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By James Hohmann (
mailto:jhohmann@politico.com
jhohmann@politico.com ; Twitter: @jameshohmann)

FIRST IN SCORE - ROMNEY NAILS GINGRICH ON RYAN PLAN: The Romney campaign has posted a 60-second web video that accuses Newt Gingrich of throwing conservatives under the bus when he called Paul Ryan's budget "right-wing social engineering." The fellas use a particularly unflattering picture of Gingrich 20 seconds in and drop some killer soundbytes from this May (Brit Hume, Mark Halperin, Charles Krauthammer, Pat Buchanan and Ryan himself). This is sure to go viral on the same conservative blogs that went ballistic when Gingrich made the "social engineering" comment on Meet the Press this spring. Stand by for more. It's just an opening salvo in a massive campaign to raise profound doubts
among base voters about the former Speaker's commitment to the conservative movement. The title is "With Friends Like Newt." Watch:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f082bc501bc386fc381d589b910b4ba59d2e211c2ea6ebdd2c
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f082bc501bc386fc381d589b910b4ba59d2e211c2ea6ebdd2c .

A CONSERVATIVE WEDGE - THE RYAN PLAN: Boston clearly thinks they have their opening with Gingrich's rejection of the Ryan plan. During a 21-minute conference call for reporters yesterday, John Sununu and Jim Talent dropped the Wisconsin congressman's name 25 times. "On MSNBC minutes later, Sununu mentioned Ryan 10 times during a five-minute hit [by Reid Epstein's count]."Here are Romney talking points for surrogates:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f061e4ad26505c90efd30ecf230b0b829cb397852b92f20098
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f061e4ad26505c90efd30ecf230b0b829cb397852b92f20098 . Reid's story on the Gingrich pile-on:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0fd8410c42e859c499352eca2c8394b941a9cec6067d0aadd
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0fd8410c42e859c499352eca2c8394b941a9cec6067d0aadd . There's nothing new in this LA Times story, but Paul West mentions a bunch of the areas where Gingrich has broken with GOP orthodoxy (beyond Ryan):
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f06f4f6feaf4aeeb7ad4416ebbf6ad493335b7e28807dada4d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f06f4f6feaf4aeeb7ad4416ebbf6ad493335b7e28807dada4d .

SUPER PAC TO THE RESCUE - UNFINISHED AD DIRECTS TO NEWTFACTS.COM: "In beginning a $3.1 million Iowa ad buy [Thursday], Mitt Romney's SuperPAC released a 30-second spot which hits President Obama on the economy and extols Romney's credentials on the economy," Jonathan Martin writes. "But the group, 'Restore Our Future,' also has a 60-second spot in the works that they posted on their YouTube page [they later took it down, but we still have it on our site.] 'Newt has a ton of baggage,' says the announcer, hitting Gingrich for being fined for ethics violations, his work for Freddie Mac and issue positions on immigration, climate change and healthcare...The ad concludes with a plug for what is
surely to be a hub of Newt oppo, newtfacts.com. The site does not appear to be up yet, though. [Records show it was registered Tuesday.] Carl Forti, who runs the independent group, said in an email that the spot shouldn't have been on the page and that it's not finished."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f044c93f4a9f030051fac96b471f6370ca50e93705968a261e
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f044c93f4a9f030051fac96b471f6370ca50e93705968a261e

FIRST LOOK - AMERICAN BRIDGE ATTACKS ROMNEY FOR NEGATIVE CAMPAIGN: Bill Burton, the former White House spokesman now at Priorities USA Action, will blast out a memo this morning that says: "As we learned from the 2008 campaign, the more desperate Romney gets, the more negative he becomes. This week is the beginning of the 2012 edition of Mitt Romney's GOP Desperation Express. His negative campaigns are kissing cousins of his positive campaigns in one regard: He'll say and do anything if he things it will help him get elected...He bashes opponents as career politicians despite his 17-year political career. He attacked John McCain for opposing tax cuts that he had refused to take a position
on. He went after Giuliani for pro-choice views despite his own long history of claiming to support abortion rights." Read Bill's full memo:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0cdc218a0b0a54b8e4160e51ededfe8726c7019fe5904307d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0cdc218a0b0a54b8e4160e51ededfe8726c7019fe5904307d . Watch the three-minute web video he includes from American Bridge 21st Century:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0732c006e6e15d4869af1fd1798305cc3f765c1c49f5825e0
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0732c006e6e15d4869af1fd1798305cc3f765c1c49f5825e0 .

