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<p>By Alexander Burns (Twitter: @aburnspolitico)<br />
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SCORE EXCLUSIVE -- GINGRICH FOR MCCOLLUM: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will back Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's campaign for governor today, adding a powerful conservative voice to the group of national Republicans rallying to McCollum in his primary race against self-funding health care mogul Rick Scott. "At a time when the size and scope of government is increasing at an alarming rate, our nation is looking for leaders who will fight for the principles of limited government, fiscal restraint and economic and personal freedom. Floridians have such a leader in Bill McCollum," Gingrich will say in a statement. "Bill is a longtime friend, a tireless public servant, a lifelong conservative, and he will make a great governor. His plan to create 500,000 jobs and revive Florida's economy is exactly what Florida needs." McCollum and Gingrich served together in the House through Gingrich's entire tenure as a congressman from Georgia. <br />
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Gingrich's message of support follows endorsements for McCollum from Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, and comes at a moment when McCollum and his backers are escalating their offensive against Scott. Team McCollum got some help this weekend from the Miami Herald, which published a lengthy, cutting report on Scott and the massive fraud case that occurred under his leadership at Columbia/HCA. <a href="http://bit.ly/9OBWGQ">http://bit.ly/9OBWGQ</a> <br />
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As John McCain stays on offense, Tim Pawlenty does South Carolina and Travis Childers gets another conservative endorsement, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections. <br />
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MONDAY STAKES -- We're in a lull between major primary days, but with the fundraising quarter closing and a host of general election campaigns getting underway, there's plenty of electoral capital up for grabs this week. Here's POLITICO's weekly list of the candidates and groups that have the most to gain or lose in the days ahead: <br />
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(1) Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt, whose Senate campaign may get a second look from base Republican voters after Sarah Palin endorsed him; (2) Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias, who's likely to see the free-media pendulum swing back in the other direction as his name comes up in the Rod Blagojevich trial; (3) Louisiana Rep. Charlie Melancon, who will either be able to use Sen. David Vitter's handling of an aide's alleged criminal behavior to revive questions about the senator's ethics, or he won't; (4) Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill, who needs to find a way to get up off the mat after a Boston Globe poll showed his gubernatorial campaign in shambles; (5) Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, whose best strategy for winning reelection may be praying that Bob Vander Plaats is disgruntled enough to go indy; (6) Senate Judiciary Committee members Chuck Grassley and Russ Feingold, who could either excel in this week's Elena Kagan hearings or give their capable long-shot challengers something to talk about. <br />
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WEEK AHEAD -- WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Elena Kagan AND David Petraeus hearings start on Capitol Hill, offering up fresh substance for the campaign conversation ... House Democrats will push the DISCLOSE Act, asking Republican candidates to weigh in on whether foreign and bailed-out companies should be free to spend in elections ... Republicans plan to keep hammering Dems on their decision not to pass a budget this year, using the issue as one more way of talking about the majority's spending habits ... <br />
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BRANSTAD GETS HIS PICK: Iowa Republicans ratified former Gov. Terry Branstad's choice for lieutenant governor at the state convention this weekend, turning back a last-minute challenge from conservative activist and former gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats and putting state Sen. Kim Reynolds on the ticket with 56 percent of the delegate vote. The Des Moines Register's Kathie Obradovich writes: "Branstad, speaking to reporters after the nomination vote, was asked how he'll get Vander Plaats back on the reservation. He said his plan is to send Reynolds into every county where Vander Plaats had strong support. 'To know Kim is to love her,' he said, adding that she would win over any holdouts. That, to me, sounds like he intends to ignore Vander Plaats and hope he goes away. That strategy hasn't been working, but it's hard to see what else Branstad could do. Putting Vander Plaats on the ticket was never an option. ... And the Branstad team is not willing to embrace ideas that it thinks will send independents running back to Culver." Vander Plaats hasn't ruled out bolting the party for an independent run. <a href="http://bit.ly/dAZGWc">http://bit.ly/dAZGWc</a> <br />
