Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: How 2020 hopefuls spent PAC money in 2018 — Harris launches a 2020 dry run — Circuit court upholds ruling that allows RNC to participate in ‘ballot security’ programs
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2019 09:04:07 -0600
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01/08/2019 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 Campaign Pro 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. 
          QUICK FIX         
- A POLITICO analysis breaks down how potential 2020 hopefuls spent PAC money in the midterms. Former Vice President Joe Biden spent the most on himself, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent the most to other Democratic candidates and state parties.

- Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is launching a soft rollout of her campaign, embarking on a book and media tour this week. POLITICO reports that she could follow up the rollout with a formal 2020 presidential campaign announcement.

- A circuit court upheld a lower court ruling that said a consent decree that limited the RNC from participating in "ballot security programs" was expired.

Good Tuesday morning. Email me your thoughts 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, @DanielStrauss4, @JamesArkin and @lbarronlopez.

Days until the 2019 election: 301

Days until the 2020 election: 665
          THE TOPLINES         
THE CASH DASH - During the midterms, some 2020 hopefuls had secondary fundraising machines in addition to campaign committees. POLITICO's Maggie Severns and Chris Cadelago took a look at the PACs of seven prominent potential 2020 candidates to see where that money went.

Biden raised the most for his PAC - but spent most of that money on himself, unlike other potential candidates such as Warren, who transferred more funds to other Democrats or state parties in an early attempt to win over support from party leaders. 

A strategist not involved with any presidential hopeful broke down the divergent strategy to Maggie and Chris: "No. 1, those who are using it to further and build political structures, candidates and the party. And No. 2, others who are simply using it to fund travel, staff and research for their anticipated campaigns." 

Biden's PAC spent just a quarter of its fundraising on other Democratic candidates (which was not registered as a leadership PAC but described itself similarly). Warren gave out the most from her leadership PAC to other Democrats (85 percent). She was followed by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (70 percent), Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (56 percent), Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (46 percent), Kamala Harris (37 percent) and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (36 percent).
          IN THE TRENCHES         
PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - Harris is launching a soft rollout of a potential presidential campaign, kicking off a book tour and making media appearances with the goal of boosting her profile, Chris reports. "Harris isn't likely to follow the book tour with the creation of a presidential exploratory committee, according to three people familiar with Harris' thinking," Chris writes. "Their expectation, if she runs, is that the senator would simply launch the formal campaign, which would be led by key staffers from her 2016 Senate run." Chris also writes that if Harris does run, she's likely to have a campaign hub on each coast.

- Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke is asking aides to draw up a solo road trip that'll take him out of Texas (but not to the early states) as he mulls a run, The Wall Street Journal's Reid Epstein and Ken Thomas report.

- Some more top flight operatives are joining the "Draft Beto" campaign. Two South Carolina strategists have signed on, and officials are interviewing potential staffers in both Iowa and New Hampshire, POLITICO's David Siders reported.

- One of Biden's brothers, Frank, called into Michael Smerconish's radio show to say that The New York Times' reporting that Biden was nearing a 2020 decision was correct. Frank also made the case that Biden will be popular among younger voters and will take up the banner for popular progressive causes, like tackling climate change.

- Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told CNN's Kate Bolduan that he thinks he has "to make a decision by the end of the first quarter." 

- Former Rep. John Delaney announced a round of Iowa hires and will open six field offices across the state. The campaign says the new hires bring the total number of Iowa staff to 24.

FAKE TEETOTALERS - A progressive activist launched a misinformation campaign in the 2017 Alabama Senate race that sought to tie Republican Roy Moore to a fake group of "Dry Alabama" supporters. "Matt Osborne, a veteran progressive activist who worked on the project, said he hoped that such deceptive tactics would someday be banned from American politics," The New York Times' Scott Shane and Alan Blinder wrote. "But in the meantime, he said, he believes that Republicans are using such trickery and that Democrats cannot unilaterally give it up." The Times reported that the budget for the project was about $100,000. It's the second such disinformation campaign in the race. The Alabama attorney
 general's office said it would not investigate the two campaigns because it determined they are under the "exclusive jurisdiction" of the FEC, per the AP. Of note: The FEC is currently closed because of the shutdown.

IN THE COURTS - A new circuit court ruling affirmed a previous district court ruling that ended a consent decree that limited the RNC from engaging in "ballot security" programs, POLITICO's Josh Gerstein reported. The RNC did not return a request for comment from Score after Monday's ruling.

THE CHIEF - DNC Chairman Tom Perez is gearing up for a wide open Democratic presidential primary, and he's hoping to avoid the intraparty fighting that plagued Democrats in 2016. "If we have 15 candidates, 14 of them aren't going to make it to the mountaintop," he told the AP's Bill Barrow. "My job, our job is to ensure that every candidate and their supporters feel like they got a fair shake." Perez told the AP that he's consulted previous campaigns about how to make upcoming debates fair but has not engaged with prospective candidates.

UP NEXT - West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Democrat who switched his party affiliation to Republican once he was in office, announced he was running for reelection (as a Republican) in 2020, per Metro News' Brad McElhinny.

- Democrat Adam Edelen officially launched his bid for Kentucky governor, with developer and film producer Gill Holland as his running mate. Here's a profile on Holland from the Lexington Herald Leader's Jack Brammer. Meanwhile, Republican state Rep. Robert Goforth appears to be preparing to launch a run of his own. He said in a Friday Facebook post that he'll have an announcement today about his "statewide political plans for 2019," but WKYT noticed Monday that Goforth has a website for a gubernatorial campaign and said his likely running mate will be attorney Michael Hogan.

- Mississippi Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has hired Clinton Soffer to be his 2019 gubernatorial campaign manager, Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss reports. 

VOTING RIGHTS WATCH - In Virginia, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam announced legislative proposals on voting rights. The measures would seek to remove photo ID laws in the state, introduce no-excuse absentee voting and tighten campaign finance rules for state races, such as banning direct corporate and business contributions to campaigns. 

NEW MESSAGE - The new president of Planned Parenthood is trying to shift the group's focus to health care over politics. "People aren't coming to Planned Parenthood to make a political statement," Leana Wen told BuzzFeed News' Ema O'Connor. "They're coming because they need their vaccinations. They need their well woman exams. They're getting HIV tests." The organization is not shying away from politics - Wen says it will be heavily involved in 2020 - but the group is planning to emphasize health care in its messaging and extend its health services.

WHAT'S NEXT? - A trio of former lawmakers has headed to K Street. Former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has returned to Covington & Burling, where he worked before he was appointed to the Senate in 2017, while former Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas) joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, per POLITICO Influence. Meanwhile, former Reps. Mia Love (R-Utah) and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) have signed on as commentators at CNN.

CODA - FACTOID OF THE DAY: 447 people have declared that they're running for president to the FEC, per The Washington Post.
    
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