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By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, aburns@politico.com)


FIRST IN SCORE - RGA GETS HAHN: The Republican Governors Association has recruited Paige Hahn, a former top fundraising official for Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to serve as its new finance director for the 2012 cycle. Hahn's fundraising record already includes some eyebrow-raising achievements: She helped bring in $24 million for McDonnell's 2009 campaign and worked on the creation of the governor's Opportunity Virginia PAC. At the Chamber, she raised more than $75 million for advocacy and voter education. And she's done stints as finance director for Americans Solutions, the Newt Gingrich-backed 527 group; deputy director for the RNC's Team 100 program; and southern regional director for the RNC Republican Eagles program.


MORE - RGA executive director Phil Cox praised Hahn, who officially starts on the job May 23: "Paige's proven ability to raise tens of millions of dollars per year combined with her expansive contacts in the political and corporate worlds make her a perfect fit to lead the RGA's fundraising operations."


FIGHT NIGHT IN GREENVILLE - DEBATE SPEED READ - Five Republican presidential candidates - Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Gary Johnson and Herman Cain - will meet at 9 p.m. for the first GOP primary debate, hosted by Fox News and the South Carolina Republican Party. Here's what you need to know:


- It's Tim Pawlenty night, according to The State's John O'Connor: "The former Minnesota governor is the one candidate appearing who has a shot at winning the GOP nomination ... Pawlenty can point to his record appealing to social and fiscal conservatives, but is largely unknown nationally and lacks the pop of other candidates." Your Morning Score correspondent agrees: "Pawlenty will have ... a chance to show Republican primary voters that he's prepared to cast the first stone against President Barack Obama - setting him apart from a larger group of viable presidential candidates who have shied away from fully engaging the campaign. As Pawlenty put it during a trip to Iowa this week: 'It's time to get off the sideline.'" http://bit.ly/knyY8Y and http://politi.co/lqw2Yp


- POLITICO's Keach Hagey reports that the wires aren't going to be there: "The Associated Press announced Wednesday night that it's not going to cover [the] Republican presidential debate, citing 'restrictions placed on media access' ... Reuters confirmed that it would not be covering the event photographically, because it shared concerns about access. However, Reuters did not confirm whether it would be going as far as AP and not filing text either." http://politi.co/kyr4cv


- The Greenville News notes the debate isn't the only game in town: "The South Carolina Greenville Tea Party is hosting a nine-hour rally at the Hyatt Regency downtown, where conservative politicians including [Nikki] Haley and potential candidates including Pawlenty and Paul are scheduled to speak ... The state party's annual Silver Elephant Dinner is sold out for Friday, where at least one of the potential presidential candidates is scheduled to appear. The state party convention follows Saturday in Columbia." http://bit.ly/l4oCPm


As Newt sets another timeline, Florida postpones the inevitable and Bob Ehrlich searches for his true calling, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.


THE VIEW FROM CHICAGO - AXE ON BIN LADEN: Former White House senior adviser David Axelrod thinks the killing of Osama bin Laden will send a message to the American people that, "as the president said in his State of the Union, 'We do big things.'" The Chicago Tribune got the 2012 strategist's take on this week's events: "I'm hesitant to put this in political terms, because it was decidedly not a political decision,' David Axelrod told the Tribune ... 'There are a lot of challenges people are facing in their lives. We have a lot of work to do to meet them, many of them having to do with our economy ... This was a tough challenge. We met it. But there are other tough challenges and we have to keep plugging away at those.'" http://bit.ly/lq7h3E


TODAY - From the White House guidance: "In the morning, the President will travel to New York, New York ... In New York City, the President will participate in a wreath laying ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial ... Following the ceremony, the President will meet with 9/11 family members at 9/11 Memorial Preview Site ... During the trip, the President will also meet with first responders. In the afternoon, the President will return to Washington, DC."


LAST NIGHT IN D.C. - "Accepting award, Daniels highlights Syrian background" - POLITICO's Byron Tau: "Mitch Daniels drew extensively on his Syrian heritage in accepting an award from an Arab-American group Wednesday night, connecting his own family's journey to the United States with the uprisings unfolding in his ancestral homeland and elsewhere in the Arab world. 'There have been the same stirrings, same yearnings for freedom that have busted loose elsewhere,' the Indiana governor said during his second public appearance of the day in Washington. 'May Syria and all the lands near it soon become places of peace, and freedom and self-determination' ... It was a rare discussion of foreign policy for the Republican ... Daniels had told a group of reporters the day before that he's 'probably not' ready for a debate on foreign issues with President Barack Obama." http://politi.co/kgrDId


PLUS - DON'T CALL IT A CAMPAIGN - Jmart takes stock of the operation awaiting Daniels's 2012 decision: "In attendance to hear Daniels give a speech about education reform [earlier Thursday], were the Indiana governor's pollster, media consultant, potential campaign manager and a handful of his would-be fundraising bundlers ... The only thing missing: the candidate. Speaking extemporaneously, a nonchalant Daniels laced his talk with so much self-deprecation that at times it seemed like he was trying to take the air out of the room.'" http://politi.co/jZx7uv