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LIVE BY THE CHICAGO PRESS ... Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has been subpoenaed to testify in the corruption trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a development the Democratic Senate candidate dismissed as an attempt by Blagojevich to drag down other pols along with him: "They subpoenaed any and everybody to try and get everyone involved from the president down to the dog catcher." After weeks of hammering GOP Rep. Mark Kirk over erroneous biographical statements, Giannoulias is going to have to play defense again as state Republicans put him on the spot. They'll cranking up the pressure today, blasting out a local news clip of Giannoulias saying: "When you run for office, you need to be out there and be as transparent as possible and answer questions." <a href="http://bit.ly/9JWLRm">http://bit.ly/9JWLRm</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/aRrsXR">http://bit.ly/aRrsXR</a> <br />
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TODAY -- ON BIDEN'S SCHEDULE: "At 12:30 PM, the Vice President will attend an event for Representative Baron Hill in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The Vice President will then travel to Wilmington, Delaware. At 6:00 PM, the Vice President will attend an event for senatorial candidate Chris Coons." <br />
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POLL OF THE DAY -- BAKER CLOSING: Former insurance executive Charlie Baker has made substantial gains in the race for governor of Massachusetts, according to a Boston Globe poll that shows the Republican taking 31 percent of the vote to incumbent Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick's 39 percent. An earlier Globe poll placed Baker's support at 19 percent, but the race has shifted as Baker has put up television ads for his campaign and Democrat-turned-independent candidate Tim Cahill has watched his numbers fall to just nine percent. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/aEcYv8">http://bit.ly/aEcYv8</a> <br />
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FLORIDA MUST-READ: The St. Petersburg Times's Adam Smith captured the latest challenge in Gov. Charlie Crist's balancing act over the weekend, detailing how the independent Senate candidate may be losing moderate Republicans as he aggressively reaches out to the left. "The man who for years touted his conservatism has in recent weeks vetoed an anti-abortion bill; applauded the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan, after opposing Sonia Sotomayor when he was a Republican; reversed course and said he supports repealing 'don't ask, don't tell'; consistently praised President Barack Obama's response to the BP oil catastrophe; and endorsed a redistricting reform proposal reviled by most Republican leaders in Florida. 'I was certainly hoping to support my hometown Republican, but I was expecting that he would still hew to core Republican principles. Most of the positions that he's taken since he became independent have been too left for me,' said St. Petersburg lawyer Rob Eschenfelder." Marco Rubio plans to hit Crist this week on his supportive comments about the administration's oil disaster response, and hammer away at the support Crist's getting from Democratic-aligned interests like trial lawyers. <a href="http://bit.ly/dhCvUX">http://bit.ly/dhCvUX</a></p><p>SAVE THE DATE -- FIGHT NIGHTS: Sen. John McCain and Republican primary challenger J.D. Hayworth will meet in two back-to-back debates on July 16 and 17. They'll be joined in the face-offs by Navy veteran Jim Deakin, a conservative activist who could help draw support away from Hayworth in a three-way race. McCain agreed to the debate dates at the end of a very bad week for Hayworth, when the former congressman was struggling to explain his support for the questionable National Grants Conferences business. <a href="http://bit.ly/axRJqG">http://bit.ly/axRJqG</a> <br />
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THE BIG MAP -- with POLITICO's Tim Alberta: <br />
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SENATE: <br />
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IOWA: EMILY's List endorsed Roxanne Conlin's campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, giving a national vote of confidence to the former prosecutor and wealthy trial attorney in her underdog bid. The well financed Conlin has been within single digits of Grassley in several polls, raising some Democrats' hopes that she may be able to give him a real challenge this fall. <a href="http://bit.ly/cXVOyo">http://bit.ly/cXVOyo</a> <br />
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NORTH CAROLINA: What do you do when your underfunded opponent's best shot at winning is to ride an anti-incumbent wave? If you're Republican Sen. Richard Burr, you try to out-anti-incumbent her, which is exactly what he did at a weekend forum with Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. As Marshall blasted Washington politicians, Burr said Congress isn't "held in high regard" and: "We don't deserve to be." <a href="http://bit.ly/9I6V16">http://bit.ly/9I6V16</a> <br />
