Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: DCCC names new IE director — Doug Jones fundraising hits $1 million mark — Steyer Q&A
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 08:05:07 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_7061749.xt.local>

By Daniel Strauss | 09/28/2017 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)
 
FIRST IN SCORE - "DCCC names Mackler as IE director" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "The DCCC is tapping Jessica Mackler, president of American Bridge, to lead the committee's independent expenditure unit in 2018. Mackler is the first woman to hold that position at the DCCC. At American Bridge, Democrats' outside-group opposition-research arm, Mackler oversaw nearly $20 million in spending last election cycle. At the DCCC, she'll manage a similar portfolio, directing tens of millions of dollars of TV advertising and polling as Democrats look to attack the GOP's 24-seat edge in the House next year. ... Earlier this week, the NRCC named a senior adviser, Joe King, who's also expected to
 lead the committee's independent expenditure arm." Full story. 
 
A MILLION ROBOCALLS - American Action Network is launching 1 million robocalls in 45 congressional districts in support of the White House's newly released tax reform framework. "The White House and congressional leaders have a bold plan that puts Americans first by cutting taxes for middle-class families and small businesses. Today, we are calling one million people across the country to make their voices heard and urge their representative to deliver a tax code that is simple, fair, and cuts taxes," AAN Executive Director Corry Bliss said. "Congress must take this once-in-a-generation opportunity and deliver historic tax reform to bring back America's middle class, create good-paying jobs
 at home, and unleash economic prosperity for all." Listen to a copy of the robocall here. 
 
DAILY WAR EAGLE - "National Democrats eye shot at Alabama upset" by Politico's Gabriel Debenedetti: "If Democrats are ever going to have a shot - however remote - at a Senate seat in Alabama, this is it. At least that's the immediate reaction within the local party and among some excited national Democrats on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, in the wake of conservative firebrand Roy Moore's primary victory over Sen. Luther Strange. ... [Democratic candidate Doug] Jones has spoken repeatedly with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez - including as recently as last week, when he joined Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell in Washington for a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
 conference." Full story. 
 
- "Jones announces $1M raised in Alabama Senate race" by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "Alabama Democrat Doug Jones said today that his campaign has raised $1 million in the special election for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' old U.S. Senate seat. ... Jones, a former U.S. attorney, had raised just under $288,000 by the end of July, according to FEC disclosures." Full story. 
 
- The senators who chipped in for Strange: Republican leadership PACs gave Strange roughly $150,000 during the campaign, according to one tally circulated Wednesday. GOP senators who sent money to Strange's campaign from their leadership PACs included Nevada's Dean Heller ($10,000), North Carolina's Thom Tillis ($10,000), Florida's Marco Rubio ($2,500) and South Carolina's Tim Scott ($5,000). 
 
- "Jones campaign shuffles staff ahead of Alabama special," by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "Alabama Democrat Doug Jones has hired a new campaign manager, communications director and social media staffer as he prepared for the special Senate election against Republican Roy Moore. Wade Perry, a veteran of the Alabama Democratic Party and the Alabama Education Association, took over as Jones' campaign manager in late August, the campaign confirmed. ... The campaign has added David Yankovich, a Democratic political activist who briefly ran for Congress in House Speaker Paul Ryan's district earlier this year, to run the Jones team's social media." Full story. 
 
- "End Citizens United endorses Jones for Alabama Senate," by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: Full story.
 
CAMPAIGN FINANCE UPDATE - "Progressive groups raked in cash this year. What happens next?" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "Small-dollar Democratic donors have flooded progressive groups in 2017 with more cash than they've ever had. Now, they're figuring out exactly what to do with it in 2018. BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, didn't crack $1 million raised in 2014 - but now officials predict spending anywhere from $10 million to $14 million backing more than a dozen candidates in 2018 primaries and battleground general elections. 314 Action, a group backing science professionals for office, says it could spend up to $7 million in its first full election
 cycle. End Citizens United has doubled its staff in preparation for a busy 2018, while EMILY's List broke down a wall in its D.C. headquarters to fit in more desks." Full story.
 