THIS CAN'T LAST LONG - GINGRICH PLEDGES TO STAY POSITIVE: "All I'm gonna say is, we're gonna stay positive," he told reporters after an event in Greenville, S.C. "We're gonna stay solution-oriented and talk about what America needs to do. And the only opponent I have is Barack Obama."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f066ec0cc8209387d2ec6fdaa33247ea5a5cd9cb780f748c6d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f066ec0cc8209387d2ec6fdaa33247ea5a5cd9cb780f748c6d

EXCLUSIVE - MONTANA GOP BLISTERS TESTER FOR TAKING LOBBYIST $: The Montana GOP has bought airtime during college football playoff games tonight and tomorrow (Northern Iowa v. Montana and Montana State v. Sam Houston State) to highlight vulnerable freshman Sen. Jon Tester's ranking as the number one recipient of lobbyist campaign contributions out of all 535 members of Congress. They're not disclosing buy size, but it's statewide. Republican Danny Rehberg's campaign separately will keep hitting the Democrat for being in bed with "extreme environmentalists" after he spoke at a fundraising gala last night for the League of Conservation Voters in New York City. Watch the ad:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0b1128276b5c09e6bf3f1f8efc250d893d17569d60cd30e90
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0b1128276b5c09e6bf3f1f8efc250d893d17569d60cd30e90 .

** As Colbert mocks Huntsman, Curt Schilling passes and the DCCC makes fun of Grimms' Broadway weekend, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

SANTORUM'S BIG GET - IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE TO ENDORSE TONIGHT: Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz will endorse Rick Santorum at an event in Des Moines tonight. ABC: "The campaign teased the endorsement as a 'major announcement' and it is a big boost for the candidate who has spent the most time campaigning in the state. During the last cycle, Schultz backed Mitt Romney, who shares his Mormon faith. Their shared religion as well as the previous endorsement in 2007 will definitely be interpreted as a swipe to the former Massachusetts governor."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0ab9aba6e262876764983052606b63e97bca6e765a5f4d547
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0ab9aba6e262876764983052606b63e97bca6e765a5f4d547

GINGRICH'S BOOKS - Newt Gingrich's only public event today is a book signing at the Hudson News bookstore in Union Station at 4 p.m. Four newspapers take a look today at the unusual connections between the presidential campaign and Newt Inc.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Candidates have traditionally written books to present their ideas and life stories to the voting public, but never have commercialism and campaigning been quite so intertwined...Mr. Gingrich's commercial endeavors are so enmeshed with his candidacy that Gingrich Productions works with the campaign to coordinate his schedule, said Anna Haberlein, a company spokeswoman...Gingrich Productions employees bring books on the road with the couple during campaign trips and sell them before and after campaign events-occasionally, somebody suits up as Ellis [A human-sized elephant] -but the company doesn't gather marketing data for the Gingrich campaign ...Campaign-finance law
clearly prohibits candidates from profiting personally from their campaigns or using outside ventures to fund their election efforts. But the Federal Election Commission muddied the rules on book tours in an advisory opinion earlier this year."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0de65e5b301e7c7c2a31ad63b2119356333f2a2e3c61e4a9a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0de65e5b301e7c7c2a31ad63b2119356333f2a2e3c61e4a9a

WASHINGTON POST: "The story is the same virtually everywhere Gingrich goes: a political speech here, a book-signing there - often in the same place," Amy Gardner writes. "Their activities raise two appearances, both unsavory: that Gingrich is using his presidential bid to make money, and that he is using his business to juice his campaign. And although there is agreement that Gingrich is following the law, there remains a perception, in part because of how much money his businesses have earned him over the years, that what he's doing isn't quite right."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f03608e9b0a54ed0f237e69e087bfb10da06e9c1f83ba17bd8
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f03608e9b0a54ed0f237e69e087bfb10da06e9c1f83ba17bd8

