Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Progressives raise big money online in Trump's first weeks — Biden picks sides in DNC chair race — Year-end campaign finance roundup
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2017 09:02:49 -0600
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By Elena Schneider | 02/02/2017 10:00 AM EDT

With Daniel Strauss 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)

TAKING THEIR CLICKS - "Progressives pour cash into anti-Trump resistance," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: "Fighting President Donald Trump is proving lucrative. The American Civil Liberties Union raised $24 million in online donations last weekend. That sum, taken in while the group was waging a legal struggle against Trump's executive order banning travel by citizens of certain countries, is more than six times what the group typically raises online in an entire year. And other progressive groups and Democratic organizations are having similar fundraising success, raising money at a pace more closely resembling the frenzied weeks before an election than the typically sleepy months just
 after one. Democratic congressional groups, state-level candidates, and nonprofit or advocacy groups are also reaping millions from pledges to oppose Trump and stand up for progressive values in the early days of his administration.

- "The fundraising wave has even buoyed little-known Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat whom the liberal Daily Kos website endorsed last Thursday for a House special election. Daily Kos members have since donated nearly $400,000 to Ossoff - more than the group had ever directed to any campaign except Elizabeth Warren's 2012 Senate run. ... 'We think [Ossoff] could be our first million-dollar candidate ever, and soon,' Daily Kos political director David Nir wrote in an email. 'And one reason we think so is that our email list - which we've been building up for many years - has jumped from 2 million on Election Day to 3 million now.' Other organizations have seen their email lists balloon, too.
 The DCCC said Thursday that its list swelled by 675,000 (more than 20 percent) in January, as it raised over $4.1 million online - more than in any odd-year month ever." Full story.

PICKING SIDES - Biden endorses Perez in DNC chair race: "Former Vice President Joe Biden endorsed former Labor Secretary Tom Perez in the race for Democratic National Committee chair on Wednesday. ...The endorsement - Biden's first political act since leaving office - is the most public sign yet that Perez has the backing of the highest ranking members of the Obama administration. Perez discussed running for DNC chair with top administration officials before he got into the race." Full story. 

WILL HE, WON'T HE - Rep. Tim Ryan on governor's race: "Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) plans to announce in the next few weeks whether or not he will run for governor in 2018. Ryan, who challenged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to lead the Democratic caucus at the end of last year, has been mulling a gubernatorial bid and has considered running for statewide office in the past. Ryan confirmed today that he was planning on making a decision in the next few weeks, though he said he didn't have a set timeframe. (Some Ohio Democrats had privately said Ryan's decision would be coming in three to four weeks.) 'Yeah, I think I probably need to decide,' Ryan said in an interview at the Capitol." Full
 story. 

- "Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley 'considering' run for governor," by the Dayton Daily News' Laura A. Bischoff: "'I am considering a run for governor but my primary focus now is running for mayor. I love being mayor of Dayton,' Whaley said Wednesday. Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper ... said Whaley is holding conversations with Democrats statewide. 'She has got a good record. She is respected as mayor of Dayton. She's been a very good mayor, a very strong mayor,' Pepper said. ... Pepper said he expects candidates to start getting into statewide races in a month or so." Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 278.

Days until the 2018 election: 642.

Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked]. 

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4. 

CASH RACE - Cruz raises $1 million: Sen. Ted Cruz brought in $1 million in the last quarter of 2016 and has $4.2 million in cash on hand, The Houston Chronicle reported. 

- In Ohio ... Sen. Sherrod Brown has nearly $3.2 million in his campaign account at the end of the year, bringing in $543,000 in the last quarter, Cleveland.com reported. Republican Josh Mandel, a potential challenger, has $1.6 million in the bank. More year-end campaign finance news here.

