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By Kyle Cheney

With Burgess Everett and Elena Schneider

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro's Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races - and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day's most important campaign news - sign up for Campaign Pro today. (
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BREAKING - EMILY's List endorses Rep. Donna Edwards for Maryland Senate seat: The group is planning to be active on her behalf, particularly in Baltimore where she doesn't have the same name ID she has in her suburban district outside of D.C. The story:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b2824736889dceba56555f1ffb31dc227a86e9be242f4ebf50a4820
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b2824736889dceba56555f1ffb31dc227a86e9be242f4ebf50a4820

- More Maryland: Earlier in the day, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the only other Democrat to declare for Senate so far, backed a bill that would expand Social Security benefits. The move addressed a key complaint by some of his progressive critics who contend he's previously endorsed a budget approach that might erode those benefits. As the primary to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski takes shape, Van Hollen has fended off suggestions by critics on the left who say his past support for a "balanced approach" to a long-term budget deal might have signaled his openness to adopting proposals that would trim entitlement benefits. Van Hollen's team has denied the suggestion, arguing that he's
always been for protecting and strengthening programs like Social Security and Medicare and has been Democrats' lead voice in the budget process to fend off GOP proposals to curb benefits.
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- Meanwhile, Edwards' campaign struck back with a fundraising solicitation that takes a veiled shot at Van Hollen, asking supporters to pledge money to be "a Social Security voter" (emphasis hers): "This morning, I joined with my colleagues in reintroducing an important bill that would protect and expand Social Security. There were a number of new faces, but I have always been there."

SCORE INTERVIEW - A conversation with Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward, the Republican considering a primary challenge to Sen. John McCain: For Campaign Pro subscribers:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b2824733a18e4b19e5967812c5649423ea435041614aabdb84d15e2
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b2824733a18e4b19e5967812c5649423ea435041614aabdb84d15e2

HORSFORD OUT - Ex-Nevada lawmaker passes on House rematch: Former Rep. Steven Horsford, the one-term Nevada Democrat who was upset last fall by Republican Cresent Hardy, will not seek a rematch in 2016. Horsford has joined R&R Partners, a marketing and communications firm based in Las Vegas, and serve as managing director of its Washington office, said Matthew Driscoll, a spokesman for R&R Partners, in an interview Wednesday. A national Democratic source also confirmed that Horsford would not run again this cycle. The district will likely be high on the Democrats' target list for 2016: President Barack Obama won the district by 10 points in 2012 and by 15 points in 2008.

As the younger LaHood gears up to replace Schock and another GOP digital strategist gets the plug pulled, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: daily news, notes and essential information for the 2015 and 2016 election cycles.

Days until the 2015 election: 229; Days until the 2016 election: 600

Thanks for joining us. We're eager for your news and feedback. Email us at
mailto:kcheney@politico.com
kcheney@politico.com or find us on Twitter at @
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b28247333e6f5b9bdaf5e3ad5ec4fe26f9ecb1496f9e0b8e7f19092
kyledcheney .

SCORE EXCLUSIVE - Former Sen. Joe Lieberman on the 2016 field: The ex-Democratic senator, who's working with a bipartisan group of former senators to encourage a harder line on Iran, chatted with Campaign Pro on Wednesday about his relationships with members of the 2016 field. In particular, he described close connections to Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose hawkish foreign policy aligns closely with his own, and Hillary Clinton. The highlights:

- "Lindsey is a very close friend of mine. He has really deep knowledge and strong opinions ... I think foreign and defense policy questions will be a large and important in the 2016 elections. I think he's got a real contribution to make. Again, it's too early to say whether he'll actually run."

But would he endorse Graham over Clinton and again buck Democrats, as he did in 2008 when he backed McCain over then Sen. Obama?

- "It's too early to talk about endorsements. But I'm a great admirer of Lindsey Graham's and I'm very glad that he's looking at running. I've actually been quite close to the Clintons over the years. I go all the way back to my first race for public office, when President Clinton was at Yale and supported me. I have a high regard for her. I'm watching it."

