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By Scott Bland | 05/18/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Zach Montellaro, Daniel Strauss, Elena Schneider and Maggie Severns

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)

A SURPRISINGLY QUIET RUNOFF - TX-07 primary gets at Democrats' strategic divide, via Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider in Houston: "Laura Moser was at the white-hot center of a Democratic civil war in March, after the DCCC derided her as a D.C. carpetbagger and furious activists leaped to her defense ahead of Texas' primary. But two months later, the heat has dissipated. Moser and fellow Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher are still competing for the Democratic nomination to face Republican Rep. John Culberson this fall. But Tuesday's primary runoff has been so collegial that the moderator at a recent forum felt the need to interject 20 minutes in: 'How are you different?' The question brings out
more on political style and strategy than ideology for this pair, with the fiery Moser a believer that Democrats can flip longtime GOP districts by motivating a dormant base and Fletcher more focused on reaching out to former Republican voters. On policy, Moser and Fletcher both noted that they are largely on the same page - though with a few major exceptions, like Moser's support for single-payer health care and a speedy impeachment of President Donald Trump. 'A lot of people don't know the difference between us because we're both women whose names begin with "L,"' Moser said in an interview with POLITICO." Full story.

NOTHING QUIET HERE - "When Trump attacks, Democrats shut their mouths and pray," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Elana Schor: "After laying into [Jon] Tester in late April, Trump is reveling in a new round of attacks on the 10 senators up for reelection in states that the president won in 2016. ... And Democrats are responding with a shrug, total silence or, in West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin's case, effusive praise for the commander in chief. Vulnerable Senate Democrats have made a conscious decision not to engage Trump on his terms, after watching the president tear apart the GOP primary field in 2016 with personal insults, derisive nicknames and political broadsides." Full story.

- "McConnell warns control of the Senate is 'absolutely' in play in midterm elections," by The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan and Seung Min Kim: "Republicans are defending a slim 51-49 advantage in November. [Mitch] McConnell listed the states he believes the battle for the Senate will run through: Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia and Florida. 'By any objective standard, those are the seats that are likely to be in play,' McConnell said. Notably absent from his list were three states that were key to Trump's 2016 win, in which Democratic senators are up for reelection this year: Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin." Full story.

FIRST IN SCORE - Braun staffing up for general election: Emily Daniels Spaulding will be finance director for Mike Braun, the Republican nominee in the Indiana Senate race. Spaulding held that same position for Rep. Luke Messer during the primary. Braun is facing Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in the fall. "We are very excited to have Emily on our team. Emily has proven to be one of the top political talents in the country and will be key to helping Mike Braun defeat Sleepin' Joe." - spokesman Josh Kelley said in a statement.

SCAM PACS - SDNY charges two men with fraud and money laundering over scam PAC scheme: Two Arizona men, William and Robert Tierney, were arrested Thursday for "a nationwide, multi-year scheme to defraud donors to at least nine political action committees in the amount of more than $23 million. ... Approximately $109,000 of those donations were directed to political candidates and more than $3.5 million was paid to the defendants personally," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced in a press release. Read the complaint here.

- One of the PACs allegedly involved in the scheme was the Republican Majority Campaign PAC, which was the subject of a FEC complaint by former Rep. Allen West, whose campaign was upset that the PAC was raising money in West's name and then not spending to help him. The FEC dismissed the complaint 4-2.

- There are a lot more potential targets where this came from. The FEC has basically declared itself helpless to police scam PACs - but federal prosecutors armed with anti-fraud statutes and search warrants are another matter entirely. ICYMI: "'Scam PACs' rake in millions under guise of charity," by POLITICO's Maggie Severns and Scott Bland.

Days until the 2018 election: 172

Upcoming election dates - May 22: Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky primaries, plus Texas primary runoffs - June 5: Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota primaries - June 12: Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia primaries.

Upcoming filing deadlines - Washington: May 18 - Arizona: May 30 - Vermont: May 31 - Alaska, Kansas, Wisconsin and Wyoming: June 1 - Hawaii and Minnesota: June 5 - Connecticut: June 12.

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

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

CAMPAIGN FINANCE UPDATE - Rep. Beto O'Rourke raised about $1.9 million online in April, via Campaign Pro's James Arkin. Full story.

THE FIRM - Candidate Kevin Roberts' employer is biggest funder to Houston super PAC, FEC records show: A recently registered super PAC called Conservative Results Matter that has been airing attack ads in Texas' 2nd District received the bulk of its $500,000 in funding from a the law firm that employs area GOP candidate Kevin Roberts, a new disclosure shows. The firm was founded by Roberts' brother-in-law, Mark Lanier, the Houston Chronicle reported. Roberts told the Houston Chronicle he did not ask Lanier to donate to Conservative Results Matter.

GOLDEN TICKET - "Pelosi says California delegation will pick sides in primary fights," by the Los Angeles Times' Sarah Wire: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats in the state's congressional delegation are going to put their thumbs on the scale in some key House primary races to make sure strong Democratic candidates are among the top two facing voters in the fall. 'They may be subjected to criticism for that, but I'd rather be criticized for winning than criticized for losing,' Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said." Full story.

- CA-48 Democrat Harley Rouda, who just picked up backing from the DCCC and some delegation Democrats, held big investments in oil until recently, ThinkProgress reports.

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ON THE AIRWAVES - Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity attacks Upton, Bishop in TV ads: Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity is going after Michigan Reps. Fred Upton and Mike Bishop in a pair of TV ads, attacking them on their votes for the Republican health care bill. Watch the ads here and here.

ON MESSAGE - "Support for Donald Trump a constant theme in Republican ads for midterms," by USA Today's Craig Gilbert: "Trump's name or image has appeared in 37% of Republican ads for the US House and Senate between Jan. 1 and May 10 of this year, according to data provided to the USA TODAY NETWORK by Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), which tracks political ads. Every one of those Trump mentions has been a favorable one, according to CMAG. " Full story.

SUNSHINE STATE OF MIND - "Must-Do for Florida's Midterm Candidates: A Stop in Puerto Rico. Or Three," by The New York Times' Patricia Mazzei: "Holding political office in Florida increasingly requires trekking to Puerto Rico, the former home of a growing number of Florida residents. More than a million Puerto Ricans already lived in the state before the hurricane, and another 56,000 joined them in the first six months after Maria, according to an estimate by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York. ... This election season, it's not just [Sen. Bill] Nelson, who is facing a daunting Republican challenge from Gov. Rick Scott, vying for the Puerto Rican vote.
Candidates down the ticket are also adopting the island's cause." Full story.

PARTY UNITY? - "Superdelegates Are No. 1 on the Democratic Party To-Do List," by The New York Times' Astead Herndon: "Now, party officials, including loyalists held over from both the Sanders and Clinton camps, are inching toward a compromise that would not only minimize the role of superdelegates but change the party's operational structure as well. The ideas on the table range from eliminating superdelegates altogether to reducing their numbers significantly - from more than 700 currently to about 280. Some officials said they preferred a proposal in which only elected government officials, and not party leaders, retain their superdelegate status." Full story.

TENNESSEE SHAKE-UP - "Independent voters hold more positive view of Bredesen than Blackburn, new poll finds," by the Tennessean's Joel Ebert: "Independent voters in Tennessee have a significantly more positive view of former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen than Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn a new poll [from Vanderbilt University] shows, as the race to replace U.S. Sen. Bob Corker continues to heat up. Further, a majority of Republicans even say they have a favorable view of Bredesen." Full story and the poll's toplines.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The president is always welcome to my state," Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told The Hill. "We still talk and everything."

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