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By James Hohmann (
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jhohmann@politico.com ) and Alexander Burns (
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aburns@politico.com )

POPPING OVERNIGHT - OBAMA'S AWKWARD FUNDRAISER - President Obama sidestepped the issue of gay marriage during a major LGBT fundraiser in New York Thursday evening, saying only that the New York state legislature is doing what "democracies are supposed to do" as it appears poised to legalize same-sex unions. POLITICO's Maggie Haberman sets the scene: "Obama couched the gay rights fight as part of a longer struggle ... [H]e quoted from Lady Gaga in a joke that both worked and elicited some groans - but it was not entirely what many in the crowd wanted to hear ... He was interrupted while talking more than a few times by attendees demanding to know his stand. 'Do you support [marriage]?'
someone called from the back of the room." From the pool report: "[Obama r]eferred to past struggles in the gay community then said, 'With your help, if you keep up the fight' and give your energy 'to this campaign one more time, I promise you we will write another chapter in that story' ... [H]e got a standing ovation nonetheless, then was off to the next fundraiser."

BACK TO THE ECONOMY - PIVOTING IN PITTSBURGH - The president will refocus on a trip to the Keystone State: "In the morning, the President will visit Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to highlight the importance of manufacturing to the U.S. economy...the President will tour the university's National Robotics Engineering Center." Then he'll give a speech on competitiveness at 11 a.m. and be back in the White House by 2 p.m. Mitt Romney bracketed the president's trip in an interview with the Tribune-Review:
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SCORE PREVIEW - DSCC MESSAGE SHIFT - Senate Democrats will seek to broaden their 2012 campaign message to attack Republicans on the economy, after spending weeks accusing the GOP of seeking to "end Medicare as we know it" through the Paul Ryan budget. The DSCC won't abandon the Medicare messaging, but starting in press hits this afternoon the committee will try to balance those attacks with heavier language about jobs and economic growth. The committee will target six states - Massachusetts, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and Virginia - with messaging along these lines: "It's bad enough that Scott Brown won't tell his party leaders to take privatizing Medicare off the table in budget
negotiations, but now he's standing idly by while his party's leaders gear up to block job creation initiatives, all because they think it's good politics for the Republican Party." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed the way in a Wednesday floor speech when he blasted Republicans for caring "more about partisan politics than they do about putting Americans back to work."

BREAKING IN KENTUCKY - NRCC VS. CHANDLER - The House GOP's campaign committee is going up with a three-week ad buy in Kentucky's 6th Congressional District, an official told Morning Score - an early investment that shows Republicans believe Rep. Ben Chandler is high on their short list of offensive targets for 2012. The NRCC ad features Chandler endorsing Barack Obama for president and praising his "steady hand and leadership," before jabbing: "Even with Kentucky's unemployment at 9.8 percent ... Even with more than 200 thousand Kentuckians out of work ... Barack Obama. Ben Chandler. They're making the economy worse." Watch the ad here:
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As Priorities USA gets some competition, Jay Inslee ends the suspense and Mitt Romney plans a trip across the pond, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

COUNTDOWN TO THE MONEY DEADLINE - T MINUS 7 DAYS - With just a week left until the end of the year's second fundraising quarter, POLITICO's Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman set expectations for the field: "Everyone knows Mitt Romney is going to outpace the GOP presidential field when next month's fundraising reports come out. But the scale of his money advantage is finally coming into shape ... Romney is so confident in his fundraising that he will not put any of his own money into the campaign this quarter, campaign officials tell POLITICO ... Top advisers to the frontrunner insist he'll only raise upward of $20 million, and dismiss higher figures being thrown around. But some longtime
Republicans expect him to bring in nearer to $40 million ... [Tim] Pawlenty will almost certainly raise less than $10 million, say party insiders, and his quarterly sum may even hover around $5 million ... [A Bachmann] spokeswoman declined comment on what Bachmann's numbers will look like. But they are likely to be below $10 million." Read on:
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PLEDGE WEEK - ATR OUTPACES SBA LIST - Every Republican presidential candidate has committed to sign the Americans for Tax Reform "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" except for Jon Huntsman, ATR president Grover Norquist told Morning Score. Mitt Romney became the latest to sign the document yesterday; Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty have both signed it in the past and have expressed every intention to do so again. That means ATR has better buy-in so far than the Susan B. Anthony List, which had its stringent anti-abortion pledge rebuffed by Romney, Huntsman and Herman Cain. Huntsman says he won't sign any pledges while running for president, but Norquist hopes that will change and has requested a
sit-down with the former Utah governor. "He's a question mark," Norquist told Morning Score, adding warm words for Huntsman's record in Utah. "I hope and assume that, before the primary is over, Huntsman will feel comfortable signing the pledge."

