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04/11/2017 08:00 AM EDT


By Heather Caygle (hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope)

With assists from Sarah Ferris, Daniel Lippman and Seung Min Kim

SAVING FACE IN THE SUNFLOWER STATE - All eyes are on Kansas' 4th District today as Republicans try to stave off a major upset in what has long been a reliable GOP stronghold. Donald Trump carried the district - which has had a Republican representative for the last quarter-century - by 27 points. Oh, and Koch Industries is based there. Democrats are hoping the GOP's full-court press to hold onto the Kansas district coupled with the close race in Georgia to fill Tom Price's old seat could be a sign of good things to come in 2018.

Republicans have been funneling resources into Kansas to buoy GOP candidate Ron Estes since last week, when the House GOP campaign arm got alarming poll numbers showing Estes only beating Democrat James Thompson by single digits, Jonathan Martin reports. Since then, the GOP has dispatched Sen. Ted Cruz to campaign there and even enlisted Vice President Mike Pence and Trump to record calls in support of Estes, a rare move for a sitting president.

"This - the home town of Koch Industries - is the last place the GOP expected to have to undertake a rescue mission," the Washington Post's Dave Weigel reports from Wichita. "If Thompson ends up winning here, the national Democratic Party will claim the victory as a portent of bad things to come for Republicans in the 2018 midterms with Trump in the White House."

Listen to Trump's robocall for Estes: "Ron is going to be helping us big league..." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6e0957a4b797997205922e5bc6d32c92c98d067e68a9626e881a152393d345b44fe5d1f3540d405a500916dde7ab965

HAPPENING TODAY - House Democratic leaders hold a conference call to update members on recent U.S. military action in Syria and talk about potential next steps. "So far, the GOP leadership has rejected our request to call the House back into session to debate and vote on an AUMF, which is tailored to meet the threat and prevent another open-ended war in the Middle East," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to members Monday night.

MULVANEY IS MEDDLING - With just two weeks left on the shutdown clock, White House officials have begun quietly poking around on the 2017 spending bill, GOP aides told us last week. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney confirmed that last-minute meddling for the first time Sunday, speaking to local Charlotte radio station WBT. The former Freedom Caucus member doesn't draw lines or issue a veto threat in the interview, but he does hint that Trump might reject a spending bill if Congress completely ignores Trump's priorities, such as "more money for border enforcement."

"The president has to sign off on this stuff, so the president gets to have his say," Mulvaney said. "Elections have consequences. The president needs to see his priorities funded if he's going to be participating and signing these bills."

Late to the game, bro: Appropriators from both chambers say the Trump administration can't realistically make changes to the bipartisan talks stretching nearly a year. Lawmakers have just four days to finish negotiations when they return from recess.

Nobody to blame but ourselves: Rep. Tom Cole told us last week that the White House's influence would be "pretty minimal" in 2017 bill because anything else could trigger a shutdown. "If this doesn't get done, a Republican president, a Republican senate, a Republican House would have shut down the government," Cole said. "There's nobody to blame in that scenario. You have to look in the mirror."

DURING RECESS, WE CELEBRATE TACO TUESDAYS. Welcome to April 11 and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. Margaritas are on me today.

MONDAY'S MOST CLICKED: The Kansas City Star story about Sen. Ted Cruz stumping in Wichita was the winner.

WHERE YOU AT? "Reps. Leonard Lance of New Jersey and Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania appear to be the only swing-district Republicans who voted for their party's bill to replace Obamacare who will directly face constituents over the April recess, according to a USA TODAY analysis of scheduled town halls compiled by Townhallproject.com." Heidi Przybyla: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6e0957a4b797997161c1e48ca16fadd7fc76dd00a54dce72c00453c1b5f14e4416798e1bc003fa152f34d17351d8a03

DON'T FALL IN LOVE YET... The 2018 midterms are looking pretty good for Senate Republicans. They're only defending nine seats, compared to Democrats' 25, and many are safe red states where Democrats would need a miracle to win. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is already warning his members not to get complacent- after all, Democrats had their own great map in 2016 and look what happened. "Don't fall in love with the map," McConnell told the Washington Examiner's David Drucker. "The map doesn't win elections."

