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

FIRST IN SCORE - INTRODUCING MICHELE BACHMANN - POLITICO's Maggie Haberman reports: "Michele Bachmann is going up in Iowa with the first television ad of her presidential campaign, a 30-second spot titled 'Waterloo' that Bachmann's team says will start running statewide today. The bio spot, produced by Strategy Group Media, features a direct-to-camera Bachmann talking about growing up in Waterloo, Iowa, her five children, her foster kids and her professional life. 'I know we can't keep spending money that we don't have,' Bachmann says, pivoting to politics and touting her congressional record of fighting 'the wasteful bailout [and] against the stimulus,' and pledging: 'I will not vote to
increase the debt ceiling.' The commercial is upbeat, with a strumming guitar overlay as Bachmann speaks. Watch it here:
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MORE - IN CONTEXT: "The spot is going up just as Bachmann is introducing herself to Iowa voters, who already put her in a statistical tie for first place in a recent Des Moines Register poll. She is making a serious push to win the Ames straw poll next month, and even some Democrats are taking note that she is running a professional campaign so far, with crisp visuals at her stump stops following an effective rollout. POLITICO first reported yesterday that a statewide TV campaign was about to begin."

BREAKING IN THE MONEY RACE - DGA RAISES $11 MILLION - The Democratic Governors Association will announce today that it brought in $11 million in the first six months of 2011, setting an internal record for the DGA though trailing behind the fundraising of the Republican Governors Association. The DGA's $11 million intake doubles what the committee raised in the first half of 2007, when the same set of governorships were up for election. In that cycle, the DGA raised $5.38 million in the first six months of 2007 and ended the reporting period with $3.7 million in the bank. This time, the DGA finished June with $8.6 million cash on hand for this year's elections in Kentucky, West Virginia,
Louisiana and Mississippi, and the larger set of races coming in 2012. The RGA continues to maintain a solid financial advantage, announcing earlier this week that it had raised $22.1 million and had $16.2 million in the bank.

THE CHAIRMAN SPEAKS - DGA Chairman and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley trumpeted his committee's performance: "This record-breaking outpouring of support for the DGA reflects the important role Democratic governors are playing in our party's resurgence ... While Republican governors have focused on divisive and partisan politics, Democratic governors are leading the way by creating jobs, improving schools, and making the responsible budget cuts necessary to live within our means ... Because of our strong fundraising efforts, we will have the resources to win our competitive races in 2011 and lay the groundwork for 2012."

As Minnesota remains frozen, Rush Limbaugh gripes about the frontrunner and Eliot Spitzer signs off, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

