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By James Hohmann (
mailto:jhohmann@politico.com
jhohmann@politico.com ; Twitter: @jameshohmann)

EXCLUSIVE -NRCC WILL ATTACK LOEBSACK BY LINKING HIM TO OBAMA: The National Republican Congressional Committee is going on TV tomorrow with an ad targeting Iowa Rep. Dave Loebsack. In their first Iowa buy of the 2012 cycle, the NRCC links the potentially vulnerable Democrat to President Obama and highlights his vote for the unpopular health care bill. From the script: "There's a cloud over our economy. Dave Loebsack's government takeover of health care. Fear and uncertainty prevents new hiring. Steep fines and new taxes on families and businesses. Half a trillion dollars - money they can't use to create jobs. Experts say Obama- Loebsack will push employers to drop workers' health insurance.
With Loebsack and Obama...the storm will only get worse." The ad, which runs for two weeks on cable, cost $11,000. Watch it:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce4674698c1c8cd4810a8a9b08816374c8aef1b1aaa83ed35640dbc
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce4674698c1c8cd4810a8a9b08816374c8aef1b1aaa83ed35640dbc .

EXCLUSIVE - CAMPAIGN TARGETS SCOTT "BOBBLE HEAD BROWN": MassUniting, a coalition backed by labor and other Democratic interest groups, will launch a new ad campaign tonight that paints Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown as a Yes Man for Washington Republicans. With Democrats facing a potentially competitive primary, the 501(c)(4) plans to start significantly investing in driving up the freshman Republican's negatives. Their peg: Brown is holding a fundraiser at a Lowell Spinners Minor League baseball game, where supporters can get a bobble head of the senator. The push starts on this evening's newscasts. The group won't divulge the size of the buy but insists it is significant enough to last
through the end of this week on local affiliates and cable. Massachusetts is the Democrats' best pickup opportunity next year, and Brown will need to significantly outperform his party's presidential nominee in the deep-blue Bay State.

MORE - THE SCRIPT: "Scott Brown promised to be an independent voice for Massachusetts. But instead, we got 'Bobble Head Brown,' saying 'yes' to Wall Street and the national Republican agenda. Brown said 'yes' to shipping jobs overseas. 'Yes' to tax breaks for oil companies and billionaires. 'Yes' to slashing Medicaid and Social Security. Tell Scott Brown there's nothing independent about saying 'yes' to Wall Street and the Republican leadership. Find out more at www.BobbleHeadBrown.com." Watch the ad:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746b5290333d7d1fde8cc3ec71e6f369874e261dd7f71f43446
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746b5290333d7d1fde8cc3ec71e6f369874e261dd7f71f43446 .

***As the Arab Spring lasts through summer, at least four more Republicans could theoretically get into the race and Santorum explains his Romney endorsement, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

THE STAKES - FIVE QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: The overarching question is if/how the Republican field grows. Sarah Palin insists she's keeping the door open. After pundits spent months confidently predicting that the former Alaska governor is content to focus on her profitable commercial ventures, there is increasing buzz that she could see an opening for herself in a still-open field. Much of it, though, is pure speculation, thrown into overdrive by Karl Rove on Fox News and Mark Levin on his radio show. The other heavyweight wildcards - who would have a very different impact on the field - are Paul Ryan and Chris Christie. With that in mind, we have these questions for the week ahead.

(1) Will Palin take any tangible steps to demonstrate that she's seriously considering a run for president?

(2) How does Michele Bachmann try to escape Rick Perry's shadow? [
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce4674680fc1a860f2c47489bd4709fa5c12b051743e11fbb111241
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce4674680fc1a860f2c47489bd4709fa5c12b051743e11fbb111241 ]

(3) Who will be the most prominent Bushie to criticize Perry this week?

(4) How much further will Jon Huntsman go in attacking his party's shibboleths?

(5) Will any prominent Republican (besides David Gergen) credit Obama's "leading from behind" approach for bringing down Muammar Qadhafi?

