Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Senate Obamacare repeal on brink of defeat — Koch network donors eye Trump and Congress warily on health care, taxes — POLITICO Pro Q&A with CO-07 Democrat Andy Kerr
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2017 08:03:53 -0600
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By Elena Schneider | 06/27/2017 10:00 AM EDT

With Maggie Severns 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)
 
ON THE HILL - "Senate Obamacare repeal on brink of defeat," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Jennifer Haberkorn: "Senate Republicans' Obamacare repeal effort is on track to blow up before it even gets started. The GOP is well short of the votes needed to bring its bill to the floor, and party leaders and President Donald Trump are kicking into overdrive to save their imperiled health care overhaul. At least four Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Dean Heller of Nevada and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, have signaled they could oppose a key procedural vote that will occur either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. A number of other senators, like Shelley Moore Capito
 of West Virginia and Marco Rubio of Florida, are undecided. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his team are working furiously to round up 50 of the caucus's 52 senators to even bring the bill to the floor, let alone pass it by week's end." Full story.
 
- "CBO: 22 million more uninsured under Senate health bill," by POLITICO's Adam Cancryn. Read the full story here. 
 
MONEY MEN - "Koch network donors eye Trump and Congress warily on health care, taxes," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard in Colorado Springs: "Conservative donors see a major opportunity this year to achieve years-old Republican goals of reforming the tax code and passing a new health care law. But they are also consumed with worry that the GOP will somehow blow the chance it has been waiting for - whether because of an unfocused President Donald Trump or fretful congressional Republicans. That combination of hope and concern infused the summer seminar meeting of the Koch brothers' network of conservative groups. Before a gathering of over 400 donors at the luxury Broadmoor Resort, Koch
 officials spoke of an enticing but narrow window to pass major tax and health care legislation, even though Republicans control the presidency and both chambers of Congress." Full story.
 
WHEN POLITICS AND POLICY ATTACK - "Heller's hesitance on Obamacare repeal opens Dem divide," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Elana Schor: "Dean Heller's harsh critique of the Republican effort to kill Obamacare has broken open a Democratic divide - between those who want to unseat him and those who prefer to lock in his 'no' vote first to save the health law. The Nevada Republican senator gave Democrats a gift on Friday when he issued a stinging analysis of the Senate's GOP health plan and signaled he may vote against it. His reward: vicious reviews from Democrats who sense a chance to defeat him in 2018." Full story.
 
ONE ON ONE - "POLITICO Pro Q&A: CO-07 Democrat Andy Kerr," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "State Sen. Andy Kerr is on the front lines of Democratic primary politics. The Democratic Party is trying to figure out what it wants to be, and next year's primaries will be a major opportunity for primary voters to have their say before the 2020 presidential race. In front of that backdrop, Kerr is squaring off against a Democratic statehouse colleague, EMILY's List-backed state Rep. Brittany Pettersen, in the race to replace Rep. Ed Perlmutter, who's running in his own competitive primary for governor.Republicans are already eyeing Colorado's open 7th District, but while the seat isn't the
 bluest in the country, it has trended to the left since Perlmutter first won it. That could next year's Democratic primary especially interesting. Kerr weighed in on family fights in primaries, his relationship with Perlmutter and whether he supports a single-payer health care system." Full story.  
 
Days until the 2017 election: 133.
 
Days until the 2018 election: 497.
 
Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the 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. 
 
WATCH LIST - "Democrats' Best Chance to Retake the House? 8 Types of G.O.P. Districts to Watch," by The New York Times' Nate Cohn: "Democrats have debated extensively over whether their path to power goes through the white-working-class Rust Belt states or the diverse, well-educated Sun Belt. In 2018, this debate is moot. The Democrats don't have the luxury of choosing where to compete in House races. They'll have to target all of these areas. The problem for Democrats is simple: There just aren't many great opportunities for them to pick up seats in Democratic-leaning areas. Instead, they'll have to compete in a lot of districts where they're competitive but not favored." Full story.
 