NEW YORK TIMES: "Mr. Gingrich said that book sales, far from a distraction, effectively conveyed his views and values. They are 'the cultural wing of what we're doing,' he said in an interview. 'I am a cultural teacher, with a political campaign to change a government. And that's how I see myself.' ... Steve Schmidt, who managed Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential bid, said Mr. McCain never sold books while campaigning... 'He monetized his years of being speaker for consulting gains. Why wouldn't there be an expectation that he monetizes his front-running status?'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0856176db0e935f064886001c22500b37f622db9ef8e473c7
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0856176db0e935f064886001c22500b37f622db9ef8e473c7

LOS ANGELES TIMES - GINGRICH BOOK ON CLIMATE CHANGE COMING AFTER THE ELECTION: "Gingrich and Terry L. Maple have something of a sequel in the works to their 2007 book, 'A Contract with The Earth,' tentatively titled 'Environmental Entrepreneurs.' The duo's first book called on policymakers and businesspeople on the right to show they had better ideas for protecting the environment and creating jobs than government did. The new book is a collection of essays by various businesspeople and scientists to be edited and stitched together by Gingrich and, mostly, Maple, a former chief executive of the Palm Beach Zoo. The author of a chapter on climate change is Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric
scientist at Texas Tech whose work focuses on assessing the impact of climate change and communicating it to broader audiences, including those traditionally dubious of global warming, like Christian colleges."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f082e5ed9c2a44b820cf421ca8c227acf2b87c4ffad5fbdb83
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f082e5ed9c2a44b820cf421ca8c227acf2b87c4ffad5fbdb83

MORE NEWT - FINALLY STAFFING UP IN FLORIDA: Adam Smith scoops in the St. Pete Times that "veteran political strategist Jamie Miller will be helping lead Gingrich's Florida campaign. A former political director and director of field operations for the state GOP, the Sarasota-based Miller has worked on a host of Florida campaign. Perhaps most notably managing Katherine Harris' U.S. Senate campaign, a job he would probably prefer us not to mention."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f02e1d893e4d0b6e0590e13ce39809df2bbfa9abbd20b2d0be
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f02e1d893e4d0b6e0590e13ce39809df2bbfa9abbd20b2d0be

PILING ON - PERRY: "I didn't make an oath just to my wife, I made an oath to God when I married by wife. ... It's an important issue but the American people will figure out these issues and work their way through them."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0e693934118796696b824122b402fd6c2b5b64ba5162f4ff6
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0e693934118796696b824122b402fd6c2b5b64ba5162f4ff6

EVANGELICALS: "The Rev. Cary Gordon, an associate pastor at Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City, Iowa, who has endorsed Rick Santorum, came at Gingrich from the side of the evangelical grass roots who are far removed from the GOP establishment. Gordon on Thursday distributed to a million Iowa mobile phones a three-minute YouTube video tagging Gingrich as 'untrustworthy.' Story:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0fd8410c42e859c499352eca2c8394b941a9cec6067d0aadd
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0fd8410c42e859c499352eca2c8394b941a9cec6067d0aadd . Video:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f004fdf98d8de8a002d6e66bbd2b70dc9494ff8380befb6350
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f004fdf98d8de8a002d6e66bbd2b70dc9494ff8380befb6350

TRUMP DEBATE - BACHMANN, PERRY SAY NO TO TRUMP DEBATE: "Michele Bachmann's campaign tells The Brody File that she will NOT attend the Newsmax debate moderated by Donald Trump on December 27th. Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman have also declined. That leaves Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as the only ones who have said they will attend. A Lincoln/Douglas debate anyone?" David Brody:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f04fcf69ae799349d38dea7f34de1cddce9be152222fdd1d69
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f04fcf69ae799349d38dea7f34de1cddce9be152222fdd1d69 . Perry's "respectfully decline" statement:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0f21d5bbd30718ebfc8221618d1375c101d13af1fc41360d0
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0f21d5bbd30718ebfc8221618d1375c101d13af1fc41360d0 .

