Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Hawley’s first ad spotlights SCOTUS vacancy — New fundraising numbers for Bryce, Housley — SC-01’s Arrington released from hospital
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2018 08:02:26 -0600
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By Zach Montellaro | 07/09/2018 10:00 AM EDT

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.
 
THE SHOW-ME STATE - Missouri Republican Josh Hawley is up on the airwaves with the first ad in his race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. The ad hits McCaskill over the Supreme Court vacancy, with Hawley saying "our way of life is at risk." More from Campaign Pro's James Arkin: "Hawley's campaign has placed at least $505,000 on cable and broadcast behind the ad, according to data from Advertising Analytics. A spokesperson declined to provide further details on the buy."
 
THE AD MAN - When you think of a viral Democratic ad from this cycle, you probably think of a slickly produced bio spot for a veteran running for Congress. And chances are that Mark Putnam's company, Putnam Partners, made that ad. POLITICO Magazine's Michael Kruse profiled the ad man du jour and his protege in a feature that's well worth reading all the way through: "Veterans have emerged as an effective voice to channel Democratic voters' frustration and anger, Putnam Partners boss Mark Putnam said in an interview in his office in Washington. 'They have the toughness, strength and idealism needed to fix a broken system.' Putnam, 54, is known best for his exacting work for red-state
 Democrats and his half-hour prime-time special for Barack Obama in 2008. ...
 
"More broadly, these ads highlight a wholly new way to envision a campaign. Especially for first-time long-shot candidates, these spots have flipped the typical path to electoral success. It used to be one ran locally in an effort to get attention nationally. But the preponderance of smartphones and a hunger for clickable media have enabled the opposite. 'We did a video that made her a national figure,' [Democrat Amy] McGrath campaign manager Mark Nickolas told me, 'in order for us to be able to run a local campaign.'"
 
- And on the advertising front, POLITICO's Didi Martinez took a look at how the surge of woman candidates has sparked a revolution in campaign design.
 
Good Monday morning. Some sad news: Former Iowa Gov. Bob Ray, a titan of Hawkeye State politics, died Sunday. As always, you can email me at [email-masked] or DM me at @ZachMontellaro.
 
You can email the rest of the great Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked]. Follow us on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @JamesArkin, @MaggieSeverns, @ec_schneider and @DanielStrauss4.
 
Days until the 2018 election: 120.
 
Upcoming election dates - July 17: Alabama primary runoffs. - July 24: Georgia primary runoffs.
 
Upcoming primary filing deadlines - Delaware: July 10. - Louisiana: July 20.
 
MORE EARLY FUNDRAISING - FIRST IN SCORE - MN-SEN: Republican Karin Housley, who is running against Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), raised over $1 million in the second quarter and has just under $1 million cash on hand, per her campaign.
 
- WV-SEN: Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey raised $1.28 million in the second quarter, including $1.19 million since the pre-primary report on April 18. The campaign says it has $895,000 cash on hand.
 
- AL-02: Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) raised just under $721,000 and has $731,000 cash on hand, per a pre-runoff FEC filing. Her primary runoff opponent, former Rep. Bobby Bright, raised just $19,600 in the same time period, according to his FEC report. He has $163,000 cash on hand.
 
- CA-04: Democrat Jessica Morse announced she had raised over $520,000 in the second quarter.
 
- CA-45: Democrat Katie Porter raised over $1 million and has just under $750,000 cash on hand, per her campaign.
 
- TX-23: Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones raised $1.2 million in the second quarter and has nearly $1.1 million cash on hand, per her campaign.
 
- VA-10: Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock raised $1 million and has $1.71 million cash on hand, per her camp.
 
- FIRST IN SCORE - WI-01: Democrat Randy Bryce raised $1.2 million and has over $2 million cash on hand, per his campaign.
 
DE-REVOLUTION - Revolution Messaging helped propel Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential bid, breaking fundraising records and signing a cabal of progressive clients. Two years later, the firm is in upheaval, BuzzFeed News' Ruby Cramer reported: "Over the last six months, at least 27 employees have left Revolution Messaging or given their notice. The campaigns department, where staffers helped raise more than $218 million for Sanders, is a shell of the same group that made a name for the firm in 2016. When two senior staffers exited the company in early 2018, that team lost four marquee accounts: Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Chris Murphy, and Giffords PAC. (The firm retains some
 business with each client, such as web services, a spokesperson said.)
 
