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By Zach Montellaro | 09/17/2018 10:00 AM EDT


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.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM - E-filing is on the verge of reality. Both chambers of Congress passed a minibus package that included a provision that would require Senate campaigns to file their campaign finance reports directly to the FEC, which would require them to submit their forms electronically. And (assuming the president signs the bill) that change would take effect immediately.

A spokesperson for Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who helped shepard the provision in the minibus, told Score that the change would take place once the bill is signed - meaning that Senate campaigns will file electronically for the big Oct. 15 quarterly filing deadline. An FEC spokesperson told Score that the agency expects to issue guidance to campaigns once the president signs the bill into law.

"This should be a relatively easy transition for Senate campaigns to make," said Michael Beckel, the manager of research, investigations and policy analysis at the good governance nonprofit Issue One. He noted that most campaigns are already keeping digital records and that the FEC already has a system in place for House candidates to file electronically. "This long overdue step will save money, improve accuracy, and give voters timely access to campaign finance data," Brendan Fischer, the director of the federal reform program at the Campaign Legal Center, told Score.

Both the DSCC and NRSC declined to answer questions on how (or if) they're preparing their candidates for the swap.

Good Monday morning. The second Campaign Pro wedding in as many weeks! A big congrats to our own Elena Schneider, who married POLITICO alum (and now Los Angeles Times reporter) Eli Stokols this weekend in North Carolina. As always email me at zmontellaro@politico.com or DM me at @ZachMontellaro.

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

Join POLITICO for a special Playbook Elections event in Ohio on Sept. 20 to discuss how the 2018 midterm elections are shaping up. RSVP here.

Days until the 2018 election: 50.

DEEP DIVE - If Democrat Stacey Abrams is going to win the Georgia gubernatorial race, she needs to make inroads with the state's rural population. Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "During her three-day, six-stop swing in southern Georgia, Abrams never breathed the names of the national figures who have made her campaign a liberal cause célèbre. ... She argues that the best card she can play to skeptical Republicans is to highlight her own roots in rural Mississippi and to frame her brand of progressivism as less like an American version of socialism that Republicans abhor and more like the sensible policies of any responsible governor. 'I think part of the narrative that's
started to develop is that there's something not pragmatic about expanding Medicaid in Georgia,' Abrams told me. ... 'And my point is to demonstrate that regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, governors across the country have recognized the necessity of Medicaid expansion.'"

ON THE AIRWAVES - If it wasn't already apparent, a lot of money has been spent on television advertising in the battle for the House. A breakdown from The Washington Post's Robert Costa: "Through Sept. 12, the Congressional Leadership Fund ... has reserved more than $71 million in advertising, nearly $30 million more than the NRCC's $42 million. Meanwhile, the DCCC has reserved about $55 million in TV and radio ads through Sept. 12 - far behind the House GOP's super PAC but $13 million more than the NRCC. ... The House Majority PAC ... has reserved $43 million, the documents show."

NEW RED TO BLUE ADDS - The DCCC added nine new candidates to its Red to Blue program, bringing the list to 82: Kristen Carlson (FL-15), Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-07), Matt Longjohn (MI-06), Cort VanOstran (MO-02), Kathleen Williams (MT-AL), Chris Pappas (NH-01), Perry Gershon (NY-01), Todd Litton (TX-02) and Joseph Kopser (TX-21).

POLLS POLLS POLLS - In the New Mexico gubernatorial race, a poll from the Albuquerque Journal has Democratic Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham leading GOP Rep. Steve Pearce, 50 percent to 43 percent. The poll was in the field Sept. 7-13 and interviewed 966 registered voters.

TRUMP ON THE TRAIL - President Donald Trump is heading to Missouri to rally for Republican Josh Hawley on Sept. 21, CBS News reported.

OBAMA ON THE TRAIL - Former President Barack Obama will headline a rally in Philadelphia for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Democratic Sen. Bob Casey on Sept. 21, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jonathan Tamari reported. An interesting note, per Tamari: "On the same night, Donald Trump Jr. is headlining a Pennsylvania state Republican party fundraiser in Hershey." Trump Jr. also counter-programmed Obama's event for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Richard Cordray in Ohio last week, per Daniel.

