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By Maggie Severns | 06/01/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Zach Montellaro

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)

TOP DOLLAR - "Big donors pour cash into gubernatorial primary super PACs," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard in Denver: "Fired-up Democratic activists and energized Republican voters will have company when they pick candidates for governor in primaries this year: wealthy megadonors. Big donors are pouring money into groups backing candidates for governor in contested primaries, a huge shift in many states that have been slower to adapt to the super PAC era of national politics - like Colorado, where former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a handful of other donors have put over $4 million behind little-known Democratic former state Sen. Mike Johnston.

"The funds have been a huge boon to Johnston, who faces self-funding Rep. Jared Polis and others in a crowded Democratic primary, with Polis already spending more than $7.8 million of his own money to get elected. 'In a world where one candidate can give himself $6 million or $10 million,' Johnston said in May, 'the other candidates have to find a way to compete.'

"But a surge of candidate-focused super PACs have also given big donors more sway than ever in state primaries, along the lines of the big super PACs from the 2016 presidential race, as the parties prepare for 16 open governor's races and battleground contests in yet more states. In Nevada, a group funded by teachers unions has pushed the underdog Democratic candidate it supports into contention. Big-money groups have popped up in both primaries in the race to replace retiring Gov. Rick Snyder in Michigan. And in Ohio, a so-called dark money nonprofit - a group that does not have to disclose its donors - funneled hundreds of thousands of untraceable dollars into the early May GOP primary."
Full story.

UP ONLINE - "SMP, Priorities partner on $1M digital campaign hitting Braun in Indiana," by POLITICO's James Arkin: "Priorities USA Action and Senate Majority PAC are partnering on a $1 million digital advertising campaign attacking Indiana Republican Senate candidate Mike Braun's business record. The ads launching today feature information from an April Associated Press report that Braun's business, Meyer Distributing, took government subsidies, imported goods from overseas and faced lawsuits over unsafe working conditions. The ad highlights the case of one truck driver featured in the AP report." Full story.

Days until the 2018 election: 158.

Upcoming election dates - 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. June 26: Colorado, Maryland, New York (congressional), Oklahoma and Utah primaries and Mississippi and South Carolina primary runoffs.

Upcoming filing deadlines - 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, @jamesarkin.

OH THANK GOD - POLITICO's handy state-by-state guide to primary and registration dates, complete with information on early voting and when polls close, is live. Bookmark it here.

- "Which Pollsters To Trust In 2018," by FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver: "So which pollsters have been most accurate in recent elections? Because some races are easier to poll than others, we created a statistic called Advanced Plus-Minus to evaluate pollster performance. It compares a poll's accuracy to other polls of the same races and the same types of election. Advanced Plus-Minus also adjusts for a poll's sample size and when the poll was conducted. ... Negative plus-minus scores are good and indicate that the pollster has had less error than other pollsters in similar types of races." Silver's explanation and the newly updated pollster rankings.

GETTING THE NOD - The political arm of the American Nurses Association endorsed 10 congressional candidates on Thursday. The candidates and their districts are: Anthony Brindisi (NY-22), Angie Craig (MN-2), Katie Hill (CA-25), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), Dusty Johnson (SD-AL), Andy Kim (NJ-3), Heather Ross (AZ-6), Greg Stanton (AZ-9), Lauren Underwood (IL-14) and Jeff Van Drew (NJ-2).

SKIPPING THE MESSENGER - "Never Mind the News Media: Politicians Test Direct-to-Voter Messaging," by The New York Times' Sydney Ember: A town hall on Iran hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) "reflected the kind of direct-to-voter messaging strategy that has become increasingly common among politicians - both as a way to shape information about their goals and to avoid difficult questions from the news media, particularly in the midst of scandal or controversy. From Washington to Texas to California, politicians are road-testing their political messaging strategies, searching for the best way to reach voters in ways that often bypass the traditional media gatekeepers." Full story.

- Speaking of direct-to-voter...: Maryland gubernatorial candidate Krish Vignarajah borrows a page from late night TV and reads "mean tweets" about herself in a new YouTube video. Vignarajah uses the tweets as an opportunity to respond to online criticism she has encountered while running for office. Watch here.

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY - "Trump's pardons skew toward celebrity," by POLITICO's Josh Gerstein and Matthew Nussbaum: "To get a pardon from President Donald Trump, it clearly helps to be famous. As conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh D'Souza received clemency Thursday for a felony conviction for making campaign contributions through straw donors, Trump seemed to confirm that D'Souza's high public profile - primarily in right-leaning media outlets - contributed to his case. 'I've always felt he was very unfairly treated. And a lot of people did, a lot of people did,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. 'I read the papers - I see him on television.'" Full story.

- White House: Democrat's ad comparing Trump to bin Laden 'reprehensible'" by POLITICO's Mel Leonor: "The White House is calling on congressional Democrats to condemn a campaign ad from a House candidate in Virginia that compared President Donald Trump to Osama bin Laden. 'After 9/11, the greatest threat to our democracy lived in a cave. Today, he lives in the White House,' Dan Helmer says in a new campaign ad as part of his bid for Virginia's 10th District. White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said today the message of the ad was 'nothing short of reprehensible.'" Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The Republican Party is kind of taking a nap somewhere," former House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday during a political event in Michigan.

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