Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Special election day: Ossoff, Handel face off in Georgia — Norman heavily favored in South Carolina — Rosen to run against Heller in Nevada
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2017 08:04:03 -0600
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By Kevin Robillard | 06/20/2017 10:00 AM EDT

With 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)
 
LIVE FROM MARIETTA - "Georgia special election comes to a messy end," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "In the final hours before voters go to the polls in Georgia's special election Tuesday, national attention focused on a polarizing ad that almost no one in this Atlanta-area district saw - a cable television spot that ties Democrat Jon Ossoff to the 'violent left' in the wake of last week's shooting of GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. It's a fitting conclusion to a race that's been nationalized from the start. ... For Handel, the final day meant a three-stop rumble through friendly territory, her last-minute play to jack up turnout in GOP strongholds. The campaign supporters who
 surrounded her wore stickers reminding, 'REPUBLICANS who stay home elect DEMOCRATS.' ... Ossoff avoided talk of Trump during his brief remarks Monday, instead turning his focus to former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who campaigned with him Monday. Kander, who narrowly lost a Senate race in November, was one of the few national party figures whom Ossoff's team would use as surrogates given the party's tenuous brand in the district." Full story.
 
 - WHAT'S THE DAMAGE? The final spending tally is over $50 million, including $750,000 from national groups in the last five days. What wasn't money spent on? The same "violent left" ad, which features House Majority Whip Steve Scalise on a stretcher and was backed by just a five-figure buy.
 
- BECAUSE FIVE THINGS ISN'T ENOUGH - "Georgia special election: 7 things to watch," by Elena Schneider: "How high will turnout go? ... [T]here's a big question outstanding for Handel: Did the push to get Republicans to vote early just accelerate GOP voting instead of adding to it? Handel will almost certainly do better in the early vote than Republicans did against Ossoff in April, but the Democrat could still win the election anyway. ... Ossoff's moderate message ... The national stakes ... Will last week's congressional shooting affect the vote? ... Recruitments and retirements ... Special elections are still special." Full story. 
 
- Polls close in both special elections at 7 p.m. Tune in for live results from GA-06 on POLITICO.com Tuesday evening. In the meantime, we've got preview maps here.
 
MEANWHILE, IN SOUTH CAROLINA - "Norman favored in SC-05 special," by Kevin Robillard: "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has sent just under $300,000 to the district, and some big Democrats looking at 2020 presidential bids have helped out Parnell. Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris have both donated campaign cash, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan have both campaigned with him and former Vice President Joe Biden recorded a robocall for him. ... Jamie Harrison, the former chair of the Democratic party in the state ... said black voters will need to make up about 35 percent of a small electorate to pull off an upset. Republicans view that as a pipe
 dream. 'Republican strategists are more worried about summer vacations than anything else,' said Matt Moore, a former chair of the state GOP." Full story.
 
-The script of Biden's robocall for Parnell is very Biden-y: "There's a special election for Congress coming up on Tuesday, June the 20th, and I've got to tell you, Archie Parnell is the real deal. He was born and raised in Sumter, and he's never forgotten where he came from. And Archie will fight - he'll fight to save health care, protect Social Security and make the tax code simpler and fairer for ordinary people. The choice could not be clearer. Make sure you get out and vote - and vote for Archie Parnell - on June 20."
 
2018 WATCH - Sources: Rosen to make 2018 Senate bid against Heller in Nevada, by POLITICO's Seung Min Kim and Burgess Everett: "Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) plans to run against Republican Sen. Dean Heller for his Senate seat in Nevada, according to multiple people familiar with her plans. Heller ... is the only GOP senator this cycle who represents a state won by Hillary Clinton in 2016. ... The recruitment of Rosen has the strong imprint of former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who was entrusted by the party establishment to identify the strongest candidate to challenge Heller. Reid settled on Rosen, figuring that she's a fresh face with little political baggage and would be
 the most formidable opponent, according to a person familiar with the matter. After Reid settled on Rosen, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) 'closed the deal' and talked to Rosen four or five times to convince her to run, that person said. Schumer's office declined to comment." Full story.
 