YOUTH VOTE - PAUL DRAWS BIGGEST IOWA CROWD FOR ANY REPUBLICAN THIS YEAR: "Paul spoke to over 1000 students at Iowa State University last night, a bigger crowd than any other Republican candidate has been able to draw in the state this year," per the Iowa Republican's Craig Robinson. "Paul's campus visit comes just one day before the semester concludes. Paul's campaign needs to hope that those students will either stay on campus over the holidays, or come back before the January caucuses."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f06c744f16fdb827f106d88a0a8e9abde9909ea582775c8a10
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f06c744f16fdb827f106d88a0a8e9abde9909ea582775c8a10

BUT HE VEERED OFF MESSAGE ON 9/11, IRAN: "Think of what happened after 9/11, the minute before there was any assessment, there was glee in the administration because now we can invade Iraq, and so the war drums beat," Paul said Wednesday, per Ginger Gibson. "That's exactly what they're doing now with Iran."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0a3067d9b5ec8434b165738ed262c4b4e75cc666bc3e0045f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0a3067d9b5ec8434b165738ed262c4b4e75cc666bc3e0045f

PERRY DIVIDE - INTERNAL DISPUTES OVER "WAR ON RELIGION" AD: The Huffington Post reported yesterday that the Perry camp was divided on whether to run the attack on Obama for declaring a war on religion. "When the ad was being crafted several weeks ago, Perry's top pollster, Tony Fabrizio, called it 'nuts,' according to an email sent from Fabrizio to the ad's main creator, longtime GOP operative Nelson Warfield," Sam Stein writes. "In a separate email to The Huffington Post, Warfield confirmed that the ad was made over Fabrizio's objections...'It was the source of some extended conversation in the campaign.'" A collection of spoofs:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f056b3dc5f8d76141d9d2c9b9054aa8e60264195e4a3487c75
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f056b3dc5f8d76141d9d2c9b9054aa8e60264195e4a3487c75 . The story on the controversy:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f030b2df4c828b3ebac8b93d54c959697f91446e84a202c871
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f030b2df4c828b3ebac8b93d54c959697f91446e84a202c871 .

ANOTHER AD - PERRY'S HEALTH CARE HIT ON ROMNEY, GINGRICH DISABLES 'DISLIKE' BUTTON: The gay ad above has more than 250,000 "dislikes" on YouTube. "Perry's campaign team learned something from that national controversy," the Houston Chronicle reports. "On their latest ad, they've disabled the 'like' and 'dislike' buttons that viewers can use to rate YouTube videos. In Perry's newest ad, the Texas governor is reining the hate down on President Obama's universal health insurance legislation, taking down anyone remotely related to federal mandates. It notes that Gingrich supported them and Romney put one into law for Massachusetts before Obama embraced it. Watch:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0f23a7977909bad665bc8a50fc7a0f6e257948ff65fc9f82f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0f23a7977909bad665bc8a50fc7a0f6e257948ff65fc9f82f .

DON'T ASK - PERRY WOULD DEMAND DISCHARGE IF DADT RETURNED: "At an appearance with veterans on the U.S.S. Yorktown, now a museum ship docked here, Mr. Perry suggested instead that he would defer to civilian and military leaders on deciding whether to discharge gay marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen," The Times' Richard Oppel Jr. reports. "I think you go back and you have that conversation with the civilian leaders and the military leaders on how you want to deal with them," Perry said.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f089c72149354a327bb8829f6f70fc9d30f9aef4369f99ddf2
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f089c72149354a327bb8829f6f70fc9d30f9aef4369f99ddf2