"Since 2017, the firm has lost names like Adam Schiff, Mahlon Mitchell, Rich Cordray, Ben Jealous, Brian Schatz, Alex Padilla, Andrew White, Katie Porter, Patty Murray, Dan Helmer, Vincent Fort, Justin Nelson, and Barbara Lee. Before this month, the firm's largest remaining client, according to former staffers on the campaigns team, was Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke. Last Friday, he left Revolution Messaging for a competing firm."
 
PROBLEM FOR PUTNAM? - When Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam oversaw the office that "failed to review results from a national background check for concealed weapons permits," one employee largely took the fall. But the Tampa Bay Times' Steve Contorno reported there may be more blame to go around: "[A]ccording to previously unreported details from the 2017 Office of Inspector General investigation obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, issues with the permitting extended beyond [fired employee Lisa] Wilde. Audio recordings and summaries of interviews investigators conducted with eight current and former employees show a critical step in backgrounding applicants was left to
 'overwhelmed' mailroom employees who expressed little understanding of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or why it was necessary to review." 
 
TREND WATCH - With all the primary votes finally counted in California, turnout is up significantly in the Golden State. CALmatters' Ben Christopher: "[A] little over 37 percent of those registered to do so got out to vote. ... Some of the biggest increases in turnout relative to the 2014 midterm primary were in areas with the most competitive congressional races. Orange County as a whole saw a 19 percentage point increase in turnout."
 
ROAD TO RECOVERY - Katie Arrington, the Republican who primaried Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) in South Carolina's 1st District, left the hospital Friday after she was seriously injured in a car crash. The Post and Courier's Caitlin Byrd: "With casts on both of her legs, the [wheelchair-using] Arrington smiled and waved as her husband, Rob, pushed her into the conference room set up with a table and microphones. ... She will still have a month or so of limited mobility while her internal injuries heal, [her doctor] said, but is expected to make a full recovery."
 
ON THE AIRWAVES - The NRCC and state Sen. Troy Balderson's campaign are going up with a new broadcast buy in the special election in Ohio's District 12. The buy is from July 10-16 and is at least $108,000, according to Advertising Analytics.
 
- The League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund is going up with a $900,000 buy attacking Republican Matt Rosendale in the Montana Senate race for his ties to a pair of billionaires who "block hunters' access to public lands." The buy includes a statewide TV ad and a digital component.
 
- The Judicial Crisis Network will launch a new $1.4 million buy on national cable, digital and in four states (Alabama, Indiana, North Dakota and West Virginia) featuring a bio of the president's eventual Supreme Court pick. The group says the spot will go live as soon as the nominee is announced.
 
ARREST HISTORY - Democrat Randy Bryce, who is running in Wisconsin's 1st District to replace Speaker Paul Ryan, pleaded guilty to a DUI in the 1990s, according to a review of arrest records from CNN's Nathan McDermott: "According to public records obtained by CNN, Bryce was arrested in April 1998 for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol -- or OUI-- in Schoolcraft County, a small, rural county in Michigan. Though Michigan law classifies the offense as an OUI, it's commonly known in other states as a DUI, or driving under the influence of alcohol." CNN's review also found other arrests - including some for protesting Ryan. Bryce apologized. "I made a mistake and I regret it.
 I've worked very hard to learn from my mistakes," he said in a statement to CNN.
 
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT! - A recent hire for South Carolina Democratic gubernatorial candidate James Smith that's been buzzing around Twitter: Noah Barker, a 17-year-old (and governor of Palmetto Boys State) who will handle his campaign's social media (h/t CNN's Caroline Kenny).
 
FIRST IN SCORE - DEMS' SCOTUS BATTLE PLANS - Polling commissioned by a constellation of progressive groups suggests that Democrats should drop the fight over the "McConnell rule" and instead focus on the issues the next Supreme Court justice could help decide, including access to abortion and voting rights. "Delaying until after the election is by far the worst argument tested in polling, with as many voters opposed as in favor," the executive directors of Battle Born Progress, One Wisconsin Now, Progress Virginia and Progress Iowa wrote in a memo. "We would be well served to maintain a focus on how the Supreme Court nominee will impact the lives of Americans." The poll was conducted by the
 Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.
 
CODA - "I don't give a shit about Corey Stewart," Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.), responding to calls from his primary challenger to disavow Virginia Senate nominee Stewart, per The Virginian-Pilot.
 
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