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

BREAKING OVERNIGHT - PRIORITIES USA UP IN IA, FLA., VA., COLO. - The Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action will roll out an ad campaign in four general election battlegrounds today, in direct response to the $20 million blitz from American Crossroads targeting President Barack Obama. POLITICO's Maggie Haberman reports that the pro-Obama group will go up in Iowa, Florida, Virginia and Colorado: "[S]ources, who are familiar with the buy but requested anonymity, said the ad the group will air is called 'Portraits,' and will go up on a broadcast TV buy starting Wednesday morning and running through the weekend. It wasn't immediately clear what the substance of the ad will be, but
television stations in those four states are expected to start receiving copies of the spot first thing in the morning."
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FIRST IN SCORE - ACU PLANTS FLAG IN ORLANDO - The American Conservative Union will announce today that it plans to hold the first regional Conservative Political Action Conference this fall in Orlando, potentially making "CPAC FL" a key stop in the 2012 presidential primaries. ACU will host the event on Sept. 23, a day after the Fox News debate in Orlando and in the middle of the Republican Party of Florida's Presidency 5 summit. The national conservative group has already invited the announced presidential candidates to participate, along with Sunshine State GOP rock stars Marco Rubio and Allen West. ACU Chairman (and former Florida GOP chief) Al Cardenas: "As we battle President Obama and
the most liberal Administration in the history of our country, ACU is heading to the frontlines and taking the conservative fight directly to the states ... We look forward to hosting CPAC FL in the Sunshine State this fall, expanding the CPAC brand and further energizing the national conservative movement as we head into the critical 2012 election season."

POPPING IN N.H. - ROMNEY STEADY, BACHMANN RISING - Mitt Romney is holding firm at 36 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, according to a Suffolk University poll released late last night. But the big mover in the Granite State is - wait for it - Michele Bachmann, who has risen from 3 percent support in May to 11 percent now. More: "With the exception of Romney and Bachmann, support for the 18 candidates tested remained in single digits. Tim Pawlenty slipped 3 points, to 2 percent, and Newt Gingrich was unchanged with 2 percent ... Jon Huntsman gained 4 points (4 percent), ranking him ahead of Gingrich, Pawlenty and Rick Santorum (1 percent)."
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SNEAK PEEK - DCCC PITCH: 'MAKE BOEHNER CRY' - The House Democrats' campaign committee will drop an eye-catching, John Boehner-mocking fundraising appeal this morning, ahead of the second-quarter FEC deadline. Writes DCCC executive director Robby Mook: "We all know it doesn't take much to make Speaker Boehner get teary-eyed. But let's give him something to really cry about ... This deadline is so huge that just last week Boehner announced he's transferring $1 million of his own Big-Oil-tainted funds to our Republican counterparts to give the false impression that they are the ones with the momentum at this critical benchmark ... We absolutely must exceed Boehner's cash infusion with over $1
million in grassroots support of our own." The second quarter is a big financial test for House Democrats, who have started to persuade doubters that the chamber is in play, but still have a long fight ahead of them.
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As Nikki Haley makes good on her threat, Rick Santorum moves the goalposts and Herman Cain asks the question on everybody's mind, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

DRIVING THE MORNING - OBAMA PRESSER AT 11:15 A.M. - The president will hold his first big press conference in 15 weeks, an event that's expected to focus on debt ceiling negotiations on the economy. When Obama last faced off with the White House press corps on April 5, Osama bin Laden was still alive, the unemployment rate hadn't yet ticked back up and Dominique Strauss-Kahn was instrumental to saving Europe from financial disaster. POLITICO's Thrush and Mason set the stakes for today's event: "Obama, administration aides tell POLITICO, wants to project confidence - and a little concern - about the sluggish economy ... But the Obama White House, which is obsessed with controlling the
message, knows all too well how external events can ambush a formal news conference."
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POSTCARD FROM THE BACHMANN TOUR - BIG CROWD IN MYRTLE BEACH - In her first South Carolina appearance since formally entering the presidential race, Michele Bachmann drew a huge crowd of more than 400 people to a Myrtle Beach Aquarium last night. Granted, a good chunk of them were tourists in this summer beach town. But the energy level on a sweltering day, after the candidate showed up 45 minutes late, speaks volumes about the Minnesota Republican's early enthusiasm advantage. Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Tim Pawlenty could only dream of bringing out a crowd like this one. Your Score correspondent on the ground spoke with local tea partiers before and after Bachmann's speech, finding that
many weren't yet firmly committed in the 2012 race and want to see what Rick Perry ultimately decides to do. Two notable points about Bachmann's speech: She cast the election as a referendum on Barack Obama, and she sounded fierier and louder than she did in her more restrained Waterloo kickoff.
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SURGING IN GALLUP - THEY REALLY LIKE HER - The authoritative nonpartisan pollster sizes up Bachmann and finds her in a strong position as she starts this new phase of her campaign: "Her name recognition is up to 69% for the two-week period of June 13-26, having climbed from 52% in late February/early March...Bachmann's Positive Intensity Score of 24 ties with Herman Cain's as the highest such score of any candidate, and is her highest to date. Bachmann's ability to maintain her relatively high Positive Intensity Score as she has become better known distinguishes her from several of her competitors." Bachmann is on the road with a pollster of her own, the Tarrance Group's Ed Goeas.
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THE BUS ROLLS ON - FOUR STOPS TODAY - Bachmann's South Carolina swing continues this morning at 9 a.m. at the Pierce Park Pavilion in Charleston. Then the brand-new Bachmann bus heads to Lexington, Greenville and Rock Hill. Bachmann's last event of the day is a town hall at Winthrop University, only wrapping up at 9 p.m. after she's had a chance to introduce herself to every region of the Palmetto State.

