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By Elena Schneider | 01/25/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard and Theodoric Meyer

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. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

YAY OR NAY - "Whip count: 2018 senators on Trump nominees," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: "Four nominees for President Donald Trump's Cabinet - Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos, Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions, Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Price, and Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson - have attracted the most opposition from the Senate's key swing-voting bloc: Democratic senators with potentially difficult reelection campaigns ahead in 2018. That's the key takeaway from our new whip count chart looking at where those crucial senators are positioning themselves on Trump's appointees. While the minority Democrats are unable to sink any nominees
on their own, their positioning marks the beginning of a long election cycle that figures to be full of compromise, especially for those Democrats from ruby-red states." Full story.

TECH HELP WANTED - "GOP tech firms seek to build on 2016 wins," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "Veterans of President Barack Obama's campaigns have dominated the tech landscape in Washington for much of the last decade, bottling innovations from the 2008 and 2012 campaigns to sell to nonprofit and corporate clients. But Republican firms - fueled by new talent developed during the 2016 election and the victories that led to a fully GOP-controlled government - have set their sights on cutting into Democratic tech firms' business outside the world of political campaigns in 2017. It's a relatively sudden turn-around from two years ago, when Republicans were fretting that the party did not
have enough digital and data experts to adequately staff a large 2016 presidential primary field. But since then, the 17-candidate White House race and success in numerous Senate and gubernatorial campaigns sparked a proliferation of GOP tech talent." Full story.

MINI-TRUMPS RUN - "Trump acolytes mount campaigns of their own," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "Some of Donald Trump's most loyal aides and outspoken supporters are looking to ride his revolution into elected office themselves. A number of Trump acolytes are mounting campaigns using the same populist blueprint that catapulted the billionaire businessman into the White House. The newest entrant is Alan Cobb, who was director of national coalitions for Trump and worked on his transition. He said in a phone interview that he would formally announce his bid for an open Kansas congressional seat later this week during an appearance in Wichita. The president will be front-and-center. ...Cobb
isn't the only former Trump aide about to announce a bid for Congress. Bruce LeVell, who was Trump's diversity coordinator and a frequent surrogate on TV, is poised to launch a bid for a suburban Atlanta congressional seat." Full story.

AIR TIME - "GOP-aligned group launches Obamacare ad blitz," by POLITICO's Rachael Bade: "A House GOP-aligned outside group is rolling out a $2.6 million media blitz urging lawmakers to repeal and replace Obamacare - a move aimed at proving Republicans support as they craft a health care alternative. American Action Network on Wednesday will unveil the new spending on TV, digital and print ads as well as mailers in 41 districts. That brings the group's total Obamacare ad spending to just over $4 million in January alone, a huge investment they hope will preempt Democratic attacks for their efforts. The ads will highlight the "broken" aspects of the Affordable Care Act and run in a diverse
array of districts." Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 286.

Days until the 2018 election: 650.

Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com, tmeyer@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

ELEVATIONS - "Nikki Haley confirmed as ambassador to United Nations," by POLITICO's Nahal Toosi: "Nikki Haley is headed from the South Carolina statehouse to the world stage. The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the Republican governor's nomination as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as Democrats put up little of the resistance they have to some of President Donald Trump's other Cabinet picks." Full story.

- Meanwhile ... "At long last, Henry McMaster is South Carolina's governor," by The Post and Courier's Andrew Knittle: "...Just minutes after her U.S. Senate confirmation came through, Haley and scores of well-wishers attended a hastily organized swearing-in ceremony for McMaster ... The new governor also will have to deal with a divided Republican Party that's split along fiscal and social ideological lines and still smarting from 14 years of dealing with GOP governors who were very willing to criticize GOP lawmakers. McMaster also will be questioned about his continued membership in a Columbia-area all-white country club, which drew criticism when he was elected lieutenant governor in
2014 and could flare again in 2018, when McMaster is expected to run for a full term as governor." Full story.