2012 TALKER - TRIAL LAWYERS PREP FOR WAR ON PERRY: It is hard to overstate how much plaintiffs' attorneys both despise and fear Rick Perry. The Texas governor has made tort reform, including his support for "loser pays" in Texas, a big part of his nascent presidential campaign. POLITICO's Alex Burns talked to several deep-pocketed lawyers, who recognize they have a lot to lose if Perry makes it to the White House and are contemplating ways they can thwart him, whether with super PACs in the primaries or something else. "That's a potential financial boon to a president who has unsettled trial lawyers with his own rhetorical gestures in the direction of tort reform," Burns concludes. "A
general election pitting Barack Obama and Perry could turn otherwise apathetic trial lawyers into a phalanx of pro-Obama bundlers and super PAC donors."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746c4fa9f7759b090e406097b3b128dc6cdd50330395f628e21
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746c4fa9f7759b090e406097b3b128dc6cdd50330395f628e21

FUNDRAISING SCOREBOARD - DEMS RAISE $1 MILLION MORE THAN REPUBLICANS IN JULY: Each of the three major Democratic committees that released July fundraising numbers outraised it Republican counterpart. Overall Dems took in about a million bucks more than the GOP. Democrats said their numbers would have been higher if they had not canceled presidential fundraisers during debt ceiling negotiations. Analysts predict that August fundraising will also be off somewhat because of the stock market declines and the summer doldrums.

DNC: $6.7 million

RNC: "over $6 million," according to a press release

DCCC: $4.02 million

NRCC: 3.84 million

DSCC: $2.74 million

NRSC: $2.72 million

THE "CENTER-RIGHT" ALTERNATIVE -- HUNTSMAN 2.0 ATTACKS PERRY, BACHMANN AND ROMNEY: On ABC's "This Week," Jon Huntsman went after Bachmann for unrealistically claiming she could bring gas prices below $2-a-gallon, Perry for ignoring scientific consensus to deny global warming and Romney for being a flip-flopper. 'You know, if we were to talk about his inconsistencies and the changes on various issues, we'd be here all afternoon," Huntsman said of the frontrunner. He attacked his competitors as "unelectable" and for having "zero substance." The DNC ate it up, blasting his comments. It came days after he made headlines for similar tweets, the start of a new phase in a bid to carve out a niche
for his struggling campaign. Watch the full ABC interview: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0258de979782f7f73338a070496dc391ce3cd83a89f032b475bec57fb2f6564d [Meanwhile, Perry stuck by his comments on both the Federal Reserve and global warming while campaigning in South Carolina:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746dafa79080ffe830bd7444cf23f784ecd1768126895051aa0
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746dafa79080ffe830bd7444cf23f784ecd1768126895051aa0 .]

BUT - HUNTSMAN STILL HEWS TO PARTY ORTHODOXY: Eager to remain viable as he throws bombs at his right flank, Huntsman is stressing the areas in which he still falls in lockstep with the Republican zeitgeist. From the write-up of an interview he gave The Wall Street Journal on Sunday: "He no longer backs establishing a firm cap on the release of greenhouse gases or doing much in the short run to combat climate change, as long as unemployment remains high...He supports repealing President Barack Obama's health-care law and turning Medicaid into block grants to the states...Most if not all of Mr. Obama's Wall Street regulation bill should be repealed, Mr. Huntsman said. He opposes another round
of federal funding for infrastructure, as the president wants...And he agrees with the new Republican orthodoxy that the half of American households no longer paying income tax - mainly working poor families and seniors - should be brought onto the income tax rolls."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce4674618fe411527f9b7737b58d81aaece1e8a01768a061051be4e
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce4674618fe411527f9b7737b58d81aaece1e8a01768a061051be4e

