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

2012 TALKER - PAWLENTY AD EMBRACES SHUTDOWN - Tim Pawlenty's campaign will go on the air in Iowa today with a 30-second ad touting his record of confrontation with labor unions and Democrats in the Minnesota legislature. The statewide buy ups the ante on Pawlenty's "results, not rhetoric" slogan, spotlighting his willingness to allow a transit strike in 2004 and a state government shutdown in 2005 in order to control spending and block tax increases. The spot goes live as Minnesota struggles with a new government shutdown that started on Friday. Pawlenty's camp will not comment on the dollar figure of the buy. Read the script: "Minnesota gripped by one of the longest transit strikes in
history. Why? Because Governor Tim Pawlenty refused to cave into government unions. Result? Pawlenty won. Minnesota government shut down. Why? Because Tim Pawlenty would not accept Democrats' massive tax-and-spending demands. Result? Pawlenty won." Watch it here:
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POPPING THIS MORNING - RGA STOCKS WAR CHEST: The Republican Governors Association raised $22.1 million in the first six months of the year, an RGA official told Morning Score, signaling a strong financial start for the new team that took over at the committee in 2011. The $22.1 million figure is nearly $10 million more than the RGA raised in the first halves of 2007 and 2009, the last two comparable off-cycle election years. It's also more than the committee raised in all of 2007. The RGA ended the month of June with $16.2 million on hand. The haul is a show of force for the RGA leadership: Executive director Phil Cox began running the committee at the start of 2011 and finance director
Paige Hahn started in her position less than two months ago. The RGA report is a feather in the cap of Chairman Rick Perry, Vice Chairman Bob McDonnell and the class of GOP governors elected last year.

MORE - COX CLAIMS MO' - The committee's executive director cheered in a statement: "Republican governors across the country are promoting job-creation initiatives, balancing budgets, reforming education, and leading with a focus on the next generation. Because of their leadership, and our reputation as an effective, well-managed committee, our financial supporters continue to view RGA as a smart investment in our nation's future."

SENATE BULLETIN - KAINE RAISES $2.25M - Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine will announce today that he has raised $2.25 million for his Senate campaign since announcing on April 5. The Virginia race is expected to be one of the nation's most expensive and Kaine's number is a powerful opening move for a candidate known as an effective fundraiser. Kaine press secretary Brandi Hoffine said in a statement: "Tim Kaine has laid out an optimistic vision of bringing Virginia answers to Washington to help address serious national problems. We are pleased with how many people are responding to this campaign in its first weeks. Our primary focus for the coming months will be building on our strong network
of grassroots supporters who have already committed to helping elect Governor Kaine to the U.S. Senate."

As the Obama campaign drops a hint, Newt Gingrich explains his debt and Jim Matheson ponders the future, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

2012 MONEY WATCH - Q2 TRICKLES IN - No earthquakes, but some fresh details came in over the weekend. Here are the standings as we know them now: (1) Mitt Romney - $15 million to $20 million; (2) Ron Paul - $4.5 million; (3) Tim Pawlenty - $4.2 million, with general election money; (4) Jon Huntsman - $4.1 million, with self-funding; (5) Herman Cain - $2.5 million, with self-funding ...