ON THE AIR - Gillespie radio ad hits McAuliffe and Northam: Ed Gillespie has been airing a radio ad for three weeks in Virginia's gubernatorial race. And it doesn't appear that anyone noticed. The ad has been airing on conservative radio host John Fredericks' show since the beginning of January. "Virginia's economy is lagging behind other states because of the failed policies of Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam," a narrator says in the spot. "Conservative entrepreneur Ed Gillespie knows the policies we need to create jobs." The ad goes on to highlight Gillespie's business experience and his work on the Contract with America and says he'll end "corporate welfare" and promote school choice.
The Northam campaign sent out a fundraising e-mail this afternoon, calling the spot an "attack ad" and accusing Gillespie of "insulting Virginians' hard-earned economic progress." Listen to the spot here.

- Gillespie spokesman Matt Moran laughed off the Northam campaign's alarm: "It tells you a lot when Ralph Northam considers a factual statement about his failed economic record a vicious "attack ad." And by the way, the ad's been running since the beginning of January. Glad they finally heard it."

NEW THIS MORNING - PCCC expands ad buy targeting Mnuchin: Three progressive groups are expanding an ad buy warning senators not to vote to confirm President Donald Trump's treasury pick, Steve Mnuchin. The groups - the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Allied Progress Action and Demand Progress Action - started airing the ad last week. The spot features a widow who chastises Mnuchin for allowing the bank he used to run to foreclose on her house as her husband was dying of cancer. The expanded buy will target six Democratic senators and six Republicans, including several facing competitive races in 2018: Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Dean
Heller (R-Nev.). The groups are spending six figures to air the ad on Wednesday and Thursday on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. Watch the ad here.

FINISHING HIS TERM - "Dayton reveals prostate cancer diagnosis, intends to finish term," by The Minneapolis Star Tribune's Ricardo Lopez: "Gov. Mark Dayton revealed Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a new personal challenge for a governor who has struggled with health problems throughout his term and is just embarking on his last two years in office." Full story.

STATE OF OPPOSITION - "Jerry Brown delivers anti-Trump manifesto," by POLITICO California's David Siders and Carla Marinucci in Sacramento: "The governor of the nation's largest state delivered a pugilistic rebuke of Donald Trump on Tuesday during his State of the State address, presaging years of bitter conflict between Washington and the state that rejected him by a landslide margin. In promising to confront Trump on issues ranging from immigration to health care and the environment, Gov. Jerry Brown further entrenched California as an outpost of resistance, setting the tone for four years of politics in this heavily Democratic state." Full story.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Trump's down to three in Supreme Court search," by POLITICO's Eliana Johnson and Shane Goldmacher: "President Donald Trump has narrowed his first Supreme Court nomination down to three finalists with Tenth Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch and Third Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman emerging as the front-runners while Eleventh Circuit Judge Bill Pryor remains in the running but fading, according to people familiar with the search process. Trump interviewed at least those three finalists in New York during the transition, according to a person familiar with the search. Trump himself said Tuesday he would fill the Court's empty seat next week and has summoned top Senate
leaders to the White House to discuss his impending choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died nearly a year ago." Full story.

- "Information lockdown hits Trump's federal agencies," by POLITICO's Andrew Restuccia, Alex Guillen and Nancy Cook: "Federal agencies are clamping down on public information and social media in the early days of Donald Trump's presidency, limiting employees' ability to issue news releases, tweet or otherwise communicate with the outside world, according to memos and sources from multiple agencies. The steps to mute federal employees - seen to varying degrees in the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of the Interior, Transportation, Agriculture and Health and Human Services - are sparking early fears of a broader crackdown across the government, as Trump vows to pursue an
agenda sharply at odds with his predecessor." Full story.

- "Facts may contradict Trump, but his aides and allies don't," by POLITICO's Josh Dawsey: "resident Donald Trump is putting his Republican aides and allies in an awkward position with his refusal to drop unsubstantiated claims that record crowds turned out for his inauguration and that millions of voters illegally voted for Hillary Clinton in November. Some Republicans are not buying his bluster. House Speaker Paul Ryan said there's 'no evidence' of widespread voter fraud, and Rep. Mick Mulvaney, his nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, conceded that former President Barack Obama's crowd size looked bigger when pinned down at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. But most
Republicans in Washington-inside and outside Trump's administration-aren't rushing to correct him as they wrestle with the dilemma of whether to contradict the most powerful man in America, even when the evidence does." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow," President Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night, The New York Times reported. "Among many other things, we will build the wall!"

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