A POSSIBLE WESTERN WHITE HOUSE - ROMNEY GETS PERMITS TO QUADRUPLE SAN DIEGO HOME SIZE: "Romney has filed an application with the city [of La Jolla] to bulldoze his 3,009-square-foot, single-story home [built in 1936] and replace it with a two-story, 11,062-square-foot structure," according to the San Diego Union Tribune. "The former governor of Massachusetts purchased the home three years ago...Tentative plans call for new retaining walls and a relocated driveway, but would retain the existing lap pool and spa." (http://bit.ly/oZ7o1a) The project won't actually start while Romney is a presidential candidate. A campaign official emailed POLITICO to say a larger family motivated the
expansion, noting that Mitt has five married sons and 16 grandchildren.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746a62074ad0591a9c49f4c3a3f6fdfd7b60e76feb6ad892aaa
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6e982e490ce46746a62074ad0591a9c49f4c3a3f6fdfd7b60e76feb6ad892aaa

THE 2012 FIELD IN FLUX - 4 DEVELOPMENTS OVER THE WEEKEND:

SARAH PALIN - ROVE THINKS SHE WILL RUN: As evidence she'll get in, Karl Rove pointed to the web video Palin released Friday about her trip to Iowa and noted that she's returning to the caucus state. "I'm not much of a gambler but I'd put a little bit more money that she gets in than she doesn't because the schedule she has next week in Iowa looks like that of a candidate, not a celebrity," he said on Fox News, reiterating points he made last week. "If she doesn't get in next week, I think people are going to basically say, 'She's not in, she won't be in and if she gets in, I'm not going to be for her.' You can only tease so many times in the political process and I think she's getting to
the end of that." The new Palin video: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0258de979782f7f74b34fa60704ee8211f237d05fb834275a6c8f3729d15894f More from Rove:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f597e9676393882ef1658e8a970f72cb8d318c50ab9fd57127
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f597e9676393882ef1658e8a970f72cb8d318c50ab9fd57127 .

PAUL RYAN- DECISION BY THE END OF AUGUST: "Several people who have been talking to Ryan expect that he will return to Washington near the end of August having made his decision," Stephen Hayes (the most plugged in on the Wisconsin congressman's deliberations) writes in his article for the forthcoming issue of The Weekly Standard, which posted over the weekend. "Most everyone who has been in touch with him believes that he is still genuinely torn between the daunting challenge of a presidential campaign he never expected to wage this year and the obligation of stepping forward to serve his country in a time of crisis." [On "Fox News Sunday," Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol held up a
'Ryan-Rubio' button.]
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5bd04dfc2f15a352e23ae54a9d947b07e930483c68d8c880d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5bd04dfc2f15a352e23ae54a9d947b07e930483c68d8c880d

CHRIS CHRISTIE - GEORGE WILL CONFIDENT THAT "AMERICA'S CAESAR" WON'T RUN: The conservative commentator writes definitively from Trenton in his Sunday column that the New Jersey governor will not run in 2012. "No one outside of Washington has made more political waves in the past 20 months than Christie, and no one inside Washington has been as successful," said Will." "But he has four children, ages 8 to 17, he will not abandon for presidential politics." Will calls him "America's Caesar - its most powerful governor." More on why:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5d7173d4cce3fe1bc3f1c9c675de193d510f0dbbcd00f868a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5d7173d4cce3fe1bc3f1c9c675de193d510f0dbbcd00f868a .

GEORGE PATAKI - "STRONGLY CONSIDERING" A RUN: NY1 reported that a spokesman confirmed former Empire State Gov. George Pataki is strongly considering jumping into the race and "could make an announcement as early as next week." It is hard to see him being a huge factor, but with the field the way it is, who knows?
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f55c8d15f0c792566df198f4ed39187ecf1bf032ff17da8773
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f55c8d15f0c792566df198f4ed39187ecf1bf032ff17da8773

WHAT THE CANDIDATES ACTUALLY RUNNING ARE UP TO: It's a pretty quiet day with few public events. Herman Cain has a fundraiser in San Diego. Newt Gingrich speaks at a prep school in Makawao, Hawaii. Gary Johnson tours Northern Forest Heritage Park in Berlin, N.H. and Chutter's candy story in Littleton.

