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By Maggie Severns | 10/03/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Zach Montellaro and Daniel Strauss

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)

SUDDENLY SUSAN - "Collins agonizes over decision to ditch the Senate," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) "is torn over with whether to leave her prominent perch as one of the Senate's few true moderate legislators, according to her colleagues. If Collins had made up her mind by now, said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), 'she already would have announced it.' ... She initially planned to make up her mind by the end of September, but pushed back her deadline to mid-October as she wrestled with the GOP's last Obamacare repeal effort.

"Republicans are fretting Collins will join retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and create a wave of pragmatic GOP senators fleeing the chamber. Though Collins holds sway as one of the chamber's few swing votes, she also faces the frustration of watching her party constantly doing the opposite of what she'd like. ... In the latest Obamacare repeal effort, even after party leaders had written her off as an automatic 'no,' she came under unyielding pressure from the White House." Full story.

FIRST IN SCORE - American Bridge launches women's health campaign: American Bridge is using its opposition research machine, candidate trackers and other resources to home in on President Donald Trump and his nominees' approaches to women's health, the liberal opposition research group announced today. Bridge is rolling out a "Protect Women's Health Care" website and a digital ad campaign on Facebook to kick off the new initiative. American Bridge has also started filing public records requests in order to dig up information on Trump nominees' past approaches to women's issues.

Emily Aden, who is directing the project, said in a statement that "this initiative is designed to shut out the noise and hone in on all of the the big and small ways the Trump administration is rolling back decades of progress for women."

FIRST IN SCORE - "LCV launches digital buy vs. Gillespie," by POLITICO's Kevin Robillard: "The League of Conservation Voters' Virginia arm is spending $200,000 on digital advertisements attacking Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie. The group has now spent $2 million on the contest between Gillespie and Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam. Polls show Northam with a small but steady lead. The ads attack Gillespie over his work for polluters during his long and lucrative career as a lobbyist.

"'Ed Gillespie has a long history working for corporate polluters who want to poison our air and water to boost their own profits,' said Michael Town, the executive director of Virginia LCV PAC. ... LCV worked with Priorities USA Action to design the ads, which will appear on social media platforms like Facebook, as YouTube pre-roll and on Pandora radio and local news websites." Full story.

Q3 CAMPAIGN FINANCE WATCH -

- VA-07: Democrat Dan Ward's campaign announced raising $263,000 in the third quarter for his challenge against GOP Rep. Dave Brat.

- WA-08: Democratic pediatrician Kim Schrier announced raising more than $270,000 in the third quarter. She is running for retiring GOP Rep. Dave Reichert's seat.

- WI-01: Democrat Randy Bryce has raised over $1.5 million in the third quarter in his bid to defeat Speaker Paul Ryan, POLITICO Playbook first reported.

Days until the 2017 election: 35.

Days until the 2018 election: 399.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

DAILY WAR EAGLE - Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey scheduled a special election for Alabama state Sen. Quinton Ross' seat on Dec. 12, the same day as the the special election for U.S. Senate. Ross announced Monday he had decided to take a job as the next president of Alabama State University. Ivey's decision could benefit Alabama Democratic Senate nominee Doug Jones. The Montgomery Advertiser's Brian Lyman tweeted that Ivey's move "will help Doug Jones in an area he needs to win big to have a shot at" winning the special election.

HOUSE CANDIDATE WATCH - Minnesota state Sen. Carla Nelson running for MN-01, per the Post-Bulletin's Heather J. Carlson: "Nelson made her announcement during a 10 a.m. press conference at Textile Care Services in Rochester ... set[ting] up a showdown with Blue Earth Republican Jim Hagedorn for the party's support. Hagedorn is making his third straight bid for the seat after narrowly losing to 1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz last year. The open 1st District seat is expected to be one of the most watched races in the country. Walz announced in the spring he would not seek re-election to the seat and would instead run for governor." Full story.

- Obama alumni candidate watch: Former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Tom Malinowski launched a campaign in NJ-07, joining the Democratic primary against GOP Rep. Leonard Lance. Among his early endorsers: former Secretary of State John Kerry. The Washington Post's Josh Rogin notes that Malinowski is part of a trend of former Obama-era natsec officials running for Congress.

BENEDICT RAUNER? - "Republicans rage at Rauner," by POLITICO's Natasha Korecki: "Until recently, the biggest question looming over Illinois politics has been whether Republican Bruce Rauner, the most vulnerable incumbent governor in the country, can win reelection next year. Now the question is whether Rauner can make it through a Republican primary. After the first-term governor signed a highly controversial bill last week expanding taxpayer-funded abortion in the state - becoming the first governor in decades to on his own authorize Medicaid payments for the procedure - Rauner's political universe began collapsing on itself.

"He found himself uninvited to GOP events, including a pro-life event that for weeks had boasted him as a headline guest. One-time GOP allies began searching for funding - and candidates - to challenge him. Chicago's Cardinal Blasé Cupich declared that Rauner had betrayed him. The Chicago Sun-Times summed up the reaction on the right with this screaming tabloid cover page: 'Benedict Rauner.'" Full story.

STAFFING UP - Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum's gubernatorial campaign has added Akilah Ensley as finance director. Gillum campaign communications director Geoff Burgan said in a statement: "Our campaign is thrilled to add Akilah R. Ensley, a nationally-recognized leader in Democratic politics and non-profit causes, as our new Finance Director. She brings a wealth of knowledge to the Gillum campaign, including numerous statewide campaigns in the Southeast. With the Democratic primary under a year away, her addition comes at a critical time, and we're thrilled that she'll be leading the charge as we run a strong people-powered campaign to take back Florida."

FACEBOOK STATUS UPDATE - Facebook says 10 million people saw ads, POLITICO's Nancy Scola reports: "Facebook today said 10 million people saw ads placed by Russia's Internet Research Agency that the company shared with congressional investigators today. The cache, targeted at 2016 U.S. presidential election voters, includes paid spots 'focused on divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum' on topics like LGBT issues and immigration, the company said.

"That information came in a blog post from Elliot Schrage, Facebook's vice president of policy and communications. According to Schrage, many of the ads cost little. 'For 50% of the ads, less than $3 was spent; for 99% of the ads, less than $1,000 was spent,' Schrage wrote. And because Facebook's ad system only presents ads to users when they cross a minimum standard of relevance, about a quarter of the ads were never seen, he added. Moreover, only about half of the advertisements in question ran before election day." Full story.

- Facebook sent 3,000 ads to Congress, Scola reports: "Facebook today submitted the batch of 3,000 Russia-linked ads from the 2016 election to three congressional committees along with data on 'targeting, payment and impressions' associated with the ads, according to a source familiar with the material." Full Story.

- Even more Facebook news: Facebook said Monday "it is making changes to better understand how one-off advertisements factor into advertisers' broader strategic goals." Full story.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I made some very specific prayers during that time." - House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, recounting the experience of being shot to POLITICO.

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