Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Mayor Rahm’s 2020 strategy for Democrats — Bustos elected DCCC chair — Party super PACs outspend party committees in midterms
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 09:04:08 -0600
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11/30/2018 10:00 AM EDT
        
By ZACH MONTELLARO ([email-masked]; @ZachMontellaro)

        
Editor's Note: This edition of Morning Score is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Campaigns subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here. 
          THE TOPLINES         
MAYOR RAHM'S TAKE - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stopped by POLITICO HQ to discuss the future of the Democratic party and (of course) 2020.

To get the obvious out of the way: Emanuel was a hard no on running for president in 2020. He argued that after three two-term presidents in a row, America is historically due for a single term for President Donald Trump, but Democrats need to pick the right candidate. Emanuel said the public is not looking for a creature of Washington to challenge Trump. "If you've landed more than twice in Reagan National, you're not on the ticket," he joked. Democrats need to focus on keeping the "anti-Hillary" voters he says Republicans lost in the midterms.

To do that, Democrats need to keep three things in mind. First, Trump is intentionally trying to "force the establishment to attack him" with most of his outrageous behavior, and Democrats need to avoid that trap, Emmanuel said. Second, Democrats need to look at an expanded map. "Every culture [war launched] is to shove [Democrats] back on our urban enclave." Instead, Democrats need to focus on their "metropolitan majority" - urban and suburban voters. Last, he said Democrats "really got to do better than bad in small-town, rural America."

His list of states for Democrats to target, both in 2020 and beyond, includes Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia as "higher priority targets." He predicts New Mexico and Nevada are moving further into the Democratic camp. And in the "oy category" that'll give Democrats heartburn: Florida and Ohio. "Both of those are flashing yellow lights for our aspirations."

Emanuel is also a booster of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's bid to regain the speaker's gavel. "We don't need rookies," he said. "Usually if you win, you get something. You don't get kicked in the ass."

Happy Friday! Space! Email me at [email-masked] or DM me at @ZachMontellaro. 

Email the great Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked]. Follow them on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @JamesArkin, @ec_schneider and @DanielStrauss4.

Days until the 2019 election: 340

Days until the 2020 election: 704

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          IN THE TRENCHES         
THE COMMITTEE CHAIR - Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos will head up the DCCC, the last committee chair chosen for the next cycle. POLITICO's Heather Caygle: "Bustos won a three-way race to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee with 117 votes Thursday. Reps. Denny Heck (D-Wash.), currently in charge of recruitment for the campaign arm, took 83 votes and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), a finance co-chair for DCCC, took 32 votes."

The other chairs, for those wondering: The NRCC is helmed by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the NRSC by Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and the DSCC by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.).

- Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts was elected the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss reported.

- The president asked Ronna McDaniel to stay on as RNC chief. "I have asked her to serve another term for my 2020 re-elect, because there is no one better for the job!" he tweeted. In a statement, McDaniel said she was "excited to continue our fight."

SHOWN THE DOOR - Eric Bauman, the chairman of the California Democratic party, is resigning after allegations of sexual misconduct. The Los Angeles Times' Phil Willon and Melanie Mason: "Bauman's decision to resign follows a report from The Times on Wednesday that said 10 party staff members and political activists accused him of making crude sexual comments and engaging in unwanted touching or physical intimidation in professional settings."

MONEY MONEY MONEY - Party super PACs have become the most prolific political spenders, outpacing the congressional committees for the first time ever. POLITICO's Maggie Severns: "During other midterm elections, party committees like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee have been the biggest spenders. But in 2018, preliminary totals indicate the three biggest spenders in the election were all super PACs, the Campaign Legal Center's review found."

N.C. MYSTERY - The race in NC-09 between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready remains uncertified (Harris narrowly leads McCready). The Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill: "Allegations of voting irregularities in and around Bladen County swirled on Thursday, with the North Carolina Democratic Party calling for an official hearing and a flurry of affidavits surfacing involving absentee ballots. ... The man at the center of speculation about the alleged activities, McCrae Dowless, was paid by the Harris campaign as a contractor for the candidate's top consultant."

THE GOLDEN STATE - Republicans are increasingly casting doubt on the results of several California House races. Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan stopped short of voicing conspiracies of fraud, but he approached the line. "When you win the absentee ballots and you win the in-person vote, where I come from, you win the election," Ryan said to The Washington Post's Paul Kane. "I'm not saying there's anything nefarious about it, because I just don't know, but we believed we were up about six seats in California the night of the election, now I think we lost just about every single one of those." Others have struck similar tones. POLITICO California's Carla Marinucci: "Ryan's comments about a
 state's elections process put him in league with some prominent California Republicans who have recently expressed befuddlement - and anger - about the series of GOP incumbents whose defeats came after officials completed the tallies of millions of absentee and provisional ballots."

THE KOCH NETWORK - A look into the Koch network's financials, courtesy of the Center for Responsive Politics' Anna Massoglia and Kaitlin Washburn: "Americans for Prosperity made $57.5 million in 2017, down from $64 million in 2016. The organization's expenses dipped as well in 2017 - to $51.6 million - down from $58.3 million the prior year, according to the nonprofit's tax return. ... Americans for Prosperity's main contractor in 2017 was In Pursuit of LLC, with $14.4 million payments listed in their new tax return. ... [Freedom Partners] experienced a dip in revenue as well. The nonprofit brought in $127.3 million in 2017, down from $146.7 million in 2016, according to new tax returns
 obtained by CRP."

CHANGE OF TUNE - After suffering big losses in the midterms, Republican governors are warning the president and the GOP that something needs to change. POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt, from Scottsdale, Ariz.: "In interviews, more than a dozen of the GOP's most prominent governors and officials implored the party to address its plummeting support from women and upper-income suburban voters, pleaded with the president to ratchet down his rhetoric, and urged a rethinking of the party's widespread use of slash-and-burn TV ads that fell flat in 2018. Among those roaming the halls of the Fairmont Princess resort was Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who coasted to reelection in liberal Maryland.
 He said the midterms exposed a party that appeals to a narrowing base of supporters as it alienates vast swaths of the electorate."

WAITING ON PINS AND NEEDLES - Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) will announce on Monday if he's running for governor in 2019, The Advocate's Elizabeth Crisp reported. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards currently holds the office.

WHAT'S NEXT? - The recently defeated Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) is still planning to keep a foot in politics. The Miami Herald's Alex Daugherty and Douglas Hanks reported that Curbelo is mulling a run for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020 and that he said some "supporters have also encouraged him to run for Congress again after he lost reelection."

SHORT-TERM CONGRESSWOMAN - Rep. Brenda Jones (D-Mich.) was sworn in Thursday and will have a remarkably short tenure. Jones won a special election in MI-13 to fill out the remainder of former Rep. John Conyers' (D-Mich.) term - but wasn't on the ballot for the 116th Congress after losing that primary to Rep.-elect Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). Ryan and Pelosi worked out a deal to allow Jones to serve a few weeks without relinquishing her spot on the Detroit City Council, The Detroit News' Melissa Nann Burke reported.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I may end up as a screenwriter, who knows - it's time for this guy to go to Hollywood, baby!" - Defeated GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on his post-election plans, via the Mercury News.
    
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