SUNDAY SHOW HIGHLIGHTS - Since it was pretty nice out in Washington (until the rain that caused the second delay in three days at the Nationals game), we thought it might be helpful to run down some interesting nuggets from yesterday's shows:

Santorum defended his 2008 endorsement of Romney: On "Fox News Sunday," Rick Santorum said his endorsement of Romney was more about trying to stop John McCain than anything else. "I endorsed him right after the Florida primary when it looked like it was going to be a choice between Governor Romney and John McCain. And in that race, I really felt anybody but McCain was the best solution...Nothing about John McCain personally, but I just didn't feel that he was going to be our best candidate in the fall. It turned out to be that way." He also chalked his 2006 loss up to George W. Bush's unpopularity in his state and the national wave that gave Democrats control of the Senate.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f50e6a0f9b0b74af49149c71076838f3be24989059d91e09cf
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f50e6a0f9b0b74af49149c71076838f3be24989059d91e09cf

Gibbs directed his fire at Romney and Perry: On NBC's "Meet the Press," former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs argued that Perry and Romney will struggle to compete with Obama. "They're going to wonder why a place like Texas has one of the worst education systems... They're going to wonder why a guy who doesn't like the government, the largest employer in Texas is Fort Hood, an Army base," he said. "They're going to wonder why Mitt Romney, when he was governor of Massachusetts, was 47th in job creation."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5926ce218d4cc7aa7a91aafbc94dab32718743fc5284579df
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5926ce218d4cc7aa7a91aafbc94dab32718743fc5284579df

Axelrod previewed Obama's jobs speech: On CNN, David Axelrod said the president's much-awaited jobs plan will not include anything "that reasonable people shouldn't be able to agree on." He said some ideas will be new and others will be recycled. The president's chief strategist said investing in infrastructure and extending the payroll tax cut will be "absolutely critical."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f56c11a4fe12a5a2ee107ea17aa8593118987c65cba4c56385
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f56c11a4fe12a5a2ee107ea17aa8593118987c65cba4c56385

Daniels called Perry's "treasonous" comment about Ben Bernanke "unfortunate": "He made a serious point in an unfortunate way," Daniels said on "Meet the Press. "The point he's making about flooding the world with printed money, borrowing unlimited quantities, using it for trickle down government which is the policy of this administration, is a bad one...Sure, he shouldn't have said it. I join those who agree that that was the wrong thing to say."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f561139d69a304aa2b3ff6233c5e8f142ee3303564384d2c25
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f561139d69a304aa2b3ff6233c5e8f142ee3303564384d2c25

FOLLOW THE MONEY - NYT PUTS PERRY DONORS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: A tough story on the front page of Sunday's New York Times looked at the benefits that Perry's donors have reaped from the state of Texas. Nicholas Confessore and Michael Luo: "Over three terms in office, Mr. Perry's administration has doled out grants, tax breaks, contracts and appointments to hundreds of his most generous supporters and their businesses. And they have helped Mr. Perry raise more money than any politician in Texas history, donations that have periodically raised eyebrows but, thanks to loose campaign finance laws and a business-friendly political culture dominated in recent years by Republicans, have only
fueled Mr. Perry's ascent."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5644604d6622b771639fd146ad3d3c2f4053db61e3ce0ad1e
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5644604d6622b771639fd146ad3d3c2f4053db61e3ce0ad1e

VIDEO OF THE WEEKEND - HOW NOT TO HANDLE A REPORTER WITH A FLIPCAM: The Miami Herald's Marc Caputo approached Republican Senate candidate Mike McCalister after a debate in Orlando Saturday to press him on how he represents his military record. The candidate denies saying he has testified before Congress, even though he is on tape saying as much. The most memorable line from the video is when an overly-aggressive handler tells the reporter that "the Colonel has to use the restroom." A funny three minutes:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5eb5af910859ad1cd6a8cd6bb92dad94bf7f2c972dd3edbaa
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f177e137ff0f47f5eb5af910859ad1cd6a8cd6bb92dad94bf7f2c972dd3edbaa .

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'You didn't eat all the lobster, did you dude?' - Thad McCotter, to a young boy at the New Hampshire Young Republicans lobster bake.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0258de979782f7f76e6c49cd6aeef2929f250e65d545ea5deff3694872cf4db7
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=0258de979782f7f76e6c49cd6aeef2929f250e65d545ea5deff3694872cf4db7

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