OH REALLY NOW? Sen. Ed Markey may have gotten a little ahead of himself Monday, boldly declaring that whenever Democrats take back the Senate, they'll restore the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. "We will ensure that for the Supreme Court, there is that special margin that any candidate has to reach because that is essential to ensuring that our country has a confidence in those people who are nominated," Markey said on MSNBC. He might want to check with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on that. Seung Min: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6e0957a4b797997d9e5215f8d7b8af15d889ee687e957220f721287842fc2ad8b67f35ae4217c9177bbba8b63864f87

GABBARD FEELING HEAT FOR SYRIA VIEWS - Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean and Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden are calling on Hawaiians to vote Rep. Tulsi Gabbard out of office for her controversial views on Syria. Gabbard met with Syrian President Bashar Assad during a secret trip earlier this year and in recent days has questioned whether his regime was behind last week's deadly chemical attack. "This is a disgrace. Gabbard should not be in Congress," Dean tweeted. CNN's Tom LoBianco: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6e0957a4b7979976b6d6f05b20aafd938ce3f1d631161eccfca3970a96326225f4ed70ec5a5491ec7b59dec9a444ed2

TRUMP TAKES CONTROL - "With the Republican National Committee firmly in his control, the White House and Trump's political allies are now moving to lock down the state Republican parties, installing loyalists in top positions and laying the groundwork for the 2018 midterms and his 2020 reelection campaign in key swing states," Gabe Debenedetti reports this morning. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6e0957a4b797997e3cf055cee447a4563267180f36d64a3af4fd115fd307f839d1d65714fd29983271d321ccf11c5f6

THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK - Former Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has a new gig back in his home state of Nevada: teaching. Reid has joined UNLV's law school where he will "lecture and participate in classes and pursue writing projects" at the school's extensive law library, according to an announcement reported by Jon Ralston.

GIMME A WIN, WILL YA? President Trump is hoping his $1 trillion infrastructure plan could produce the kind of bipartisan legislative victory that has eluded him on health care and everything else so far. But here's the bad news: Trump is running into several familiar roadblocks including "suspicious Democrats, a divided GOP and questions about the math," Lauren Gardner reports. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d6e0957a4b797997f66d867ca3d357c16cb840623fb83e3cb8aa9abd13ca0a4619ad6fd1472d942eca88382081ed1179

OFF MESSAGE PODCAST - Where to next in Syria? In the latest episode of Off Message, Isaac Dovere sits down with former American diplomat and Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, who breaks down every angle of the U.S position in Syria following last week's bombing. "It certainly changes our posture in the sense that we've now said, 'We will attack you if you use chemical weapons.'" Listen and subscribe on iTunes | Panoply | Stitcher

GET WELL SOON - Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono is undergoing eye surgery over the recess, her office announced Monday. Hirono will receive a lens implant to improve vision in her left eye, prohibiting her from traveling back to the Aloha State during the two-week break.

ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES - Rykia Dorsey, press assistant at Third Way, is starting a new gig as press secretary for California Rep. Maxine Waters. Danielle Doheny has a new job as director of public policy for the International Myeloma Foundation. She previously worked as senior legislative assistant for Rep. Richard Nugent.

Andy Merritt is joining Sen. Cory Gardner's office as state director. Casey Contres is joining Gardner's office as press secretary, leaving his gig as spokesman for House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House and Senate are out.

AROUND THE HILL - Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer holds a 10:45 a.m. conference call with reporters on Trump's trade policy with China.

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Patrick Boland, Democratic communications director on the House Intel Committee, first guessed that former Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. Sandy Levin are the sibling pair who served the longest together in Congress -- 32 years.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Patrick with today's question: What are the two portraits featured on the House floor, and why are they featured as opposed to others? The first person to correctly answer gets a shout out in tomorrow's Huddle. And don't forget, send suggestions for trivia questions my way: hcaygle@politico.com

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