- Rosen's move will leave battleground NV-03 open again in 2018, two years after Rosen captured the seat left open when GOP Rep. Joe Heck tried to move up to the Senate. This is the one of the nation's prototypical swing districts; former President Barack Obama won it twice and Heck held it down for three terms, while President Donald Trump narrowly carried it in 2016 - 48 percent to 47 percent - has Rosen won it. It was already a major target for House Republicans, but it will climb up the list now that it's an open seat. (The 2016 race for this seat also set a record for House outside spending at $16.7 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Georgia's 6th has since
 consigned that record to the dustbin of history.)
 
Days until the 2017 election: 140
 
Days until the 2018 election: 504
 
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You can also follow us on Twitter:@politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4.
 
OFF MESSAGE PODCAST: Senator Ben Cardin thinks America is "absolutely" in danger of stumbling into war. Or wars. In the latest episode of Off Message, Isaac Dovere sits down with the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "[There are] many areas where there could be a miscalculation that could lead to a shooting war. In every one of those circumstances, the Trump administration has not given us a strategy." Listen and subscribe: iTunes | Panoply | Stitcher
 
HEALTH CARE FIGHT ON TAP NEXT WEEK - "Sources: Senate GOP prepares for Obamacare repeal vote next week," by Burgess Everett and Jennifer Haberkorn: "Senate Republicans are preparing to vote on Obamacare repeal next week, according to multiple sources familiar with the negotiations, potentially leaving rank-and-file lawmakers with no more than a week to review legislation that would affect millions of Americans and one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Senators are expected to see the text of the bill as soon as the end of this week, those sources said, provided this week's work goes smoothly. The timeline could change based on the response from individual senators toward the proposal at party
 meetings, but Republicans are increasingly optimistic they can hold a vote next week if this week's lunch talks go well." Full story.
 
- DSCC runs takeover ads vs. Heller, Flake, Cruz, Scott: The spots, part of a six-figure digital buy, are some of Google's new takeover ads. They link to the DSCC's ad, "The Price" which aims to show the cost of the GOP health care plan. The ads are targeted at Heller, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Gov. Rick Scott. The DSCC is the first campaign group to use the ad format, which is designed to reach mobile viewers and cord cutters. 
 
REDISTRICTING GOES TO COURT - "U.S. Supreme Court to hear Wisconsin's redistricting case but blocks redrawing of maps," by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick Marley: "In a related ruling Monday, the high court handed Republicans a victory by blocking a lower court ruling that the state develop new maps by Nov. 1. Democrats and those aligned with them took that order as a sign they could lose the case. The case is being watched nationally because it will likely resolve whether maps of lawmakers' districts can be so one-sided that they violate the constitutional rights of voters. The question has eluded courts for decades. ... "The grant of stay makes it considerably less likely the
 court will rein in partisan gerrymandering via WI case," [University of California, Irvine law professor Rick Hasen] wrote on Twitter. ... Both sides will be pitching their arguments to Kennedy. He has written that maps can be so partisan that they violate voters' rights, but that a standard has not been developed that courts can use to measure when maps should be thrown out because they result in unconstitutional political gerrymandering. ... The justices will likely hear arguments in October, according to the plaintiffs." Full story. 
 
MORE 2018 WATCH - "Mike DeWine expected to announce run for Ohio governor this Sunday," by the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Andrew J. Tobias: "Republican Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine plans to make a 'special announcement' at his annual ice-cream social event at his family's Greene County home this Sunday, a top campaign official says. The official, Dave Luketic, declined to comment further. But translating the vernacular of political campaign ritual, it's safe to say DeWine will make official his not-exactly-subtle plans to run for governor in 2018, and shift the Republican gubernatorial primary into a more active phase." Full story. 
 
- Democrat Randy Bryce announces challenge to House Speaker Paul Ryan: Randy Bryce, a veteran, cancer survivor and member of the local Ironworkers' Union, announced a run against Ryan. He's working with Democratic consultant Bill Hyers. Watch his announcement video here. 
 
ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Spicer searching for candidates to take over White House briefing," by POLITICO's Tara Palmeri: "Last week, Spicer and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus reached out to Fox News personality Laura Ingraham about the role of press secretary and Daily Mail editor David Martosko about the role of communications director, according to a White House official. Spicer and Priebus have had preliminary discussions with Ingraham and Martosko met with chief strategist Steve Bannon last week, according to the White House official." Full story. 
 
CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It's all going to come down to turnout." - Democrat Jon Ossoff.
 
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