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WISCONSIN: Former Republican Senate candidate Terrence Wall has resurfaced as a distraction for GOP frontrunner Ron Johnson, alleging that Johnson bribed delegates to the state convention by purchasing their hotel rooms in exchange for their support. Johnson campaign manager Juston Johnson rejected Wall's "untrue" account, saying: "The unsubstantiated claims are an insult to the delegates who cast votes and support Ron Johnson." <a href="http://bit.ly/bxGAwF">http://bit.ly/bxGAwF</a> <br />
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HOUSE: <br />
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MS-01: Rep. Travis Childers won the endorsement of National Right to Life this weekend, giving him a second major conservative seal of approval in just a few days, along with the endorsement of the NRA. Childers, who is serving his first full term, is among the most endangered Democrats and faces a strong Republican challenger in state Sen. Alan Nunnelee. <a href="http://bit.ly/9eviYm">http://bit.ly/9eviYm</a> <br />
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NC-08: Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell won't face a third-party challenge from Wendell Fant, a former deputy district director in his office who had been encouraged by labor activists to give the congressman the scare of his political life after his vote against health care reform. Kissell still faces a serious challenge from Republican Harold Johnson, a former sports broadcaster. <a href="http://politi.co/bSWb5e">http://politi.co/bSWb5e</a> <br />
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SD-AL: Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin has said her husband, former congressman-turned-lobbyist Max Sandlin, should be off-limits as a campaign topic for her Republican opponents. But Max Sandlin has already taken the fight to the GOP, writing a letter earlier this month that the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports attacked each of the congresswoman's opponents in turn. His description of state Rep. Kristi Noem, the eventual Republican nominee: "South Dakota's Sarah Palin." <a href="http://bit.ly/drPqrm">http://bit.ly/drPqrm</a> <br />
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GOVERNORS: <br />
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MARYLAND: Former Gov. Bob Ehrlich bid farewell to his radio show on Saturday, bowing to equal-time regulations that would prevent him and his wife from maintaining their weekly AM chat show once Ehrlich filed papers for a comeback bid. Democrats backing Gov. Martin O'Malley for reelection had pushed for Ehrlich's removal from the airwaves -- unsuccessfully -- at an earlier date. <a href="http://bit.ly/bYM1qu">http://bit.ly/bYM1qu</a> <br />
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MICHIGAN: Rep. Pete Hoekstra got brought in South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint as a surrogate for his gubernatorial campaign on Friday, lending his bid some of DeMint's activist sheen in a GOP primary race that's lacked a strong tea party candidate. "I can vouch for Peter's character and courage," DeMint said on Friday. <a href="http://bit.ly/dknOIR">http://bit.ly/dknOIR</a> <br />
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MINNESOTA: The Star-Tribune has just come out and said it: former Sen. Mark Dayton is "the leader in the three-way DFL primary race with party-endorsed House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and former DFL legislative leader Matt Entenza." Blitzing the airwaves with television ads and campaigning as a strong liberal, Dayton says a general election between him and state Rep. Tom Emmer would be a choice between "compassion and callous indifference." <a href="http://bit.ly/bMjyzW">http://bit.ly/bMjyzW</a> <br />
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2012: <br />
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THE OPPONENT HE WANTS: Sarah Palin took a shot at California Attorney General Jerry Brown on Friday night during a visit to California State University, Stanislaus, complaining that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate was wasting his time by scrutinizing the school's contract with Palin for her speaking appearance. "Jerry Brown and friends, come on," she said. "This is California. Do you not have anything else to do?" <a href="http://bit.ly/b5swzN">http://bit.ly/b5swzN</a> <br />
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DOUBLE HEADER: Tim Pawlenty will spend two days in South Carolina this week, first headlining a fundraiser in Spartanburg for the state Republican Party and then addressing an event in Rock Hill for Republican state Sen. Mick Mulvaney, who's looking to unseat House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt. <a href="http://bit.ly/d89aUW">http://bit.ly/d89aUW</a> <br />
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NOT SO STEALTHY: Mike Huckabee told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that he still looks like the man to beat on the Republican side in 2012. "I haven't closed the door. I think that would be foolish on my part, especially when poll after poll shows that there is strong sentiment out there," Huckabee said. "I end up leading a lot of the polls. I'm the Republican that clearly, at this point, does better against Obama than any other Republican." <a href="http://politi.co/d90iPf">http://politi.co/d90iPf </a></p><br>
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