2012 TALKER - ROMNEY CASH RAISES GOP ALARM - With nearly all the Republican presidential candidates reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly fundraising numbers - and President Obama likely poised to do the opposite - the reality of running against an incumbent president is starting to hit the GOP. POLITICO's Jonathan Martin explains why, with help from your Morning Score correspondent: "Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney-the GOP's pale version of a cash-collecting machine-raised just over $18 million ... Republicans have long anticipated being out-gunned by Obama on the fundraising front, but the breadth of the disparity is now coming into plainer sight-and it has some party veterans
worried about what they see as a lack of urgency over the cash gap. 'There's not any doubt that Obama is going to raise more money than anybody has ever raised running for president,' said Henry Barbour, RNC committeeman for Mississippi and the governor's nephew. 'Is that sobering? Sure it is. It's a wake-up call' ... 'From this early on, it appears that that'll be enough resources for the Democrats to play in almost every state and it sounds like the Republican nominee, whomever that will be, will be restrained by the resources to compete in the most obvious purple states,' added Al Cardenas, the head of the American Conservative Union and a former Florida GOP chair." Read on:
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STEALING THE SHOW - WEBER'S GAFFE - Former Minnesota Rep. and current Pawlenty adviser Vin Weber apologized last night for saying that Michele Bachmann was gaining momentum in part because of her "hometown appeal," "ideological appeal" and "sex appeal." He quickly apologized via the Pawlenty campaign, explaining: "I made a mistake that was disrespectful to my friend Congresswoman Bachmann ... I was not speaking on behalf of Governor Pawlenty's campaign but nevertheless, it was inappropriate and I'm sorry." Pawlenty distanced himself during a visit to Ames: The New York Times reports from Iowa that the governor told reporters after a dinnertime speech that the comments were "wrong." "I don't
believe that he or anyone else should be using as a reference somebody's sex appeal to judge their fitness for office or the strength of their campaign. It was a wrong statement. He should not have been making that reference," Pawlenty said. Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart declined to comment.
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MINNESOTA BULLETIN - SHUTDOWN, DAY 7 - Talks to end the Minnesota government shutdown hit a wall in St. Paul yesterday after Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton told the two lead Republican negotiators that they need to agree to either an income tax hike or a cigarette tax increase. The state House speaker and Senate majority leader emerged from Dayton's office to condemn his push for more taxes to close a $5 billion deficit. In pushing back, Dayton noted that Republicans agreed to a cigarette tax hike when the government shut down under Tim Pawlenty in 2005. "Gov. Pawlenty even agreed to a tax increase," Dayton noted helpfully, pushing for a new $1 increase in cigarette taxes. Disagreements over
K-12 education spending also remain, and Republicans will meet again with Dayton this morning to negotiate.
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Q2 MONEY TICKER - The latest notable non-presidential returns: Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown raised almost $2 million and has $9.6 million in the bank ... Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe raised $877,000 and has $2 million on hand for a potential primary fight .... Indiana Rep. Joe Donnelly took in $440,000 for his Senate campaign ... Mike Pence raised $1 million for his gubernatorial run, while his Democratic opponent John Gregg took in $717,000 ...
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PERRY WATCH - ROVE PREDICTS A GO - The Texas governor's 2012 decision is reportedly still weeks away, but Karl Rove is already betting that Rick Perry is planning to run. The former White House deputy chief of staff told Fox Business yesterday: "I think you're right that he's going to run ... [Texas] is a big state with nearly 24 million people. And if you're the governor of the state you have the capacity to go out and raise a lot of money from people." Rove also had some light praise for Mitt Romney, crediting him for effectively "pointing to the failures of the president's policies" in a visit to Pennsylvania last week.
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LESS POSITIVE ON MITT - RUSH ATTACKS ON LABOR COMMENTS - The radio super-talker opened one segment of his show yesterday declaring: "I swear every time Mitt Romney opens his mouth I think he's running against me." The offending comments? Romney said in New Hampshire this week that labor unions have "played a very important role historically in balancing, in some cases, the egregious actions of some employers." RUSH: "This is the leading Republican presidential nominee seemingly every day adopting a policy from the Democrat Party or espousing a belief that is designed to siphon votes from the Democrats ... It's clear to me that Romney is running against the Tea Party. I don't know any other
Republican saying this. If a couple others join him here, I won't be surprised, given who they are, but I'm not gonna predict it."
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ROMNEY ON TOUR - THE UK TRIP - The former Massachusetts governor is in Britain for a second day today, meeting with government officials after a fundraising event last night. The Independent: "Last night, it was the turn of London's American expat community to be there for the glad-handing and panhandling at the dinner at Dartmouth House in Mayfair. Mr Romney and his team were tight-lipped on how many people were at the event and who they were ... Mr Romney is to meet Sir Peter Ricketts, the British Government's National Security Adviser, today." POLITICO's Kasie Hunt reported that Romney has also met with former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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BACK HOME - HOURS WAY - BVP MOVES - Former Iowa gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats and his social conservative group, the Family Leader, will unveil a new, marriage-themed pledge today for the 2012 presidential candidates. The short version: Republicans will be asked to commit to a strictly anti-same sex marriage platform. Fox's Carl Cameron has more: "Vander Plaats chaired Mike Huckabee's Iowa campaign in 2008. Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses beating out 2012 GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney. The pledge includes support for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), opposing any attempt to define marriage as anything other than between a man and a woman, picking constitutionalists for federal
judgeships, supporting efforts to end human trafficking, rejection of Sharia law and fidelity to one's spouse."
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ELSEWHERE IN IOWA - PAUL ON THE AIRWAVES - Texas Rep. Ron Paul is going on the radio in the Hawkeye State to the tune of $75,000. As Maggie Haberman first reported, that's real money at an important moment in the caucus campaign: "Paul's team has placed an order for a statewide radio ad time in Iowa that is set to start Friday ... Paul has made clear he's making a play to win the Ames Straw Poll next month, although the radio buy isn't a carpetbombing efort, and appears to be limited to roughly one station for each market."
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HOUSE TALKER - DUCKWORTH LAUNCHES - Iraq war vet and former VA official Tammy Duckworth has kicked off a bid for Illinois's new 8th Congressional District, triggering a Democratic primary fight ahead of a competitive general election. The Sun-Times: "This will be one of the most watched House races in the nation--as Democrats focus on Illinois--hoping to erase GOP House 2010 gains in a state where Democrats will expect to get some help from Obama's coat-tails. Duckworth lost a 2006 House bid to Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) ... The current 8th is represented by Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) who has not said yet what district he will run from in 2012. Duckworth for now faces a Democratic primary with
Raja Krishnamoorthi, who lost a Democratic primary bid for comptroller last year."
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THE BIGGER 2012 PICTURE - POLLING RYAN IN FLORIDA - Washington has moved on, at least for now, from debating the Paul Ryan budget, but don't let that fool you into thinking the numbers have changed. A PPP survey from Florida shows that 40 percent of voters in the ultimate swing state are opposed to the Ryan plan, versus 24 percent who support it. The same poll gave Democrats a 45 percent to 40 percent edge on the generic congressional ballot. The Miami Herald's Marc Caputo notes that some in the Florida GOP have already been treading carefully on Ryan: "[I]t could be somewhat of a winning issue for Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, the only Republican in a crowded U.S. Senate
candidate field who said he'd vote against the Ryan plan. If rank-and-file Republicans are no fan of the plan and his opposition doesn't cost him, Haridopolos has staked out relatively save territory to buck party leaders."
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena ... who strives valiantly." - Eliot Spitzer, quoting Teddy Roosevelt in the last broadcast of his CNN show
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