POPPING IN N.H. - TWO MAKES A TREND - A pair of polls released yesterday show virtually identical levels of support for Mitt Romney in the New Hampshire primary. The former Massachusetts governor was backed by 36 percent of primary voters in a University of New Hampshire/WMUR poll, while a Suffolk University/7News survey placed that number at 35 percent. UNH had Donald Trump in second place, with 11 percent, while Suffolk had Trump, Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani all tied for runner-up status with 8 percent of the vote. Here's the big caveat, from UNH: Just 5 percent of voters in that poll said they've "definitely decided" who to support in next year's primary. "Support for Republican candidates is currently based almost exclusively on their name recognition and favorability ratings," the pollster writes. More from UNH: http://bit.ly/kHOqqN ; and Suffolk: http://bo.st/jJjEFU


NO, SERIOUSLY, GUYS - NEWT ON THE VERGE: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is poised to announce a campaign for president, for real this time. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Jim Galloway reports that the Republican will have launched his campaign by the time of next week's Georgia GOP Convention: "[Gingrich spokesman Rick] Tyler wouldn't say much, but Gingrich is scheduled to speak to Georgia Republicans at their state meeting on Friday, May 13. 'By the time Newt speaks to the Georgia convention, he'll be a candidate,' Tyler said." http://bit.ly/jsQwwR AP reported Wednesday that Gingrich has opened a campaign headquarters in Buckhead, Ga.: http://bit.ly/lxA1jX


SAVE THE DATE - 'TEA' IS FOR 'TRUMP': If Donald Trump is running for president as a joke, he's still not laughing about it. The celebrity real estate developer is headed to South Carolina on May 19 to address a tea party rally in Columbia, according to The State: "Trump has found sustained support among the Tea Party movement nationally, and attendees at a recent Tax Day rally said they viewed him favorably. Trump polled third, at 11.3 percent, among those likely to vote in the 2012 S.C. GOP primary, according to an April Winthrop University poll." Trump also recently traveled to New Hampshire and Florida and is scheduled to address a party event in Iowa next month. http://bit.ly/lOHH1R


FLORIDA BULLETIN - KICKING THE CAN: The Florida legislature is poised to enact legislation that would leave it up to a commission to choose the date of the 2012 presidential primary. That would delay a decision on when the battleground state will hold its primary election, currently set for the rule-breaking date of Jan. 31. The St. Petersburg Times: "The two chambers have agreed to shift the date of the non-presidential 2012 primary to Aug. 14, two weeks earlier than currently scheduled, where it conflicted with the Republican National Convention in Tampa. They also agreed to create a nine-member commission to select the date of Florida's 2012 presidential primary." http://bit.ly/koK46r


PLUS - HEALTH CARE ON THE BALLOT: Sunshine State voters won't just head to the polls in November of 2012 to choose a new president. They'll also likely vote on a constitutional amendment to block the individual health insurance mandate in the Affordable Care Act. The Miami Herald's Marc Caputo: "The Florida Legislature handed Senate President Mike Haridopolos an elections gift Wednesday when it approved two proposed constitutional amendments concerning healthcare and taxes that could join him on the 2012 ballot ... One amendment would cap future state spending, while the other aims to block the requirement that people purchase health insurance, as outlined in President Obama's healthcare law." http://bit.ly/lp8Ijy


SENATE TALKER - GIFFORDS, FRONTRUNNER: Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords would start out with a clear advantage in the 2012 Senate race, if she were to recover from a gunshot injury and decide to join the race. PPP: "Giffords would start out with a 7 point lead over the most likely Republican nominee, Jeff Flake, at 48-41. Giffords has a 24 point advantage over him with independents and takes 17% of the GOP vote ... This race has been slow to get started while everyone waits to see what Gabrielle Giffords will do and that doesn't seem likely to change any time soon." http://bit.ly/kkPo74


THE NEVADA SPECIAL - MARSHALL IS IN: Democratic state Treasurer Kate Marshall will run for the soon-to-be-vacant House seat of Sen.-designate Dean Heller, giving national Democrats their top wish-list candidate for the race. But the Review-Journal's Laura Myers reports the field isn't clear: "Marshall is seen as the strongest Democratic contender who might have a chance to win the GOP-held district, especially if the race becomes crowded with too many Republicans who could split the vote ... A couple of other Democrats have said they plan to run, too: former higher education Regents Jill Derby and Nancy Price, who have both lost to Heller before. But it's possible Democratic Party leaders will get one or both of them to step aside in favor of Marshall, according to one party insider." http://bit.ly/kmeRa6


CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The governor loves Chick-fil-A ... He would not be cooking chicken or managing the place." - Joe Sliwka, a former campaign aide to Bob Ehrlich, on the possibility of going into business with the former Maryland governor http://bit.ly/mvxR5u

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