NEWT LOWERS THE BAR: On the campaign trail in Iowa yesterday, the former House speaker acknowledged that his campaign is in the red: "'The fact is a month of media barrage is painful, and it slowed a lot of things down,' he said ... 'Our numbers will not be as good as we would like, and candidly, the consultants left us in debt. But every single week since they left we've been cutting down the debt, and we raise more than we spend in a week.'" Maggie Haberman reported last night that Newt has a new Iowa finance co-chair in ex-Rep. Greg Ganske ... Still unknown from Q2: Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum ... Stay tuned ...
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SMOKE SIGNAL FROM CHICAGO: The biggest financial question mark is the president's reelection campaign, which has yet to put out its first quarterly report. All we know right now: The Obama camp has 493,697 unique donors, according to a tweet from @BarackObama
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HOLIDAY ENDORSEMENT - NEA MAKES IT OFFICIAL - The National Education Association voted to endorse President Obama for reelection, with 72 percent of delegates supporting the president despite on-and-off tension between his administration and teachers' unions. NEA president Dennis Van Roekel drew a distinction between Obama-style education reform and the Republican version unfolding in the states: "[Obama] has never wavered from talking about the importance of education or his dedication to a vibrant middle class ... The last two years of state legislatures and the mid-term elections were eye-opening ... demonstrating what can happen when education legislation and decisions are left in the
hands of politicians who do not support public schools." Education Week's Stephen Sawchuk: "There was some real doubt about whether the Obama endorsement was going to go through this year or next; I spoke to a number of delegates who did not particularly want to go forward with an endorsement right now, figuring they'd have more leverage with the president if the endorsement was delayed."
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THE LATEST FROM ST. PAUL - SHUTDOWN, DAY 5 - There is no end in sight to Minnesota's state government shutdown. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton called the long weekend a cooling-off period in negotiations, which are expected to resume today. But there's nothing to indicate that either side is yet prepared to budge. The Star Tribune sums up the (largely frozen) state of play: "After budget talks collapsed last week, Republican leaders said that they had offered new revenue and were 'close' to an agreement with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton on the budget. But away from the cameras, many of their own members said they still could not support a budget larger than the $34 billion one Dayton vetoed ...
Meanwhile, Dayton and DFL lawmakers have assailed the consequences of a $34 billion budget, and the governor would not, in the end, abandon his pledge to raise taxes on the wealthy -- a nonstarter for Republicans."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f1897582f6cecfbe98a030e15d8cd04b120ff1ba5bfb585ccc593e671e42ec87
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f1897582f6cecfbe98a030e15d8cd04b120ff1ba5bfb585ccc593e671e42ec87 ... More on the shutdown from Hohmann in Eagan:
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TODAY - THE WALTER & ARNE SHOW - The only currently scheduled public event related to the shutdown is a 10 a.m. CST press conference with former Vice President Walter Mondale and former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson. Doug Grow at MinnPost.com reports that the duo will announce the formation of a bipartisan group of "influentials," to come up with a "third way" to the budget that might win enough Republican support to pass. Grow says the committee is "clearly ... being formed with the blessing of Gov. Mark Dayton": "Members of the committee include a combination of business leaders, former legislators, former government finance officials, as well as current Management and Budget Commissioner
Jim Schowalter, who was an assistant commissioner under Gov. Tim Pawlenty."
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WRAPPING THE FOURTH - HOW THE CANDIDATES SPENT IT - IN N.H. - Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman crossed paths amiably at a parade in Amherst, with only light needling from the GOP frontrunner. The Wall Street Journal: "After arriving at the last minute, Mr. Romney thanked his supporters and parade officials, then walked to Mr. Huntsman's section. 'Welcome to New Hampshire,' Mr. Romney said, and Mr. Huntsman said the same. Mr. Romney then gave Mr. Huntsman's wife, Mary Kaye, a hug. He remarked to Mr. Huntsman, who resigned recently as President Barack Obama's ambassador to China, that New Hampshire is nicer than Beijing, then returned to his own supporters."
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AND - BACK ON MESSAGE - After briefly saying last Thursday that he hadn't blamed President Obama for making the economy worse, Mitt Romney returned to the regularly scheduled messaging in Amherst: "Speaking at the annual July Fourth parade here on Monday, Mr. Romney told a crowd of supporters and passersby,'the recession is deeper because of our president,' adding, 'it's seen an anemic recovery because of our president' ... [T]hen he went ahead and said it, that the president 'made the recession worse.'" By the way: Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said that when the candidate said he hadn't claimed the economy was worse, he was "responding to the reporter's comment about the stock market. If
the Democrats are waiting for Mitt Romney to ease up on his criticism of President Obama's economic record, it's simply not going to happen."
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MEANWHILE, IN IOWA - PERFECT TOGETHER - In the first-in-the-nation caucus state, it was Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich marching to the same drum: "A Fourth of July parade is a perfect time for a politician to catch people in a happy mood, Gingrich told The Des Moines Register ... 'People are just glad you came,' said Gingrich, a former U.S. House speaker. 'There's a certain advantage both Michele and I got today just by being here' ... The reaction to Bachmann was not unlike a crowd doing the wave at a sporting event. As she approached, people jumped to their feet, yelled 'Michele, over here!' and applauded wildly."
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CAUCUS READING - BEAUMONT SEES PATH FOR MITT - The AP scribe reports from Des Moines that with Michele Bachmann rising and Tim Pawlenty stalled, there's still an opening in the Hawkeye State for Mitt Romney: "The accelerating GOP presidential campaigns in Iowa ... could force the former Massachusetts governor to reconsider his decision to mount only modest efforts in this early voting state ... Romney may stick with his plan to tread lightly in Iowa ... But Romney's healthy fundraising, with as much as $20 million in the three-month reporting period that ended last week, and his lead in national polls give him flexibility his less-known rivals lack and make it possible for him to wait to
see how the chips fall in Iowa this summer, and decide later whether to up his ante. 'I think it's awfully hard for me at this stage to predict where we'll spend all our time and devote all our resources,' Romney told The Associated Press."
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POPPING NEARBY - PERRY GROUP HIRES GINGRICH VET - Haberman scoops: "The group Americans for Rick Perry, which made headlines in the last two days for trying to light a fire for the Texas governor in the form of support at the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa next month, is making hires - including a top former Newt Gingrich staffer, sources told POLITICO. Craig Schoenfeld, a veteran Iowa strategist, has been brought on board and has started nascent discussions with others about six-week contracts - meaning the duration of the lead-up to the Ames poll, the sources said."
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RECRUITMENT WATCH - MATHESON TEASES: Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, the Democrats' top possible recruit for both the 2012 Senate and governor's races, sounds like a man flirting with a statewide run. Matheson mused recently that the district Republicans gerrymandered in 2000 put him in a position to represent a huge swath of Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune: "[T]he vast district they drew for him - instead of the compact, more Democratic Salt Lake County-centered district he had represented previously - 'helped me get acquainted with the entire state' ... 'It has sort of been like holding a statewide office,' he said about his district, which stretches from eastern Salt Lake and northern Utah counties
out to the Uinta Basin, down to San Juan County and then west to St. George and Cedar City."
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It was a nice exchange ... A nice greeting, wishing each other luck, and being friends. That's the way that all the candidates on the Republican side should be." - Jon Huntsman, on his July 4 parade exchange with Mitt Romney
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