Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Bloomberg ready to spend $500M to beat Trump — Kelly jumps in to Arizona Senate race — Democratic presidential hopefuls diversify senior staff
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2019 09:03:11 -0600
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02/13/2019 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 Pro Campaign 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         
- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is prepared to spend at least $500 million to defeat President Donald Trump - even if he doesn't run.

- Democrat Mark Kelly announced he's running for Senate in Arizona, a top-tier recruitment win for the party early in the 2020 cycle.

- Democratic presidential hopefuls are mindful not to hire all-white and male senior staffers, indicative of the power that women and minority voters hold.

Good Wednesday morning. 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, @DanielStrauss4, @JamesArkin and @lbarronlopez.

Days until the 2019 election: 265

Days until the 2020 election: 629
          THE TOPLINES         
A LARGE FORTUNE - Bloomberg is prepared to commit a chunk of his billions to make sure Trump isn't reelected, even if he isn't a candidate himself.

"If he runs, he will use that half-billion-dollar stake - roughly $175 million more than the Trump campaign spent over the course of the entire 2016 election cycle - to fuel his campaign through the 2020 primary season, with the expectation that the sum represents a floor, not a ceiling, on his potential spending," POLITICO's Marc Caputo reported. "If Bloomberg declines to seek the presidency, his intention is to run an unprecedented data-heavy campaign designed to operate as a shadow political party for the eventual Democratic nominee."

"That'll get us through the first few months," Kevin Sheekey, a top adviser to the former mayor, told Marc when asked about the $500 million plan. For a point of reference: That's about equal to the top 15 donors in 2016 combined, according to data from OpenSecrets.
          IN THE TRENCHES         
PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - California Rep. Eric Swalwell could join the primary field. "I'm ready to do this," he told POLITICO's Carla Marinucci and Natasha Korecki, saying he'll make a final decision "before April." My colleagues also report that New Hampshire Democrats say Swalwell has been looking for a state director.

- What litmus test? Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown isn't saying if he backs specific "Medicare for All" proposals or the Green New Deal. "I'm not going to take position on every bill that's coming out," he told reporters, per Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss.

- Democrats are starting to grapple with Israeli-Palestinian policy as the primary takes shape. "The shifting views of Israel among Democrats are in part the result of years of lobbying by activists concerned about Palestinian rights," POLITICO's Nahal Toosi and Marc reported. "But the ascent of a hard-right government in Israel has accelerated the trend, making support for the country less reflexively bipartisan."

- Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has been proactively tackling questions on whether she's "black enough," part of an intentional strategy. "Harris' effort to get ahead of the memes is informed in part by Hillary Clinton's general refusal to engage with the darker parts of the web, something that worked to Trump's advantage," POLITICO's Chris Cadelago reported.

- For former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, his Monday rally was the first time he started to look like a traditional presidential candidate, POLITICO's David Siders wrote.

- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar's campaign announced she raised $1 million online in the 48 hours since launching her bid.

- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made a surprise appearance at the National Conference of American Indians in D.C., HuffPost's Jennifer Bendery reported.

- Former Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to make a decision on if he'll run in the next two weeks, NPR's Jessica Taylor and Carrie Johnson reported.

UP NEXT - Kelly, an astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, announced he was running to challenge Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) in 2020. "Kelly's announcement is seen as a recruiting victory for Democrats: The party has long hoped to see him run for office in Arizona, but the astronaut and Navy veteran demurred until now, instead working from the outside with Giffords on gun control," POLITICO's Steve Shepard wrote. Kelly may not be alone in the field for long: Reps. Ruben Gallego (who tweeted he's still "looking seriously") and Greg Stanton have also been considering runs. Plus, an interesting point from Paul Waldman at The Washington Post's Plum Line opinion blog: Kelly's
 public profile is tied closely to the women in his life, "which is almost unprecedented for a male politician in America"

- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is actively recruiting former fighter pilot Amy McGrath, who ran and lost in KY-06 in 2018, to run against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2020, POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reported. Alex wrote McGrath didn't rule it out.

- Democrat MJ Hegar, who was a fundraising dynamo in her unsuccessful bid against GOP Rep. John Carter in TX-31, is considering running for Senate, per The Texas Tribune's Abby Livingston.

THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY - Presidential hopefuls are aiming to make sure their inner circle is not all-white and male. "And as the base of the party grows more diverse, Democratic operatives and pols say, 2020 candidates need advisers who can communicate effectively with key voting blocs," POLITICO's Laura Barr&oacute;n-L&oacute;pez and Alex Thompson reported. "Prominent black and Latino lawmakers in Congress, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, are paying close attention. ... Outside groups such as Latino Victory and the National Urban League and NAACP are also keeping tabs on which candidates place staffers of color in high-level jobs".

POLICING ITSELF? - Facebook banned political ads on its platform in Washington after the state enforced strict transparency requirements. But the social media giant has still allowed political ads to be purchased - including from Seattle city council candidates and a ballot initiative supporter - despite a new policy, The Stranger's Eli Sanders reported.

NC-09, CONTINUED - Attorneys for Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready submitted arguments for how they think the state election board should rule in next week's hearing on NC-09, the AP's Emery Dalesio reported. (Spoilers: Harris thinks he should be declared the winner; McCready thinks there should be a new election.)

ABRAMS WATCH - Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams gave an update on whether she'll run against Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). "I'm giving very strong consideration to running for the Senate, because I think we need a senator who reflects the needs and values of Georgia and I do not believe [Perdue] is serving all of Georgia," she said, per GPB's Taylor Gantt. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Greg Bluestein also reported that state regulators filed tax liens on a nonprofit created by Abrams, which a spokesperson chalked up to "third-party contractor error." 

MAINE EVENT - Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) defended her decision to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, after his vote in a recent abortion access case. "To say that this case, this most recent case, in which he wrote a very careful dissent, tells you that he's going to repeal Roe v. Wade I think is absurd," Collins told CNN's Ariane de Vogue and Ted Barrett.

IN VIRGINIA - The woman who accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of raping her in college was once the subject of a restraining order, POLITICO's Anita Kumar and Maggie Severns reported. She's the second woman to accuse Fairfax of assault, allegations that he's denied. 

STAFFING UP - The RGA announced a bevy of new staff, including J.P. Twist as political director and Amelia Chass&eacute; Alcivar as comms director, Daniel reported.

- 2018 DCCC national press secretary Tyler Law is joining AKPD Message and Media as a principal, running the firm's West Coast operations, via Campaign Pro's Scott Bland.

- The DSCC named New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan chair of its Women's Senate Network, which aims to elect more women to the Senate, for this cycle.

SPECIAL ELECTION WATCH - Pennsylvania Democrats have picked 2018 nominee Marc Friedenberg to be their candidate in the special election in ruby red PA-12, PoliticsPA's John Cole reported. Republicans have not yet picked a candidate.

ON THE HILL - The Senate Armed Services Committee will receive a classified briefing today on "digital operations used to protect last year's midterm elections," Pro Cybersecurity's Martian Matishak reported.

CODA - HEADSCRATCHER OF THE DAY: Former House Speaker John Boehner is one of SXSW's keynote speakers, talking about medical marijuana.
    
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