera and Issa races - or eight if Democrat Marshall Jones pulls off a shock defeat of Republican Mike Johnson in the runoff for a deep-red House seat in Louisiana. Democrats won nine Republican-held seats on Tuesday, defeating GOP Reps. David Jolly and John Mica of Florida, Bob Dold of Illinois, Cresent Hardy of Nevada, Frank Guinta of New Hampshire and Scott Garrett of New Jersey, and picking up open seats in Florida, Nevada and Virginia. (Court-ordered redistricting in Florida and Virginia contributed to several gains.) But
 Republicans beat Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford of Nebraska and won two open seats in Florida, one of them due to redistricting.

Days until the 2017 election: 362.

Days until the 2018 election: 726. 

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're really not sure what to tweet right now, to be honest: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

POLITICO'S TRANSITION TRACKER: With the election over, POLITICO has you covered with the latest breaking news in the transition of power in Washington. Stay on top of the latest in personnel hires, appointments and announcements specific to the new administration by signing up for our new mobile product available for iPhone users via Apple Wallet. Download the pass here.

TICKET-SPLITTING REPORT - Breaking down the early presidential and congressional results: It will take some time to pull together President-elect Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's district-by-district vote shares, but a snapshot of some key races is available now. Trump carried both of Iowa's battleground districts - which Obama carried with 56 percent (IA-01) and 51 percent (IA-03) in 2012 - with 48 percent of the vote, while Clinton got 44.6 percent and 44.5 percent, respectively. GOP Reps. Rod Blum and David Young both ran 6 points ahead of Trump. In VA-10, in the northern Virginia suburbs, GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock, at 52.6 percent of the vote, ran 11 points ahead of Trump. 

- In Minnesota's three battleground districts, two incumbents ran far ahead of their presidential candidates, while an open seat was tied closely to the presidential result. More here.

FIRST IN SCORE - NRCC memo: How Republicans held the House: Rob Simms, the NRCC's executive director, credits House Speaker Paul Ryan's $42.7 million fundraising haul for the committee and a district-by-district strategy in a new memo outlining how Republicans limited their losses in the House to the single digits. "While Democrats ran a one-size-fits-all national campaign, our members and candidates ran strong races, focused on the issues important to local constituents," Simms writes. "These efforts were recognized and rewarded by voters who returned a strong Republican majority to the House in 2017. Republicans were successful in districts across the country, in both red and blue states,
 including winning in 21 districts that voted for Barack Obama in 2012." Here's the full memo.

- Congressional Leadership Fund President Mike Shields is out with a memo of his own outlining how the super PAC helped Republicans: Congressional Leadership Fund and American Action Network, its sister nonprofit "spent a record $48 million in 32 congressional seats nationwide - more than twice the amount of any previous election cycle," Shields writes. "We invested in data, polling, research, television, radio, digital, mail, phones, and ground game programs. And our return on investment is extraordinary: 29 wins, 2 losses, 1 undecided. All of it done without any significant other outside partners." Here's the full memo.

ONE MORE - Kennedy likely to win Louisiana Senate runoff: Republican John Kennedy and Democrat Foster Campbell made it through the jungle primary to fill retiring GOP Sen. David Vitter's seat, but Kennedy's strongly favored to win the Dec. 10 runoff, The Advocate's Tyler Bridges reports. "Kennedy and the other Republican candidates in Tuesday's primary won about 60 percent of the vote, while the Democratic candidates - including Campbell - won about 36 percent. ... 'It's a very steep uphill climb for Foster Campbell,' said John Couvillon, a Baton Rouge-based pollster and demographer. Couvillon said an analysis of precinct returns showed that only 16 percent of whites voted for a Democratic
 Senate candidate on Tuesday, compared to 21 percent for" Democratic Sen. Mary Landreiu in 2014, when she came up short in her reelection bid.

- Republicans are the heavy favorites in runoffs in LA-03 and LA-04, too: More here.

THE CHAIRMAN NEXT TIME - "Sources: Gardner to lead Senate GOP campaign arm," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett: "Colorado GOP Sen. Cory Gardner has locked up enough votes to be the NRSC chairman for the 2018 cycle, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told POLITICO. The freshman senator, whose political team has been laying the groundwork to help the Senate GOP's campaign arm for nearly a year, made a final round of phone calls to win enough support to take the job. His competition, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), is expected to support Gardner's bid next week in leadership elections. Tillis is expected to play a major role in the organization, potentially as a vice chair, a source
 familiar with the plan said." Full story.

MEET THE MEMBERS - Profiles of all newly elected Senate and House members: Read profiles of every newly elected member of Congress here, from the Campaign Pro team. The profiles include biographical information, career history, and more about the candidates who won on Nov. 8.

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Reince Priebus' moment," by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel and Kyle Cheney: "The cast of characters behind Donald Trump changed repeatedly during the course of his improbable presidential campaign as the rookie candidate struggled to strike the balance between Republican politician and anti-establishment crusader, but one person remained constant: Reince Priebus. And now, the Republican National Committee chairman, whose efforts to rein in Trump at times made him the butt of jokes, is getting a lot of the credit for helping the president-elect pull off the most shocking upset in modern political history." Full story. 

- "How Trump won his map," by POLITICO's Charlie Mahtesian: "On election eve, POLITICO looked at a series of key battlegrounds across the electoral map, 16 places that mattered a lot more than others for reasons of size, voting history or ideology. These were the counties that were poised to play a disproportionate role in electing the president and they did - though perhaps not in ways that were expected by Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Here are the 16 battlegrounds revisited, with a look at the role they played in electing Trump as president." Full story.

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bb9c5acbd90db3543dcff7359efcb064e675175b5031a4dc5b5e5d8612bbb757
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bb9c5acbd90db354a9f83261d63d4731c02d5419e0b73e7d474e8b46cffeddb8 or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=c1c81b2ef644fde1dd3c1f6178ef6a8ea3ee660992025bd44ac8a4e47cf5d9536b6f72ef1b457d3f7f331bbda395e81fd103fe66752a6428
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=00000158-4ec0-dc03-a1d9-5edee9d30000&u=0000014e-f0fe-dd93-ad7f-f8fffbc40000&s=462752b85113c24d5d58a20ea9ce6e5a1edca47bdbb1361afaa1b4453aad1bf7d7ec8be2ac6c6f71b84f7c3bd7cd0b19b0620059978cb94d67e45600cf3891fe