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By Zach Montellaro | 07/20/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With James Arkin

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)

LEADERSHIP PACs LIVING LARGE - A new report from the watchdogs Campaign Legal Center and Issue One excoriates members of Congress' use of leadership PACs, finding in an analysis of more than five years of FEC data that "politicians have spent millions of dollars from leadership PAC funds that may have been unlawful if the spending came from their own campaign accounts."

Their study found that the minority of spending from these PACs went toward contributions to candidates or political committees - about 45 percent on average in the past three election cycles - while the majority of spending went to things like "five-star luxury resort stays, expensive dinners, trips to theme parks, golf outings, tickets to Broadway shows and sporting events, and international travel."

Of particular interest to those in D.C.: Since 2013, politicians have spent over a quarter of a million dollars at Charlie Palmer Steak and $192,000 at Joe's Seafood. Leadership PACs have spent at least $437,000 at the Capitol Hill Club and $45,000 at its Democratic counterpart. Leadership PACs have spent $276,000 on Washington Nationals tickets, venues and catering. The report counts at least $871,000 in "golf-related expenditures" and at least $469,000 at Walt Disney theme parks, hotels and restaurants. Another major recipient of leadership PAC money was the Greenbrier in West Virginia, which is owned by Republican Gov. Jim Justice.

CAMPAIGN HACKING: STILL HAPPENING - A Microsoft executive said the company blocked a hacking attempt against three congressional candidates earlier this year, what Pro Cybersecurity reporter Eric Geller called "the first known example of cyber interference in the midterm elections." More from Eric: "'Earlier this year, we did discover that a fake Microsoft domain had been established as the landing page for phishing attacks,' said Tom Burt, Microsoft's vice president for security and trust, at the Aspen Security Forum. ... Burt declined to name the targets but said they were 'people who, because of their positions, might have been interesting targets from an espionage standpoint as well as
an election disruption standpoint.'"

Happy Friday! You can email me at zmontellaro@politico.com or DM me at @ZachMontellaro. James Arkin (jarkin@politico.com; @JamesArkin) pitched in today.

Email the great Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com. Follow them on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @ec_schneider, @DanielStrauss4 and @MaggieSeverns.

Catch all the highlights from Tuesday's Pro Summit. Video clips, event content and more are now available from a full day of incisive policy conversations. View Summit Highlights.

View the latest POLITICO/AARP poll to better understand Arizona voters over 50, a voting bloc poised to shape the midterm election outcome. Get up to speed on priority issues for Hispanic voters age 50+, who will help determine whether Arizona turns blue or stays red.

What role will Hispanic voters over 50 play in Arizona this Fall? Read POLITICO Magazine's new series "The Deciders" which focuses on this powerful voting bloc that could be the determining factor in turning Arizona blue.

Days until the 2018 election: 109.

Upcoming election dates - July 24: Georgia primary runoffs. - Aug. 2: Tennessee primaries. - Aug. 7: Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington primaries.

Upcoming primary filing deadlines - Louisiana: July 20.

SPECIAL ELECTION ALERT - The DCCC is going up with its first TV ad in the OH-12 special election, backing Danny O'Connor. Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "The broadcast TV buy starts on July 20 and continues through July 30 in the Columbus media market, according to Advertising Analytics, which has tracked $238,000 in spending so far. That figure could go up."

- The Congressional Leadership Fund released a new ad tying O'Connor to "the liberal resistance" that is "demanding open borders" and has him pictured in between Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

FIRST IN SCORE - Arizona Rep. Martha McSally is launching a new TV ad today focusing on border security and pitching herself as an ally of President Donald Trump ahead of the Aug. 28 GOP Senate primary. "I'm working with President Trump to secure our border and keep Arizona families safe," McSally says in the ad, which also features a clip of Trump calling the two-term congresswoman "the real deal" and "tough."

SCOTUS BATTLE - Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is facing pressure from all sides in the confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The Tampa Bay Times' Alex Leary: "'Give me a break, let me have a chance to talk to the guy and see what he says,' Nelson told the Times on Tuesday while on his way to do an interview with CNN on a more preferred topic: Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin. The Democratic base is fired up against Kavanaugh, so Nelson risks alienating voters he needs to turn out in November. But opposing Kavanaugh could turn off some independents drawn to Nelson's long cultivated centrist image and feed attacks like [GOP Gov. Rick] Scott's." Scott said if he
was in the Senate, he would support Kavanaugh.

- And Scott's FEC filing showed he's already contributed more than $14 million to his campaign during his first three months as a candidate. Including his own money, Scott hauled in more than $22.5 million since announcing his bid, reports Campaign Pro's James Arkin.

** Presented by AARP: There's only one true deciding factor in this year's elections: 50-plus voters. They won't be ignored and their votes are up for grabs. Medicare, Social Security, support for family caregivers, and prescription drug costs are all on the line-so you can be sure they'll be voting in record numbers.
aarp.org/vote **

BIG PROBLEM - Outgoing Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.), who is running for lieutenant governor in Minnesota, has been accused of hiring for his campaign his former staffer who faced sexual harassment allegations. MinnPost's Sam Brodey: "Former staffers say that in the summer of 2015, Nolan and his two most senior aides allowed Jim Swiderski to resign his post and tell colleagues he was looking for new opportunities rather than make him face formal disciplinary consequences after several female staffers raised harassment allegations. Months later, Swiderski was hired to do work for Nolan's 2016 reelection campaign. He was only let go after a group of Nolan aides put pressure on the congressman to
remove him. ...