MENENDEZ'S REELECTION BATTLE - In a year that's expected to be a big one for Democrats, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is locked in a tougher than expected fight. POLITICO New Jersey's Matt Friedman: "Though the New Jersey Democrat is still favored to defeat Republican Bob Hugin in November, Menendez is being forced to fight to keep his seat. Hugin's relentless negative ad campaign and deep pockets, combined with Menendez's unpopularity among New Jersey voters, are making the race closer than most anticipated. Now, national Democrats are putting resources into a state that normally would not be in play."

COMING TO AN AD NEAR YOU - Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has been dogged by her anti-war activism in the early 2000s in her Arizona Senate bid. Flyers from her group in that period that have been unearthed by CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and Christopher Massie will likely only intensify that criticism: Sinema "led a group that distributed flyers depicting an American soldier as a skeleton inflicting 'U.S. terror' in Iraq and the Middle East. ... 'Kyrsten comes from a military family and is very proud of her record supporting Arizona's servicemembers, veterans, and their families,' Sinema campaign spokeswoman Helen Hare said in an emailed comment to CNN's KFile. 'Attacks on Kyrsten's respect for
those who serve have already been called out as false' ... Hare added that Sinema did not approve or design the flyers at the time.

"The flyers, which are available through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, promoted a February 2003 rally organized by Local to Global Justice, an anti-war group Sinema co-founded."

OPEN SECRETS - In what was probably the logical next step from the much-maligned mailers that threaten to tell neighbors about your voting history, a new app can scan your contact list and figure out who could be swayed to vote. The app "look[s] up the voter data for the people you know, using your contact list. When we find someone, we show you relevant information about their local elections, their registration status, and whether they have voted in past elections. We'll suggest text messages that might be appropriate to send to them," according to a Medium post (h/t to GOP consultant Patrick Ruffini's newsletter).

THE TRADE WAR - Republicans in battleground seats continue to be weighed down by the president's expanded trade war. The Wall Street Journal's Joshua Jamerson on the effect on GOP Rep. Will Hurd in Texas' 23rd District: "'I shouldn't say this,' Mr. Hurd said before likening his views on the Trump administration's Nafta negotiations to his sentiments on the football program at his alma mater, Texas A&M University. 'I get excited, I get bummed. I get excited, I get bummed,' Mr. Hurd said. ... But it is the economic uncertainty surrounding Mr. Trump's trade negotiations that could loom largest this fall in a district like Mr. Hurd's that relies on Nafta for trade across the border with Mexico.
Mr. Hurd's district includes about 800 miles of the southern border, more than any other district in the country."

MONEY IN POLITICS - Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts halted a lower court judge's ruling that invalidated an FEC regulation that kept dark money groups' donors anonymous. POLITICO's Quint Forgey and Josh Gerstein: "That decision was the result of a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington against the FEC after Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS failed to disclose the names of contributors behind its effort to defeat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2012. ... It is not clear whether Roberts' order is a short-term measure intended to allow further consideration of the issue by the justices, or whether it will remain in place through this fall's midterm elections."

JUMPING SHIP - More prominent megadonors are speaking out about why they're abandoning the Republican party. Ohio-based Les Wexner now says that he's an independent, saying "I won't support this nonsense in the Republican Party," Suzanne Goldsmith of GateHouse Media Ohio reported. Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, "a lifelong Republican," told The Star-Ledger's Tom Moran that she is "hoping we lose the House, that would be a good thing" because Congress has "ceded too much to this president."

BIG SPENDING - The gun control movement is pouring resources into four states. The Washington Post's Katie Zezima: Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund "plans to spend $8 million to $10 million in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico as an initial investment in the election. It will include contributions to candidates, as well as independent expenditures such as mail, television, radio and digital ads."

2020 WATCH - Some of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) allies are increasingly bullish about him running for president in 2020. The Hill's Amie Parnes: "'I expect him to run,' said Larry Cohen, the chairman of Our Revolution ... . Sanders allies increasingly talk more confidently about the likelihood of a second presidential bid. Just a few months ago, the allies were more careful about his potential candidacy."

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Guys and ladies - We are less than 60 days from totally kicking the shit out of the Republicans," Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego on his party's midterm chances, via tracker footage.

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