PERRY BUS TOUR - 44 CITIES IN TWO WEEKS: The Des Moines Register's Jennifer Jacobs gets fresh detail on the bus tour: "Perry's wife, Anita, and various surrogates will circle and zigzag across the state Dec. 14-31, with four days off for Christmas. He will hit 44 cities in 14 days. The bus tour will hit western Iowa first, with a stop in Council Bluffs. It heads north and west to Le Mars, Spencer and Storm Lake. Northeast Iowa gets attention next, including Decorah and Dubuque. It turns south to Davenport and Burlington, then back into the heart of the state to Newton and Ottumwa. The big population centers of Black Hawk County and Linn County get visits, too. The tour ends in Polk County,
the county that traditionally produces the most GOP caucusgoers." More on the itinerary:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0b27f867320ebcd0422f10206657066ccfd6d8483ce83a7c1
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0b27f867320ebcd0422f10206657066ccfd6d8483ce83a7c1 .

ROMNEY IS IN CEDAR RAPIDS TODAY - DEM BRACKETING: Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky and Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair John Walsh will hold a press conference call to respond to Mitt Romney's town hall in Cedar Rapids at 12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET. They are going to attack him for running deceitful ads, flip-flopping and not taking enough questions from voters. For call-in information, email
mailto:mjacobs@iowademocrats.org
mjacobs@iowademocrats.org .

TODAY'S DNC ATTACK - "YOUNGER THAN MITT'S POLITICAL CAREER": Eager to keep bleeding him, the Democratic National Committee posted a base-pleasing web video last night that aims to define Mitt Romney as a career politician. Noting that he first ran for Senate in 1994, it offers things which are "younger than Mitt Romney's political career." Examples: Google (1996), Tickle Me Elmo (1996), iPod (2001), Dawson's Creek (1998) and (drum roll) "The Gingrich Revolution" (1995). The DNC asked people to tweet ideas with the #youngerthanmittspoliticalcareer, and the hashtag is now trending in DC. Burns and Haberman say that if Gingrich wins the Democrats will deserve a lot of credit for it:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0252916242c1e3dad795558fff2b5643ba9b212247aca5585
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0252916242c1e3dad795558fff2b5643ba9b212247aca5585 . Watch the video:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0baa4655d62295a92e17a9740f704a6ff2d0b1617ccc4ca6f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0baa4655d62295a92e17a9740f704a6ff2d0b1617ccc4ca6f .

NEW HAMPSHIRE TALKER - KIMBALL ENDORSES GINGRICH: The former state GOP chair who left under pressure and then led the charge for Herman Cain in the state is now backing Gingrich.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0b681de891a073e3c3a67f6be942c52d9ea93a9c84e790c8b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0b681de891a073e3c3a67f6be942c52d9ea93a9c84e790c8b

BACHMANN'S PLAN - APPEAL TO "TEAVANGELICALS": The campaign put out a web video last night by campaign manager Keith Nahigian outlining how they think they can win. It's quite similar to a video he put out earlier, and it's even more far-fetched this time. MinnPost's story (which embeds the video):
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f038df16d97ee644d7a194f287321b6fa6f3230efbed000e3f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f038df16d97ee644d7a194f287321b6fa6f3230efbed000e3f .

STEPHEN COLBERT made fun of Jon Huntsman for getting help from a Super PAC backed by his dad. Watch the 3.5-minute video:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f062badcb5dd4147cdd59f056b9c04dbbbe7a81daaf531aee2
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f062badcb5dd4147cdd59f056b9c04dbbbe7a81daaf531aee2 .

WHAT THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE UP TO: It's an Iowa heavy day. Gingrich has his book signing. Romney's town hall in Cedar Rapids starts at 10:30 a.m. local. Paul hosts four town halls: Webster City, Mason City, Waverly and Cedar Falls. Santorum has town halls in Cedar Falls, Newton and Des Moines. Bachmann has one town hall in Des Moines.

SATURDAY'S DEBATE airs live on ABC from 9-11 p.m. ET. Maggie Haberman previewed it yesterday.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0c17758c2b1272e0411ef7e37c066ffe7403bd4892f919d0c
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0c17758c2b1272e0411ef7e37c066ffe7403bd4892f919d0c .