- POST MORTEM - "Lessons for Democrats from the Georgia election," by Jon Ossoff in The Washington Post: He's still not mentioning Trump by name, but, "On Nov. 9, Americans awakened to a startling reality: In the absence of broad, enduring citizen engagement, the door is left open for darkness to creep in and gain a foothold in our democracy. Amid that awakening, I launched my improbable campaign for Georgia's 6th Congressional District. It grew into something bigger than I could have imagined." Ossoff credits the "right wing's national apparatus fully mobilized to defend the status quo in Washington" for his loss. But he also puts out a warning for Democrats, "intraparty disputes that
 dominate national commentary on Democratic politics were nowhere to be found in the 6th District." Full story.
 
MONEY UPDATE - CLF raised over $1.5M in first two weeks of June: "Congressional Leadership Fund, the Republican super PAC aligned with House leadership, has spent more than $10 million so far this year, according to a new FEC report. The group reported raising over $1.5 million and spending over $797,000 during the first two weeks of June." Full story.
 
- Priorities USA Action reports little fundraising in 2017: "Priorities USA Action, the Democratic super PAC that raised close to $200 million during the 2016 election cycle to support Hillary Clinton for president, has raised little money from donors so far in 2017, according to a new FEC filing. Priorities USA Action brought in $1.6 million and spent $2.1 million between Jan. 1 and Jun. 14, the filing shows. But the bulk of the receipts came from $1.6 million in refunds from two vendors, Targeted Platform Media and Precision Network. The super PAC had nearly $1.3 million in the bank on Jun. 14. ... Priorities also has increasingly active 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups." Full
 story.
 
2018 WATCH - Ted Kennedy Jr. passes on Connecticut gubernatorial run: "Ted Kennedy Jr., a Connecticut state senator and the son of the late senator from Massachusetts, has decided not to run for governor of Connecticut in 2018. ...Kennedy likely would've been the Democratic front-runner to succeed Gov. Dan Malloy, who has low approval ratings and opted not to run for reelection. Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and Comptroller Kevin Lembo are among a slew of candidates considering bids on the Democratic side of the aisle." Full story.
 
- "Wagle weighing run for either governor or Congress," by The Wichita Eagle's Jonathan Shorman: "Senate President Susan Wagle is weighing a run for governor along with a run for Congress, her office said Monday. Wagle, a Wichita Republican, had already been considering a primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Ron Estes. But she is also thinking of a bid for governor, according to spokeswoman Morgan Said." Full story. 
 
- Daily Kos endorsed IL-03 Democrat Marie Newman, who is challenging longtime Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski in 2018.
 
NEW FIRM - Kevin Collins, formerly of the Analyst Institute, announced his new firm ChangePoint Analytics on Monday. He's focused on spreading a methodology for creating good online panels "for smaller constituencies such as congressional districts and state primary electorates," according to the announcement in his newsletter.
 
INTERNET STAR - GQ profiles Randy Bryce, the ironworker "America met and fell in love" with: Bryce, on his opponent House Speaker Paul Ryan, "People here are working harder and getting less as a result. But he's not even around. It's been over 600 days since he's held a local town hall. It's just horrible. He's not doing his job. We need somebody who cares." Full story.
 
ETHICS WATCH - "Conyers and Lujan face Ethics Committee scrutiny," by POLITICO's John Bresnahan and Rachael Bade: "Democratic Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico are under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee for alleged violations, although both men strongly deny any wrongdoing. The allegation against Lujan is tied to the Democratic "sit-in" on the House floor in June 2016. Conyers has come under review for his interaction with a former top aide who pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property." Full story.
 
ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "FBI has questioned Trump campaign adviser Carter Page at length in Russia probe," by The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett: "FBI agents have repeatedly questioned former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page about his contacts with Russians and his interactions with the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the investigation. Over a series of five meetings in March, totaling about 10 hours of questioning, Page repeatedly denied wrongdoing when asked about allegations that he may have acted as a kind of go-between for Russia and the Trump campaign, according to a person familiar with Page's account. The interviews with the FBI are the most extensive known
 questioning of a potential suspect in the probe of possible Russian connections to associates of President Trump." Full story.
 
CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Battulga campaigned on a 'Mongolia First' policy, borrowing the language of President Donald Trump." - The Associated Press, reporting on Mongolia's runoff-bound presidential election.
 
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