Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Emails of top NRCC officials hacked — NC-09 fraud allegations run counter to GOP’s narrative — Stefanik breaks with NRCC, wants to wade into primaries
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2018 09:04:20 -0600
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12/05/2018 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         
NRCC HACK REVEALED - Major news from my POLITICO colleagues Alex Isenstadt and John Bresnahan: "The email accounts of four senior aides at the National Republican Congressional Committee were surveilled for several months, the party officials said. The intrusion was detected in April by an NRCC vendor, who alerted the committee and its cybersecurity contractor. An internal investigation was initiated and the FBI was alerted to the attack, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the incident.

"However, senior House Republicans - including Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) - were not informed of the hack until POLITICO contacted the NRCC on Monday with questions about the episode. Rank-and-file House Republicans were not told, either. ... 

"Party officials would not say when the hack began or who was behind it, although they privately believe it was a foreign agent due to the nature of the attack. Donor information was not compromised during the intrusion, the party officials said. ... None of the information accessed during the hack - thousands of emails from senior NRCC aides - has appeared in public, party officials said. And they said there were no attempts to threaten the NRCC or its leadership during the campaign with exposure of the information."

- A flashback from July 2017, via The Washington Post's David Weigel: "The National Republican Congressional Committee dismissed as a 'political stunt' a letter from its counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, asking for the two parties to team up on combating hacking ahead of the 2018 election."

Good Wednesday morning. The pile on for No Labels continues: Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) wrote an op-ed for HuffPost saying he was duped by the group and tells new members to "Run. Fast" away from the organization. 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: 335

Days until the 2020 election: 699
          IN THE TRENCHES         
NC-09, CONTINUED - The allegations of fraud against a contractor for Republican Mark Harris come amid the party's own push of unsubstantiated claims about widespread election fraud. Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "The allegations run counter to longtime complaints from President Donald Trump and Republicans about supposed Democratic voter fraud, and they come at an especially awkward time for the state GOP in North Carolina. The party just championed a voter-ID referendum approved in November, and Republican state legislators are currently pushing to approve language implementing the referendum during a lame-duck session, before they lose their veto-proof majorities in January.

"'I think you should wait and see if there was actually fraud here. [But] if voter fraud was committed by Republicans, then yes, that would be ironic,' said Carter Wrenn, a Republican consultant based in North Carolina who is not affiliated with either campaign."

- Incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the Democratic-controlled House may not seat Harris. "This is a very substantial question," Hoyer said, per POLITICO's Heather Caygle. "Clearly we would oppose Mr. Harris' being seated until that is resolved." 

CHANGING THE RULES - Wisconsin state lawmakers debated a Republican plan to strip incoming Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of some of his powers before taking office. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick Marley, Molly Beck and Mary Spicuzza: The plan "brought opponents to the state Capitol this week to protest on its steps and pound on hearing room doors. Lawmakers convened to take up the sweeping package that would also limit early voting, give the Republican-controlled Legislature control of the state's jobs agency and allow lawmakers to bypass the new Democratic attorney general and hire their own private attorneys to defend policies."

- Michigan Republicans also sought to change a voter-approved proposal on gerrymandering and strip power from the state attorney general before Democrats take control of the state's top offices, the Detroit Free Press' Kathleen Gray and Carol Thompson reported. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) has met with former President Barack Obama as he considers a run. The Washington Post's Matt Viser: "The meeting, which was held on Nov. 16 at the former president's offices in Foggy Bottom, came as former Obama aides have encouraged the Democratic House member to run, seeing him as capable of the same kind of inspirational campaign that caught fire in the 2008 presidential election. The meeting was the first sign of Obama getting personally involved in conversations with O'Rourke."

- Former Vice President Joe Biden made one of his more explicit statements regarding a potential 2020 run. "I'll be as straight with you as I can. I think I'm the most qualified person in the country to be president," he said at the University of Montana, per CNN's Arlette Saenz.

- Another one! Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) is "seriously thinking" about a run for the White House, Colorado Public Radio's Bente Birkeland reported, citing anonymous sources who have talked to him about a run in the fall.

- That's over: Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to announce he will not be running for president, sources told POLITICO's Natasha Korecki, Kyle Cheney and Stephanie Murray. And Michael Avenatti announced on Twitter he won't be running, either.

SETTING THE PARAMETERS - The DNC is considering ways to avoid having a "kiddie table" debate in 2020. The Washington Post's Michael Scherer: DNC Chair Tom Perez "has made clear to his staff that he would like the field to be presented in a way that initially mixes top-tier candidates with lesser known ones. The party's proposed solution, which will be presented to Perez for approval later this month, also would allow for other factors beyond national polling, possibly including staffing, fundraising and number of office locations, to be considered in making a cutoff for debate participation."

- The DNC is also getting a head start on the 2020 cash dash. POLITICO's David Siders reports that about 300 donors are expected at a Dec. 11 meeting of the DNC's National Finance Committee in D.C., "a level of interest not seen since 2016."

NEXT UP - Dan Conston will lead the Congressional Leadership Fund and the American Action Network next cycle, taking over for Corry Bliss, the Playbook team reported.

WHO NEEDS 'EM? - Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is breaking out from the structure of the NRCC to try to recruit more women to her party. Roll Call's Simone Pathe: "'I want to play in primaries, and I want to play big in primaries,' she said in a phone interview Friday. She plans to refocus and expand her leadership PAC to support women and what she called 'nontraditional candidates.' ...

"Unlike their Democratic counterpart, the House GOP campaign committee does not publicly play in primaries. Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the newly elected NRCC chairman, isn't interested in changing that policy. 'If that's what Elise wants to do, then that's her call, her right,' Emmer said in a Friday interview at the NRCC. 'But I think that's a mistake.'"

- Stefanik later tweeted Emmer's "I think that's a mistake" quote, writing, "NEWSFLASH I wasn't asking for permission."

THE MOST JUNIOR SENATOR - Outgoing Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced he'll finish his term as governor before being sworn in as senator, knocking him down the seniority list because he'll be sworn in five days after the rest of the freshman class, on Jan. 8, per POLITICO Pro Florida's Arek Sarkissian.

BOOK WATCH - Outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is working on a second book, per The Post and Courier's Andy Shain. You know what they say about book deals!

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Lord have mercy. You really want me divorced?" said Democrat Andrew Gillum after being asked if he'd join a 2020 ticket, per HuffPost.
    
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