MEET AND GREET? - "Comstock a no-show at weekend town halls," by POLITICO's Rachael Bade and Anna Palmer: "Rep. Barbara Comstock stood up constituents over the weekend who attended two town halls with questions about an Obamacare repeal and the Trump Administration's travel ban. The centrist Virginia Republican invited people in her districts to "mobile office hours" on Saturday at two grocery stores in Lorton and Oakton, Va. The invitation specifically said she'd be there to answer questions about 'issues important to you.' But Comstock never showed up, angering dozens of constituents who wanted clarity on the GOP's plan to replace Obamacare. ...The blowback from constituents for her
 failure to show up at the events demonstrates the precarious position Comstock currently finds herself in: she's a centrist Republican in a purple district, filled with just as many Democrats as Republicans. She's sure to be targeted by Democrats in 2018 - just as she was last election cycle when she won by six points. Comstock's office said the invitation suggesting Comstock would be in attendance at the town halls was 'in error' and 'should have just said staff.'" Full story. 

OOPS - "Democratic Leadership PAC Sends Money to Wrong Nelson," The Washington Free Beacon's Brent Scher: "A political action committee controlled by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, sent a $10,000 contribution to former Nebraska senator Ben Nelson (D.), who retired from the Senate in 2012 and has no plans to return to politics. The contribution to the retired senator appears to have been a mistake, as it was likely intended for Florida's Bill Nelson, a Democratic senator who will face a tough reelection battle in 2018." Full story. 

ON THE HILL - "DeVos nomination stands at 50-50," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Kimberly Hefling: "Betsy DeVos has no votes to spare heading into a looming confirmation vote next week. Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said Wednesday they will vote against the Education Department nominee. That could very well mean a 50-50 standoff on the Senate floor - and Vice President Mike Pence being called in to put DeVos over the top. Republicans have a 52-48 majority, and no Democrats are expected to support the prospective education chief. Senior leadership aides are confident DeVos will prevail in a likely floor vote Monday. After Collins and Murkowski announced their
 opposition Wednesday, a wave of undecided GOP senators broke DeVos' way." Full story.

STAFFING UP - Indiana GOP adds personnel ahead of Donnelly challenge in 2018: State Party Chairman Kyle Hupfer, who was elected this week, announced three senior staff hires, including Matt Huckleby as executive director of strategy and operations, Mindy Colbert as director of fundraising operations and Pete Seat as executive director of strategic communications and talent development. Huckleby, Colbert and Seat all worked on Gov. Eric Holcomb's successful gubernatorial run. 

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "White House puts Iran 'on notice,' won't rule out military force," by POLITICO's Louis Nelson and Matthew Nussbaum: "National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's administration is "officially putting Iran on notice,' and senior administration officials later refused to rule out military action against the Islamic Republic. Senior administration officials Wednesday afternoon said Iran's 'highly provocative' behavior, including a recent missile test, 'is a destabilizing factor in the region' and promised a response. The administration is considering 'a large number of options' to address Iran, but refused to say whether
 military action is among them." Full story. 

- "Trump Says 'Go Nuclear' as Democrats Gird for Gorsuch Fight," by The New York Times' Matt Flegenheimer: "President Trump, seeming to relish a fight with Democrats over his nominee to the Supreme Court, encouraged the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, on Wednesday to invoke the so-called nuclear option and abandon the 60-vote threshold for confirmation. "If we end up with that gridlock, I would say, 'If you can, Mitch, go nuclear,'" the president said. Democrats are weighing strategies for opposing the nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch and debating how aggressively to pursue a battle over a seat that many of them believe was stolen from their party. In selecting a respected,
 deeply conservative jurist, Mr. Trump has dared Democrats to pursue the kind of blanket obstructionism that they long accused Republicans of embracing during the Obama administration." Full story. 

- "No 'G'day, mate': On call with Australian prime minister, Trump badgers and brags," by The Washington Post's Greg Miller and Philip Rucker: "It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief - a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America's staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week. Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refu&shy;gee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it. At one point Trump informed
 Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day - including Russian President Vladi&shy;mir Putin - and that 'This was the worst call by far.' Trump's behavior suggests that he is capable of subjecting world leaders, including close allies, to a version of the vitriol he frequently employs against political adversaries and news organizations in speeches and on Twitter." Full story. 

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: ""He has all his hair." -- Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, Trump's longtime physician, to The New York Times in an interview in which he disclosed that the president takes prescription medication marketed to treat male-pattern baldness.

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