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By Maggie Severns | 05/07/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Elena Schneider 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)

FIGHT NIGHT - "GOP Senate offensive to kick off with 3 top primaries," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard and Alex Isenstadt: "Republicans' efforts to maintain or expand the party's Senate majority begin in earnest this week, when GOP primary voters will pick three of the nominees to face incumbent Democrats in states President Donald Trump won two years ago. The contests on the ballot include the blockbuster race in West Virginia, where Republicans are newly concerned that Don Blankenship - the once-imprisoned former coal baron running a scorched-earth campaign against the GOP establishment - could win the nomination and threaten the party's chances to topple Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), even in
a state Trump carried by 42 percentage points in 2016. ....

"In addition to West Virginia, Republicans will also choose two other Senate nominees Tuesday in crucial races: Indiana and Ohio - states Trump carried decisively. And each of those three primary campaigns has turned more pitched and acrimonious in the run-up to the vote, an early sign of ugly midterm fights ahead in states that will help determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years. Republicans on Tuesday will also hold closely watched congressional primaries in North Carolina and Ohio that will shed light on the party's posture going into the midterms, while Democrats' efforts to mount a comeback in the nation's statehouses begins Tuesday with a critical primary for
Ohio governor." Full story.

- "Blankenship surging on eve of West Virginia Senate primary," by Isenstadt: "There is growing concern among Republicans that Don Blankenship, a bombastic coal baron who has spent time in prison, is surging ahead of Tuesday's West Virginia Senate primary - and a last-minute campaign is underway to stop him. As the tight contest hurtles to a close, four Republicans said they'd reviewed polling conducted in recent days showing Blankenship, who spent a year in jail following the 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers, moving narrowly ahead of his more mainstream GOP rivals, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

"The Republicans cautioned that the surveys, designed to offer a snapshot of the race, were conducted over a brief period of time and may be overstating Blankenship's support. Still, Blankenship's rivals and other Republicans are alarmed. Many are convinced that a Blankenship win, coming just months after the disastrous Alabama Senate race, would destroy the party's prospects of defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November. Some Republicans involved in the race said they were hoping the White House would intervene ahead of the Tuesday primary, though it remains unclear whether it will do so." Full story.

Days until the 2018 election: 183

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 - WEB WARS - House Majority PAC attacks Young in IA-03: House Majority PAC launched a digital ad attacking Iowa Rep. David Young on the GOP's tax law and health care. "He brought his magic act to Washington, making health care for 13 million people vanish in thin air," the ad's narrator says. Watch the ad here.

- NRSC ad in Michigan attacks Stabenow: The National Republican Senatorial Committee is releasing a new digital ad on Monday morning on Facebook targeting conservatives. The ad uses comments President Donald Trump made about Sen. Debbie Stabenow during his recent rally in Macomb County. Watch the ad here.

GETTING THE NOD - "Obama endorses Feinstein reelection campaign," by POLITICO's David Siders in Los Angeles: "Former President Barack Obama on Friday endorsed Sen. Dianne Feinstein's bid to fend off a reelection challenge from within the Democratic Party's left flank, calling the California senator 'one of America's most effective champions for progress.' The endorsement - a rare intervention from Obama - served as the highest profile rebuke yet of state Sen. Kevin de León's long-shot effort to unseat Feinstein.

"Feinstein and Obama have a relationship dating to their time as senators together, and Feinstein - a major supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2008 - hosted a key meeting between Obama and Clinton at her Washington home at the end of that presidential contest." Full story.

- EMILY's List endorses Shavonnia Corbin-Johnson in PA-10: EMILY's List announced that it is endorsing Democrat Shavonnia Corbin-Johnson, a former Obama White House aide, in the race to take on Republican Rep. Scott Perry.

BIG WEEKEND READ - "At His Ranch, John McCain Shares Memories and Regrets With Friends," by The New York Times' Jonathan Martin: "No one is saying goodbye, not explicitly. The son and grandson of admirals, Mr. McCain 'doesn't like overt sentimentality,' as his friend the former chief of staff Grant Woods put it. But his visitors are telling him they love him, how much he has meant to them - and together they are taking care of unfinished business. ... Mr. McCain is using a new book and documentary to reveal his regret about not selecting former Senator Joseph I. Lieberman as his running mate in 2008. His intimates have informed the White House that their current plan for his funeral is for
Vice President Mike Pence to attend the service to be held in Washington's National Cathedral but not President Trump, with whom Mr. McCain has had a rocky relationship. ...

"But his health has become a matter of immediate political interest. Mr. McCain's future may determine whether Republicans retain their single-seat Senate majority: Should the senator die or resign before the end of May, there will most likely be a special election for the seat this fall. ... The matter of succession for the McCain seat - a topic of such intense discussion that Republicans officials here joke that Washington lawyers know Arizona election law better than any lawyer in the state - is officially verboten among party officials and the senator's friends. They are determined to reward him with the same good ending that his friend Senator Edward M. Kennedy enjoyed before he
succumbed to brain cancer in 2009." Full story.

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ON THE AIRWAVES - Club for Growth Action pops TV ads in TX-21: The Club for Growth Action released a TV and digital ad effort, totaling $250,000, to boost Republican Chip Roy ahead of his runoff. The ad's narrator says that "President Trump needs allies in Congress, allies like Chip Roy." Watch the 30-second ad here. Watch the 15-second ad here.

- Club also up in PA-13, opposing Joyce: The Club for Growth Action is up with TV and digital ads in the open race to replace retiring Rep. Bill Schuster, attacking Republican John Joyce for "[backing] liberal Democrat Ed Rendell who attacked the Trump tax cut." Watch the TV ad here.

HUH - "Issue Ads Featuring Congressional Candidate Look Suspiciously Like Campaign Ads," by Maine Public Radio's Steve Mistler: "It is campaign ad season once again, and in Maine's Second Congressional District a new, secretive group appears to be attempting to tilt the three-way democratic contest in favor of one of the candidates - Lucas St. Clair. St. Clair's campaign has said it has nothing to do with the TV spots blanketing the airwaves. But there are signs that the group behind the ads has close ties to St. Clair and his mother, Burt's Bees Inc. co-founder Roxanne Quimby." Full story.

SEA CHANGE - "In A 2018 Democratic Primary, It's Good To Be A Woman," Buzzfeed reports: "Women candidates, party strategists say, are benefiting from a built-in advantage unlike any previous election cycle. Not only are women running for office in record numbers - they're securing top spots in crowded primaries against male rivals who are better known and have spent more money. Democratic operatives see the dynamic as a singular and unprecedented moment in which women represent 'change' in the eyes of voters - a view fused by the #MeToo movement, the sitting president, the 2017 Women's March, and a new cohort of nontraditional, first-time candidates who've stepped up to run for office as
veterans, doctors, lawyers, and mothers." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I can't believe that that actually just happened," Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti said Sunday on ABC shortly after Rudy Giuliani appeared on the network.

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