NOT ON STAGE - BUDDY ROEMER GETS NO RESPECT: Buddy Roemer won't be at the debate. He hasn't been at any of them. Eli Saslow, who watched the last one with Roemer in a hotel room, has a fun reader in today's Washington Post about the former Louisiana governor who has struggled to get anyone to pay attention to him. In a nutshell: "On this day, the biggest event on his schedule was an appearance at an Occupy rally in Manchester. The rally was scheduled to start at 6, so Roemer arrived at the park 15 minutes early with two of his aides. The temperature was below freezing...Six o'clock came and went, and no protesters arrived...Finally, at 6:15, Roemer's director of scheduling looked at his
watch and realized his boss's parking meter was about to run out. Roemer had already received four $20 tickets in the past month...Fearful of more tickets, his staff had taken to pausing its work every two hours to refill the meter. 'Governor, we better deal with your car now,' the scheduling director said. 'Okay. Let's call it a night,' Roemer said. 'There's no audience here anyway.'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f03db888a914a120f491ded9d031a56823d0c151845380c0bb
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f03db888a914a120f491ded9d031a56823d0c151845380c0bb

WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS UP TO: He has no public events scheduled. He'll be at the Army-Navy game tomorrow, along with your Morning Score correspondent....

OBAMA'S SURROGAGE - BOOKER TO N.H.: Obama for America is sending Newark Mayor Cory Booker to New Hampshire for three events today. He has a 9:45 a.m. event at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, a 1:45 p.m. visit to Plymouth State University and a 3:45 stop at the University of New Hampshire. "Booker will also address what the President is doing to create new jobs and restore security to America's middle class," the campaign says. Booker could face Romney surrogate Chris Christie in the 2012 New Jersey governor's race.

SNEAK PEEK - RNC POLITICAL DIRECTOR SAYS ARIZONA WON'T BE IN PLAY: With DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz going to Arizona, and a lot in the news about Arizona being on the map for Obama, RNC political director Rick Wiley has written a memo pushing back on the idea that the president will win there because of the growing Hispanic population and the fact John McCain will not be on the ballot. "Today Republicans hold every statewide partisan office and hold two-to-one majorities in both chambers of the legislature. Nothing here screams 'purple state,'" Rick writes. "Republican candidates clearly were successful in the Southwest in 2010, and Arizona is now flanked by two states with strong
Hispanic Republicans at the helm...The GOP registration advantage which had dipped from 160,000 in 2006 to 90,000 in 2009 has surged since 2010. Republicans now outnumber Democrats by over 150,000 among active voters statewide." He adds that Obama lost by 8.5 percent in 2008 and that Bill Clinton is the only Democrat since Harry Truman to carry it (with 47% in 1996). The whole memo:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0f9ce27d94e9a60f89ef5a6ad19c464241284f16cde1a93e9
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0f9ce27d94e9a60f89ef5a6ad19c464241284f16cde1a93e9 .

SNEAK PEEK - GOP HIGHLIGHTS VOTER FRAUD TO JUSTIFY ID LAWS: The Republican National Lawyers Association has posted documentation of voter fraud prosecutions and convictions in 46 states since 2000 on a new web site. David Norcross, the group's chair, became irate over an NAACP report this week that claimed there's "no evidence whatsoever that any noncitizen has ever risked the considerable criminal sanctions associated with fraudulent voting." A staffer documented 17 cases in Florida from the year 2005 alone. The forthcoming RNLA press release:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f057b972cf86645f45b940eb0f6a3b4c9adc3ad50f644122cf
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f057b972cf86645f45b940eb0f6a3b4c9adc3ad50f644122cf . The names, charges and dates (with photos) are all on the microsite:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0c4d914d8d539fe4e11ba140a219ef5a444aa221a46bc8f90
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0c4d914d8d539fe4e11ba140a219ef5a444aa221a46bc8f90 .

