Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Five things to watch in the Alabama runoff election — Trump takes on Bannon in Alabama Senate showdown — New NRCC senior adviser
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2017 08:02:57 -0600
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By Daniel Strauss | 09/26/2017 10:00 AM EDT

With Zach Montellaro, Elena Schneider and Maggie Severns
 
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)
 
DAILY ROLL TIDE - "5 things to watch in Alabama's Senate race" by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have put their political muscle on the line in Alabama's Senate race - and they've done it for the clear underdog in Tuesday's primary. Not a single public poll has shown appointed Sen. Luther Strange beating former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore for the Republican nomination. But the super PAC aligned with McConnell has spent millions of dollars trying to boost Strange past his controversial opponent, and Trump lent Strange his personal endorsement in a Friday rally in Alabama, where the president enjoys sky-high
 popularity among Republicans. If it doesn't work, Strange could become the first senator since 2012 to lose a primary. Here are POLITICO's five things to watch when the polls close in the GOP primary at 8 p.m. Eastern time." Full story. 
 
- Last-minute spending roundup: A number outside groups disclosed spending money during the final days of the runoff, though none came close to matching the more than $5 million that Senate Leadership Fund has disclosed spending so far to the FEC. The biggest spenders in recent days were all on Team Strange: pro-Trump America First Policies reported spending $452,254 on Strange's behalf over the last five days. The NRSC dropped $200,000 in support of Strange during that time. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce dropped $350,000 on billboards and advertising, bringing the Chamber's total spending in Alabama close to $1 million.
 
BANNON BET - "Bannon to Alabama: 'They think you're a pack of morons'" by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "Steve Bannon barreled onstage at a raucous rally inside a barn here to deliver a warning to the national Republican establishment ahead of Tuesday's special Senate election: I'm just getting started. In a thundering 20-minute speech Monday night that was partly a rally for insurgent Senate candidate Roy Moore but equally a declaration of war on the Republican Party hierarchy, Bannon made clear that this next act of his political career could make the Republican civil war of recent years look tame. 'For Mitch McConnell and Ward Baker and Karl Rove and Steven Law - all the instruments that
 tried to destroy Judge Moore and his family - your day of reckoning is coming,' Bannon said, referring to the Republican Senate leader and a trio of prominent GOP strategists backing incumbent Sen. Luther Strange. 'But more important, for the donors who put up the [campaign] money and the corporatists that put up the money, your day of reckoning is coming, too.'" Full story.
 
FIRST IN SCORE - NEW NRCC ADVISER - "New NRCC senior adviser Joe King expected to lead IE unit" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "The National Republican Congressional Committee is naming Joe King, an Ohio-based strategist with close ties to NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers, as a senior adviser to the committee - with the expectation that King will later lead the committee's independent expenditure unit in the 2018 election, according to a source close to the committee. King will advise the committee on races by 'surveying the battlefield, determining what's important to us,' and developing a 'winning strategy,' he said in an interview. But, in his expected future role leading the NRCC's
 outside-spending unit, King will be charged with overseeing tens of millions of dollars of TV advertising and polling in what could be the most expensive midterm election ever." Full story. 
 
FLORIDA FUNDRAISERS - Sen. Marco Rubio, former Sen. Connie Mack and a number of top Republicans are hosting a fundraiser for Florida state Rep. Mike Miller's bid to replace Rep. Stephanie Murphy. Other names listed on the host committee include Rep. Pete Sessions, lobbyist Brian Ballard, Rep. John Rutherford, and Rep. Vern Buchanan. Read the invite here. 
 
Days until the 2017 election: 42. 
 
Days until the 2018 election: 406.
 
Thanks for joining us! You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked].
 
You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA POLLING - A McLaughlin & Associates poll conducted for state Sen. Scott Wagner's gubernatorial campaign finds him leading Republican primary rival Paul Mango 45 percent to 16 percent with 39 percent undecided. The poll was conducted between Sept. 18 and 20 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. Read the full results here. 
 
... AND VIRGINIA NUMBERS - A poll from Christopher NewPort University's Wason Center has Democrat Ralph Northam leading his Republican opponent Ed Gillespie 47 percent to 41 percent in the gubernatorial race. The poll was in the field from Sept 12 to 22, with an MoE of 3.7 percent. More here.
 
- AAN out with polling on tax reform: American Action Network's Middle-Class Growth Initiative is highlighting that 73 percent of surveyed voters call "passing comprehensive tax reform" a top or important priority, as Republicans are expected to roll out their plan soon. AAN also noted that "the survey found Americans, across party lines, view lowering the middle-class tax rate as the most important tax reform initiative." Read the full polling memo here. 
 
AIR WAR - TV ads kick off against Rep. Rod Blum: Not One Penny, a progressive group, is going up with a six-figure ad buy against Iowa Rep. Rod Blum, urging him to oppose the Republican tax reform plan "that rigs the tax code in favor of of millionaires like Blum," per a memo from the group. "Congressman Rod Blum has a tall stack of votes that only benefit millionaires like him - like this one, which will give a huge tax break for health insurance CEOs already making over half a million each year," says the ad, which will air in the Cedar Rapids market. Watch the ad here. 
 
NO CORDRAY HERE - The Ohio Democratic Party announced Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe will be the keynote speaker at its second gubernatorial debate, scheduled for Sunday, October 29th. Democrats on the stage include former Ohio state Rep. Connie Pillich, former Ohio state Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, former U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. 
 
INVITING A PRIMARY - Coffman taunts Tancredo: Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman asked former Rep. Tom Tancredo to "come after me" in a GOP primary. Coffman said that he decided to challenge him after Tancredo "defended a group called VDARE, which serves as an online platform for racist and white supremacist viewpoints," 9News reported. "We could define what the Republican party is for a generation to come," Coffman said. Tancredo, for his part, has "openly advocated" for a conservative challenge to Coffman, but when asked said he didn't plan to personally challenge him. 
 
GETTING THE NOD - NewDem PAC adds a dozen candidates to 'watch list': The NewDem PAC named a dozen Democratic House challengers to its "Candidate Watch List" on Monday: Dave Min (CA-45), Hans Keirstead (CA-48), Harley Rouda (CA-48), Paul Davis (KS-02), Elissa Slotkin (MI-08), Angie Craig (MN-02), Brad Ashford (NE-02), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Anthony Brindisi (NY-22), Jana Lynne Sanchez (TX-06), Jay Hulings (TX-23) and RD Huffstetler (VA-05). 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I'm here tonight to say, I stand with Luther. I stand with President Donald Trump. And I will always stand for our national anthem." - Vice President Mike Pence speaking at a rally for Sen. Luther Strange in Birmingham. 
 
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