"In a statement ... Nolan said he retained the 'separated employee' as a 'vendor' for his 2016 campaign and emphasized that he worked remotely. 'In hindsight,' Nolan said, 'the vendor should not have been retained by the campaign committee.'"

MIDTERM MESSAGING - American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic oppo house, thinks it found a way to drive a wedge between vulnerable Republicans and the president. CNN's Dan Merica: "[The group launched] 'Trade War Watch' on Thursday, which includes a campaign of digital ads, research and a tailored website to make voters aware of how a tit-for-tat trade conflict with China, the European Union, Mexico and Canada is affecting industries across the United States. The campaign is the latest sign of how Democrats believe the impacts of Trump's trade moves on particular industries could resonate with voters in key states. The operatives tasked with leading the campaign believe that the issue
will also highlight how GOP leaders have dispensed with longheld Republican views on trade to fall in line with Trump."

POLLS, POLLS, POLLS - Something that's a bit of a rare bird: In California's 49th District, an internal poll from Republican Diane Harkey's campaign, obtained by Roll Call, shows her with a narrow advantage over Democrat Mike Levin, 46 percent to 43 percent. The poll, which was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, had 9 percent of voters undecided. This cycle, we've seen many more internal polls from Democratic candidates and groups, so this internal GOP poll is a rare sight.

MORE RED TO BLUE ADDS - The DCCC added three more candidates to its Red to Blue program, bringing the total to 59: David Shapiro (FL-16), Liz Watson (IN-09) and Ron DiNicola (PA-16).

- The NRCC added Bryan Steil (WI-01) to its Young Guns program as an "on the radar" candidate - the first of three levels in the program.

ON THE AIRWAVES - Indiana Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly released a new ad Thursday with unlikely praise from Trump. Donnelly's ad features a mother talking about her son, who suffers from a disease with no cure, and Donnelly's work to pass "Right to Try" legislation. (The bill lets terminally ill patients try experimental treatments that have yet to be approved by the FDA.) It then shows the president at the signing ceremony for the bill: "Senator Donnelly, thank you very much," Trump says in the clip, which is featured in both the 30-second and 60-second version of the ad. Donnelly's campaign said it is a six-figure ad buy.

MCCONNELL MOVES - One Nation, the outside group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is planning to spend $16 million in August. USA Today's Fredreka Schouten: "The biggest buy: $4.6 million in Nevada, where the GOP is defending Republican Sen. Dean Heller in a state Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential contest. Ads also will target races with Democratic incumbents in Missouri, $4.2 million; Indiana, $3.4 million; and North Dakota, $682,000. One Nation also will spend $3.2 million in Tennessee to defend the open Republican seat."

- And what might be better suited for an "off the airwaves" section: One Nation canceled ads in West Virginia, reports POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "The organization had planned a $750,000 campaign casting Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, a top GOP target, as weak on immigration. The offensive started on July 17 and had been scheduled to run through July 26, according to a person familiar with the media buy. ... Republicans have had high hopes for their West Virginia nominee, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, but several recent polls have shown him trailing Manchin. 'We are always making adjustments to where and when we are deploying our resources," said One Nation spokesman Chris Pack.
''There's no major shift in strategic direction.'"

'THERE'S SOME TOPICS I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT DIFFERENTLY' - A handful of minority candidates are facing the challenge of running in a district that's majority white. The New York Times' Astead Herndon: "Like Barack Obama, these contenders - most of them Democrats - often strain to avoid explicit discussions of race out of fear of alienating white voters. ... [IL-14's Democratic nominee Lauren] Underwood and several other minority candidates in majority-white districts say they have not encountered overt racism aimed at their bids for office. But they also said their campaigns face distinct challenges: difficulty in finding initial support, a need to combat racial stereotypes, and most
importantly, a lack of trust from even members of their own party that a minority candidate can succeed in a predominantly white district."

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE - Facebook honcho Mark Zuckerberg called Trump to congratulate him for his "victory and successful campaign, which spent millions of dollars on advertising with Facebook," BuzzFeed News' Ryan Mac and Charlie Warzel reported: "The private call between Zuckerberg and Trump, which was confirmed by three people familiar with the conversation, is just one in a series of private endorsements from Facebook employees of the Trump campaign's ad efforts on the platform. ...

"While Facebook has been reluctant to publicly acknowledge how well Trump used its social network to reach voters, it has celebrated the Republican presidential candidate's campaign internally as one of the most imaginative uses of the company's powerful advertising platform. In addition to interviews with Trump campaign staffers and former Facebook employees, BuzzFeed News obtained company presentations and memos that show the social media giant viewed Trump's campaign as an 'innovator' of a fast-moving, test-oriented approach to marketing on Facebook."

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "My initial impression was that it's not rocket science. ... Well, I changed my mind about that," Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez, who is running in Texas' 6th District, on running a campaign to The Texas Tribune.

** Presented by AARP: Americans 50 and over are the nation's most powerful voting bloc. In fact, more than 60 million of them voted in 2016-and this year, they're more motivated than ever to making sure that their voices are heard in Washington.
They're frustrated with broken government. And they're fed up with politicians who'd rather get into fights than get results. The issues they care about most including Medicare, Social Security, support for family caregivers and prescription drug costs, are all on the line. America's 50-plus voters have put the candidates on notice. Anyone who ignores them will feel it on Election Day. aarp.org/vote **

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