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By Maggie Severns | 05/08/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Zach Montellaro and Daniel Strauss

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. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

"7 things to watch in Tuesday's primaries," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard, Elena Schneider and Daniel Strauss: "Republicans hope to jump-start their drive to expand the Senate majority Tuesday night by nominating challengers against Democratic senators in three states President Donald Trump carried. But one of those primaries could instead take a deep-red state off the table for the GOP.

"The marquee race is in West Virginia, where Washington Republicans are hoping to deny once-imprisoned coal baron Don Blankenship the GOP nomination to face Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. ... There are also primaries Tuesday in Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio - all of which are certain to define the political landscape, with sitting congressmen facing primary challenges and another House special election brewing in Ohio, where both parties are also choosing candidates for governor.

"Polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern time in Indiana and at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. Here are POLITICO's 7 things to watch:

"1. Can Republicans dodge the Blankenship bullet? The last-minute push to scuttle Blankenship's bid - including Trump's tweet on Monday - is a good barometer of GOP concern. ... 2. Seeking the Trump mantle in Indiana ... 3. House of pain Trump's call to 'drain the swamp' is running head-long into the ambitions of up-and-coming GOP politicians. [Rep. Evan] Jenkins, [Rep. Luke] Messer and [Rep. Todd] Rokita enter the Tuesday primaries as underdogs and could find their political careers on ice if they fall short. ...

"4. Another wild special election in Ohio A proxy battle between former House colleagues has stirred up the special election to replace Rep. Pat Tiberi in Ohio, pitting old foes against each other in this Republican primary. Rep. Jim Jordan, a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, has lined up behind Melanie Leneghan in the Republican primary, while Tiberi is boosting Troy Balderson, a state senator." Read the full list here.

MOUNTAIN MAMA - "Blankenship, predicting victory, thumbs his nose at GOP," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reporting from Mount Hope, W.Va.: "A defiant Don Blankenship on Monday shrugged off President Donald Trump's last-minute plea for Republican primary voters to reject his insurgent Senate candidacy - and flatly predicted it would fail to halt his momentum. On the final day of the dramatic West Virginia campaign, the coal baron and ex-prisoner seemed unbothered by the president's foray into the contest, arguing that voters would see through it as the latest ploy in an establishment-led effort aimed at keeping him from winning the nomination.

"'I think it's still over,' he declared to reporters here during a frenzied final day of the race. 'It probably tightens it a point or two, but I don't think it matters much.' At another point in the day, after a reporter asked if he was feeling confident, Blankenship had a deadpan response: 'Yeah, we're gonna win.'" Full story.

ON ATTACK - DCCC goes after Republicans in CA-39 TV, radio ads: The DCCC is attacking two GOP candidates in an effort to stop the party from getting locked out of California's top-two system, as several prominent Democrats divided up the June primary vote. The ads criticize Bob Huff for "[supporting] billions in higher sales taxes" and Shawn Nelson for "his pension hypocrisy," the ads' narrator says. The initial TV buy covers just under $300,000, airing on cable stations in the district. The ads do not mention any Democratic candidates or Republican Young Kim, who has been on TV and was narrowly ahead of Huff and Nelson in a recently released Democratic internal poll. Watch the anti-Huff TV
ad and radio ad. Watch the anti-Nelson TV ad and radio ad.

BREAKING MONDAY NIGHT - Schneiderman resigns from role as New York attorney general: New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, often mentioned as a future gubernatorial candidate, resigned Monday after The New Yorker published an investigation alleging he was physically violent with four women he had romantic relationships or encounters with. "While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018," Schneiderman said, three hours after The New Yorker published its account.

Days until the 2018 election: 182

Upcoming election dates - Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia primaries: May 8 - Idaho, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Oregon primaries: May 15 - Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky primaries, plus Texas primary runoffs: May 22.

Upcoming filing deadlines - Massachusetts: May 8 - Washington: May 18 - Arizona: May 30.

Thanks for joining us! You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

FIRST IN SCORE - Giffords endorses new slate of candidates: The gun safety group Giffords is endorsing 11 new candidates today. They are: TJ Cox (CA-21), Lucy McBath (GA-06), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Brad Ashford (NE-02), Chris Pappas (NH-01), Andy Kim (NJ-03), Aftab Pureval (OH-01), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Elaine Luria (VA-02), Lupe Valdez (Texas governor) and Jennifer Longdon (Arizona state legislature). "The individuals we are endorsing stand ready to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens while keeping guns out of the hands of violent felons, domestic abusers, and other dangerous people," former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said in a statement. See a full list of Giffords-endorsed
candidates here.

MORE FIRST IN SCORE - Small pops first TV ad in NM-02: Democrat Xochitl Torres Small released her first campaign ad, a positive bio spot about how she's "spent my career fighting to protect access to the water we all depend on." Watch the ad here.

WHAT'S THE MESSAGING? - "Republicans in key election races turn down volume on Trump's tax cuts," by Reuters' David Morgan: "The most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the tightest congressional races in the November elections are talking less and less about the tax cuts on Twitter and Facebook, on their campaign and congressional websites and in digital ads, the vital tools of a modern election campaign, a Reuters analysis of their online utterances shows. All told, the number of tax messages has fallen by 44 percent since January. For several congressmen in tough reelection fights, Steve Knight in California, Jason Lewis in Minnesota, and Don Bacon in Nebraska, messaging is down much
more - as much as 72 percent." Full story.

STAFFING UP - New Mexico Republican Mike Rich's Senate campaign named Mike Lonergan as communications director. Lonergan is replacing Nathan James, who will serve as senior communications consultant. Lonergan has served as deputy communications director for Gov. Susana Martinez and prior to that was press secretary. Before he came to New Mexico, Lonergan worked for the Ohio Republican Party as assistant communications director.

UP ON AIR - McCaskill strikes bipartisan tone in new ad: Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill talks about a series of town halls she held in red districts across the state in a new television ad. "Lots of these folks in these town halls have never and will never vote for me," McCaskill says in the ad. "But sometimes something special happens. We find out that there is common ground." Full ad here.

- "U.S. Chamber runs tax-themed ads in 4 House districts," by Elena: "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released its first round of TV ads in House races [Monday], boosting Republican members in four districts. The group is up with ads in three battleground districts, supporting Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.). The Chamber is also up with an ad defending Alabama Rep. Martha Roby in a deep-red district, ahead of her June 5 GOP primary." Full story.

- "House Freedom Action boosts Bloom in PA-13," by Elena: "House Freedom Action, an outside group backed by Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, is up with a new 15-second TV ad supporting state Rep. Steve Bloom, who's running in the open race to replace retiring Rep. Bill Shuster. 'Conservative Steve Bloom will stand with President [Donald] Trump to build the wall, cut our taxes and protect innocent life,' the ad's narrator says. 'Conservative, one of us - Steve Bloom for Congress.'" Full story.

- Freedom Partners is airing digital ads pressing a group of House Democrats to help advance the FIRST STEP Act, a prison reform bill currently awaiting action in the House Judiciary Committee. Most of the lawmakers being targeted by the ads are co-sponsors of the bill. More here.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!" Trump concluded at the end of a lengthy tweet encouraging voters to abandon Blankenship on Monday.

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