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE BIDDING ON AMES - There are at least four takeaways from yesterday's Iowa GOP auction for real estate at the August straw poll: Thad McCotter is running, Tim Pawlenty being careful with cash, Newt Gingrich is broke and Ron Paul is playing to win. Paul slapped down the most money by far - $31,000 - for the prime placement Mitt Romney had in 2008. The second-highest bidder was McCotter, whose $18,000 investment would be a pretty strange use of money if the congressman hadn't firmly decided on a presidential run. Pawlenty, meanwhile, got outbid by Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann, while Gingrich's campaign sent a volunteer to the auction and did not place a bid at all.
Read the Register on Gingrich:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e94c19057236ad404a909cf0fbe31d8f892f59ba2f04312877e25d2a6ea6d77
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e94c19057236ad404a909cf0fbe31d8f892f59ba2f04312877e25d2a6ea6d77 ; and Haberman on McCotter's attempt to buy space anonymously:
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NEWT'S IN FOR THE LONG HAUL: The former House speaker told reporters in Baltimore last night that he'll stay in the presidential race until the Iowa caucuses. "Sure, of course," Gingrich said, according to ABC News, dismissing reports of continued turmoil in his campaign: "Either there will be a message that resonates with 14 million unemployed ... or there won't be. If there is, I'll be a contender in January." Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said the campaign is still deciding whether to join the Ames straw poll.
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READY FOR PRIMETIME? PERRY FLOPS AT NALEO - Texas Gov. Rick Perry gave a short and tense speech at a National Association of Latino Elected Officials summit yesterday, tripping over a joke about the name of one of his own appointees. This was a tough crowd for Perry, thanks to his decision to take on the issue of sanctuary cities during a special legislative session. The AP says Perry ended up "frequently staring blankly at the audience when they failed to respond to his conservative applause lines....a joke about how perfect it was to appoint Jose Cuevas to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission because his name sounds like Jose Cuervo - a brand of tequila - fell flat. Perry struggled to
regain his confidence as he described Texas as a land of opportunity.' The AP report:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=288f77e2c779e6a855457042b57aa9781a9433ef17bbe33e4b25c879649e2ea8
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=288f77e2c779e6a855457042b57aa9781a9433ef17bbe33e4b25c879649e2ea8 ; and the Texas Tribune:
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ROMNEY TODAY - PLANTING A FLAG IN UTAH: Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman were supposed to be in Utah at the same time today for competing fundraising events, but Huntsman's visit to the state he governed got postponed. That leaves Romney with Utah to himself and he's already drawing headlines by winning the endorsement of state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. The Republican official said his decision was "not an anti-Huntsman thing; it's a pro-Romney thing," but explained: "I want to get behind the guy who has the best chance of winning, and I don't think that's Jon." Shurtleff served in statewide office alongside Huntsman for five years and joined him in supporting John McCain, rather than
Romney, for president in 2008.
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GETTING BACKUP - BOSTON CHEERS SUPER PAC: The Romney campaign is welcoming the creation of a new super PAC that can raise unlimited money specifically to support his campaign. Dan Eggen and Chris Cillizza had the story first: "The group aims to go head-to-head with Priorities USA Action, a similar super PAC led by former White House aides in support of President Obama. But Restore Our Future PAC could be used to go after other Republicans if necessary ... Restore Our Future PAC's board of directors includes [Charles] Spies [Romney's 2008 general counsel]; Carl Forti, political director for Romney's 2008 campaign; and Larry McCarthy, a member of the Romney media team in 2008." Romney
communications director Gail Gitcho tells The Post: "We are pleased that independent groups will be active in fighting this entrenched power so the country can get back to work."
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AND COMING SOON - WMR TO THE UK - The Republican frontrunner will fly to London early next month for a fundraiser at London's Dartmouth House. The Boston Globe got a copy of an invitation to the event, which suggests a $2,500 contribution. Matt Viser: "The fact that he is choosing to begin the next fund-raising quarter in a foreign capital also illustrates his current strategic focus of raising hordes of campaign cash rather than making the normally required appearances in VFW halls and small-town diners. In fact, Romney will have spent more time this year around Westminster than he has Waterloo, Iowa."
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PAWLENTY GOES GLOBAL - CFR SPEECH TUESDAY - After staking out a position this week as the 2012 field's most vocal hawk, Tim Pawlenty will deliver what's being billed as "a major foreign policy address" at the Council on Foreign Relations next Tuesday. A Pawlenty aide emailed: "The speech will focus on the challenges and opportunities presented by the Arab Spring. Governor Pawlenty will address President Obama's failed leadership, approach, and philosophy of how to approach the entire Middle East region." Can he win over the hearts and minds of the McCain-Graham wing of the Republican Party?
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INSLEE WILL RUN IN WASHINGTON: Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee will announce on Monday that he's running for governor of Washington, a move that has been widely expected since incumbent Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire said this month that she won't run for reelection. The Everett, Wash., Daily Herald: "Awaiting Inslee's arrival is Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna who tossed his hat into the ring on June 8. This will be Inslee's second bid for governor. He ran in 1996 and finished fifth in a 15-person primary. He was the third highest votegetter among Democrats."
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THE NEVADA SPECIAL - MARSHALL VS. 'FRINGE' - Nevada state Treasurer and Democratic House candidate Kate Marshall is trying to raise money off an ad by her Republican opponent that shows the Chinese army marching on the U.S. Capitol. Republican nominee Mark Amodei put the ad on TV earlier this week, arguing that U.S. debt would lead to an all-out takeover by China. Marshall's counter-pitch: "He's at it already! Mark Amodei has been the Republican nominee for less than a week ... His first advertisement has been referred to as 'offensive,' 'fear-mongering,' and 'xenophobic.'" Marshall and Amodei are competing for the open seat formerly held by Sen. Dean Heller.
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I refuse to comment directly on the Afghanistan decision because I think if you don't put it in context, it makes zero sense." - Newt Gingrich, giving a foreign policy address to the Maryland Republican Party
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