FIRST IN SCORE - Rokita attacks Messer over past Trump criticisms: Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita is out with a new digital ad attacking his GOP primary rival, Rep. Luke Messer, over Messer and his allies' criticisms of Trump during the 2016 presidential election. The ad notes Messer talked about "White Knight" candidates to replace Trump at the GOP convention and ends with a clip of Messer saying Trump "hasn't shown it yet" when asked if Trump knows how to be presidential. "If you like Donald Trump, you won't like Luke Messer," a narrator declares at the end of the ad. "He's with the elite." Watch the ad here. 
 
- Rokita memo argues he's better fit for GOP electorate: Rokita's general consultant, Tim Edson, is also out with a memo arguing his candidate is a better fit for the angry GOP primary electorate the Alabama results seem to predict. "There is going to be a clear contrast in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, and it puts Todd Rokita at a distinct advantage," Edson writes. "Luke Messer faces severe vulnerabilities which will drag down his candidacy, especially after voters become aware of" Messer's congressional leadership role and work as a lobbyist. Full memo here.
 
Days until the 2017 election: 40. 
 
Days until the 2018 election: 404.
 
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. 
 
EYES HERE, NORTHAM - "POLITICO Pro Q&A: Democratic megadonor Tom Steyer" by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "One of the Democratic Party's single biggest donors, environmentalist and former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, has made electing Democrat Ralph Northam governor of Virginia his main mission of 2017. Steyer's political group, NextGen America, is spending $2 million to turn out young voters and college students for Northam, currently Virginia's lieutenant governor. ... When you first started your heavy political spending, you spent a lot on television ads. Why switch to organizing? 'It takes a long time to build up grassroots, to have an organization that can do that. It's taken a
 long time to build up a strategy and have an organization to carry out that strategy.'" Full story. 
 
DEPT. OF BIO VIDEOS - Perry launches in crowded Democratic primary in PA-07: Democrat Paul Perry, a consultant and nonprofit executive, joined a five-way Democratic primary this week with a launch video that ends with this tagline: "I'm a black man in America with gay parents and a mom who was in jail when I was born. Bring it on because I've got steel in my spine and I'm ready for this fight." Check out the video here. 
 
POLITICAL FOOTBALL - "Corey Stewart calls the NFL 'a cartel,' hopes the teams go bankrupt," by the Washington Post's Jenna Portnoy: "Corey Stewart ... on Wednesday called the National Football League 'a cartel' for benefiting from federal antitrust protections while supporting players who take a knee during the national anthem. ... He opened a 12-minute news conference reading the names of Marines killed recently in Afghanistan and said NFL players - and owners - who take a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality against minority communities are disrespecting the military. 'The players represented by this organization behind me are not heroes,' Stewart said. 'They are
 overpaid, arrogant, disrespectful, ungrateful, unpatriotic.' Stewart called on the Senate to introduce a bill to repeal the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which he said allows teams to negotiate as a group with networks broadcasting games, and inflate ticket and merchandise costs." Full story. 
 
ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Trump's deleted tweets present legal liabilities" by POLITICO's Darren Samuelsohn: "President Donald Trump's prolific Twitter feeds may be a lifeline to his political base, but they remain an ongoing legal liability due to dozens of deletions. Since Trump took office in January, his @realdonaldtrump account has deleted 41 posts, including three on Tuesday pertaining to the Senate GOP primary in Alabama that found Trump backing the losing Republican in the race, according to archives kept by the nonprofit journalism website ProPublica." Full story. 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I don't know him. I think I'll leave it there" - Sen. Susan Collins on Alabama Senate Republican nominee Roy Moore. 
 
To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a51ee8f5d92ee0ade83f89d054fb2119ef26ed00cec127937d8f5bb7eb6c12f30e74c453b9eb156937df92e5a510e81a1885e3e820cb5e9c
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a51ee8f5d92ee0adaba4ec537ac40f69afb483f7d7203f32abda252c3534033992956405af28d74cab84cb48c8e162bff2a16ba45cff1f8b or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=c1c81b2ef644fde1dd3c1f6178ef6a8ea3ee660992025bd4227a4635d9ab8cfcefeff0f7ebe11806c6f1d2f275a86e2860052aeabe4c8690
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=0000015e-c8cc-da92-a5df-cced88c20000&u=0000014e-f0fe-dd93-ad7f-f8fffbc40000&s=43fd51ecf19cf482a80f9eb56ed1634a038dd55f2021eb7ba9a24667c10f8e42ed872bde727bb584dbd4729c16c378c0466de52acf2509ec8d407451d38716ff