NRCC MARCH DINNER - SESSIONS ANNOUNCES CHAIRS: Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI), Congressman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Congressman John Sullivan (R-OK) will chair the National Republican Congressional Committee's 2012 March Dinner. It's the committee's biggest annual fundraiser, bringing in over $10 million last year with 2,500+ attendees. It's set for March 20 at the National Building Museum. Chris Christie gave last year's keynote. Stay tuned for an announcement of this year's in the next couple weeks.

"OBAMA'S BAD DAY" - RNC TIES CORZINE, HOLDER TO OBAMA: The Republican National Committee will distribute a web video this morning recapping the embarrassing Thursday testimony by Obama's "Wall Street Guy" Jon Corzine on the collapse of his firm and Attorney General Eric Holder on Fast and Furious. Watch:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0ef55f027e16d00d05e1f4185fafc24f9a0f4d7f965cbb16d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0ef55f027e16d00d05e1f4185fafc24f9a0f4d7f965cbb16d

NEW YORK HOUSE - HOCHUL DONATES CORZINE'S CONTRIBUTION: After the National Republican Congressional Committee dinged her for taking money from the embattled Jon Corzine, New York Democrat Kathy Hochul (who won that upset in the May special election) announced that she would donate the $2,500 to charity. In doing so, her spokesman blasted the NRCC - much to the delight of the NRCC, which cost her at least one news cycle and got nice earned media out of it. "This partisan attack is an attempt to distract attention from the work at hand...," he said. Welcome to the NFL, congresswoman.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f05144da5c592dd23a786c2030fa160c5e85e4aa702438bcb3
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f05144da5c592dd23a786c2030fa160c5e85e4aa702438bcb3

MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE - SCHILLING WON'T RUN FOR FRANK'S SEAT: "World Series hero Curt Schilling, who has campaigned for GOP bigwigs George W. Bush and John McCain, won't throw his baseball cap into the ring to run for Barney Frank's congressional seat," the Boston Herald reports. "If it was any other point in time, I would do it in a heartbeat," he said. "But it's an elected position - it's 365 days a year, nights, weekends. I can't do it right now."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f06b662dfa2e23ea38e33257a33912a8a316be6bb61387148a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f06b662dfa2e23ea38e33257a33912a8a316be6bb61387148a

ILLINOIS HOUSE - JOE WALSH TO FACE DUCKWORTH: "Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) decided to bypass a potentially tough GOP primary against Rep. Randy Hultgren and run instead in a more Democratic district where next November he will face either Tammy Duckworth or Raja Krishnamoorthi, Walsh announced on Thursday," per the Chicago Sun-Times. "Presuming the very outspoken Walsh wins the March primary for the nomination, his decision sets up a big general election contest for the new northwest suburban 8th congressional district seat...With only nominal Democratic opposition in the 14th so far, Walsh's move gives Hultgren a running start toward a second term in a district drawn for a Republican
win." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0b9b91e316e02ae3e5b32b05cca620847e5d8cdc9ecacbea7

NEW YORK HOUSE SNEAK PEEK - DCCC MOCKS MICHAEL GRIMM FOR BROADWAY FUNDRAISERS: Rep. Michael Grimm will be hosting a $2,500/person fundraiser starting today and carrying over through Saturday. His donors will be attending "How to Succeed in Business" and "Anything Goes." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is releasing the programs for the Michael Grimm adaptations of these two famous musicals. Posters and programs attached. The invite:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0635e37e0ab638746525c66e0f4f2be9052db4ae755ba221a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f0635e37e0ab638746525c66e0f4f2be9052db4ae755ba221a . The faux playbills:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f07845c80a8f04bb1194db89516ddaa3f9af69a546ff0ac4ac
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f07845c80a8f04bb1194db89516ddaa3f9af69a546ff0ac4ac and
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f053a9132895196c58342d481f35bd682e39455e08cc6bd070
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f053a9132895196c58342d481f35bd682e39455e08cc6bd070 .

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al Qaeda leaders who have been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever's left out there, ask them about that." - President Obama
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f09b9b301cfbc079ead2b367736e04f47725fc0981cf9e0c4b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=16229ed453d795f09b9b301cfbc079ead2b367736e04f47725fc0981cf9e0c4b

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