PALIN IN PELLA - HECK OF AN UNCONVENTIONAL CAMPAIGN - If Sarah Palin wants to run for president, she's doing her best to avoid acting like it. The former Alaska governor offered up no surprises during her visit to Iowa last night, where she attended a screening of the pro-Palin film, "The Undefeated." She added no retail stops to her schedule and mingled with only her hardest-core fans and supporters at the screening. Radio Iowa: "After the movie, Palin said the film helps 'set the record straight' about her background and the things that are ignored by what Palin calls the 'lame stream media' ... Palin told reporters in Pella that she 'is still contemplating' the prospect of jumping into
the race, and Palin called it a 'life-changing' and 'earth-shattering type of decision.'"
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BUT SHE DID MEET AN OPERATIVE ... Palin lunched yesterday at a local eatery (called Panera Bread) with Becky Beach, an Iowa Republican fundraiser and former state legislative aide who helped organize Palin's address to the Iowa GOP last September. But Beach insisted there was nothing political about the meeting, telling the Des Moines Register's Jennifer Jacobs: "'She just wanted to eat lunch and eat at a place where regular Iowans eat' ... The two women talked about the weather, the Iowa State Fair, Palin's busy schedule, and Jake, the service dog Beach is training for placement with a military veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder."
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HOUSE TALKER - NRCC VS. RED CHINA - The National Republican Congressional Committee is going on the attack today against Nevada Treasurer Kate Marshall, hitting the Democratic House candidate for supporting an increase in the debt limit that will send money to "places like the People's Republic of China." The video echoes GOP candidate Mark Amodei's first ad, which showed Chinese troops literally marching past the U.S. Capitol. The name of the NRCC's video? "Kate Marshall's Chinese Credit Card." Watch it here:
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9d6d83c82adece46a348ce4251492360fd4813244414c6ece6ae886084cfa816 ... And the Amodei spot:
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HALEY'S VETO PEN - S.C. GOP ON THE HOOK - South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has made it official: There will be no government funding for the 2012 presidential primary. Haley vetoed a spending measure that would have put state resources into the election, but the Republican governor said that's not how the vote will work in 2012. "We are going to have the best South Carolina presidential primary we have ever had ... with private funds where each party goes and raises the money that they're supposed to raise," she said, according to AP. More from the wire: "State GOP Chairman Chad Connelly said Monday the party will raise money to put on the contest that the state Election Commission estimates
will cost $1.5 million. Haley said she'd help raise money. 'Whenever they have a fundraiser and I'm needed, I will be there,' Haley said."
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RACE TO THE FRONT? GEORGIA MAKES NOISES: South Carolina looks like it will hold down the first-in-the-South status for its primary, but that doesn't mean other states aren't still looking to get a piece of the action. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp floated one option to give his state a higher profile in the 2012 process: moving up Georgia's primary to the first few days in March, to the same dates Florida is looking at for its election. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jim Galloway: "Kemp specifically pointed to talk that rebellious Florida may move its primary day from Jan. 31 ... If the RNC allows Florida to move to a Thursday, Friday or Saturday vote at the front end of March
without penalty, there's no reason that Georgia shouldn't be allowed to do the same, the secretary of state said."
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SPEAKING OF FLORIDA - DISASTROUS RICK SCOTT POLL OF THE DAY - The idea that Florida's Republican governor could drag down his party in 2012 has now caught on nationally. Yesterday, PPP served up a set of numbers that highlight just how jaw-droppingly unpopular Rick Scott is: His approval rating is 33 percent, his disapproval rating his 59 percent and his net disapproval among independents has grown to 37 points. If the 2014 election were held today, Scott would get vaporized: "[Charlie] Crist would crush Scott in a hypothetical match up, 56-34 ... Democrats wouldn't need Crist to win if Scott stood for reelection today- in a rematch of their contest last fall Alex Sink now leads Scott by a
57-35 margin."
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SANTORUM IN POLITICO - OVER ON THE HOMEPAGE: The former Pennsylvania senator argues in an op-ed this morning that Republican leaders shouldn't back an increase in the debt ceiling until there's a Balanced Budget Amendment added to the Constitution. To call that an unlikely outcome would be a huge understatement, but Santorum's position allows him to run to the right on this issue, even in a field of candidates opposed to hiking the debt limit.
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IN TEXAS - WILLIAMS VS. WILLIAMS - Two candidates with the same last name have now dropped out of the Texas Senate race and into the race for the same new congressional district. The sniping has already begun, reports the Dallas Morning News: "Former Secretary of State Roger Williams says he's decided to run for Congress rather than the U.S. Senate ... [H]e will seek the GOP nomination for the new congressional seat that includes Parker County and parts of Wise and Tarrant counties ... Former Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams earlier switched from the Senate to the House seat. And in a sharply worded statement signaling a raucous race ahead, Michael Williams' campaign said it
'looks forward to contrasting Michael Williams' proven lifetime record of consistent, courageous, steady conservative leadership with Roger's record of self-promotion and personal advancement.'"
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I prefer not to see my life as a series of events but, instead, as the unfolding of a story." - Herman Cain, announcing a deal with Simon & Schuster that will put a biographical tome, titled "Who Is Herman Cain?", on the bookshelves this fall
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