RAHM'S RUNOFF - Garcia hits Rahm with education-focused ad: Jesus "Chuy" Garcia ripped Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday in his first television ad of their head-to-head runoff campaign - a spot focused on education policy. The ad features Garcia in front of a brick building with a "For Sale" sign on it. "This used to be a school until the mayor shut it down and 49 schools like it," he says to the camera. "He took the money from these schools and gave it to elite private schools founded by his big campaign contributors." Garcia, a Cook County commissioner, then pledges to let voters elect their school board. It's the Garcia camp's latest salvo as it looks to reverse polls showing him
trailing by double-digits - and an attempt to join the better-funded Emanuel on the airwaves, where Garcia has been swamped. The runoff election is set for April 7. Watch the ad:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b282473fd5c23cac86803a188eddafb9c741e1c9301f02be2b2e68e
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b282473fd5c23cac86803a188eddafb9c741e1c9301f02be2b2e68e

COLLINS MUM ON GOV BID - Sen. Susan Collins shrugged off speculation Wednesday that she might be thinking about a bid for governor in Maine, telling a POLITICO reporter that she's too busy being a senator to think about elections. "I've just been reelected to the Senate. And I'm not focused on any candidates or elections right now. I'm just focused on doing a very busy job," she said at the Capitol. Sen. Angus King, Maine's junior senator - who bested Collins in a gubernatorial race in 1994 - also brushed off questions about Collins's political future, saying a potential bid for governor was her decision. Collins' comments came as local outlets reported Democrats are convinced the senior
senator is eyeing a gubernatorial run in 2018, two years before her new Senate term expires.

AFTER SCHOCK - "LaHood says he'll run to replace Schock," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b28247301b6cc93d44cfb3807267b95d8c6619f6073074830182f0a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b28247301b6cc93d44cfb3807267b95d8c6619f6073074830182f0a

2016 GOP - "Carson trips up on NATO knowledge, dates Islamist rage to B.C. era," by POLITICO's James Hohmann: "Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon poised to seek the Republican presidential nomination, appeared not to realize Wednesday that the Baltic states are members of the NATO alliance. He also claimed that the rage being expressed by radical Islamist groups dates back to Old Testament days ... Carson also said that Shiite and Sunni Muslims - whose bitter differences have often led to violence between them - might somehow team up against the West."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b2824733b240cfc18dea873ead6d1d8291d9321eb5658d540b4220b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b2824733b240cfc18dea873ead6d1d8291d9321eb5658d540b4220b

- "Walker digital strategist quits after tweets critical of Iowa," by POLITICO's Nick Gass: "Only a day after being announced as an aide to Gov. Scott Walker's political operation, Liz Mair told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she was resigning. Mair took considerable heat for her frank Twitter criticism of Iowa's early role in the presidential nomination process. 'The tone of some of my tweets concerning Iowa was at odds with that which Gov. Walker has always encouraged in political discourse,' Mair said in a statement to the AP in which she announced her immediate resignation. 'I wish Gov. Walker and his team all the best.' 'Morons across America are astounded to learn that people
from *IOWA* grow up rather government-dependent. #agsubsidies #ethanol #brainless,' she
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b282473c47f41d08d6e169aabb8187a82e67c056147af6356277dfb
tweeted on Jan. 22."
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- "Jeb Bush's forgotten father-in-law," by POLITICO's Michael Krause, in Silao, Mexico: "Jeb Bush often mentions his wife's family, how he fell in love with her in nearby Leon, and her immigrant challenges coming to the United States. Only rarely - and critically - do the likely front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination or his aides mention his wife's father, Jose Maria Garnica Rodriguez. Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell reiterated Tuesday that Columba Bush's father abandoned his family. 'Mrs. Bush did not have a relationship with her father after he left her mother and their family when Mrs. Bush was just a young teenager,' she said. And published accounts, including one in
The New York Times recently, largely have taken that line, calling him a migrant worker and nonpresence in his daughter's life. But relatives here say it's not true. 'He never abandoned her. She was the one who left with Jeb,' Antonia Morales Mendez, 65, Garnica Rodriguez's second wife, told POLITICO this week in her small blue house 220 miles northwest of Mexico City. She told a similar story to London's Daily Mail in January. 'Once she left with this guy, she had no relationship at all with her father.'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b282473f9ba7ade05baacd8bf503afa8d32b36a98a8209b54791c83
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b282473f9ba7ade05baacd8bf503afa8d32b36a98a8209b54791c83

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "She just told me to burn in hell." - Assistant U.S. Attorney Liam Brennan, overheard telling colleagues in a hallway about a conversation he had with Patty Rowland after her husband, former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for campaign fraud on Wednesday.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b282473b0ecd4ef0092197e3d1e1d0103c88212b4d7c8c68d011690
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=bcc296e01b282473b0ecd4ef0092197e3d1e1d0103c88212b4d7c8c68d011690

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