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By Elena Schneider | 04/05/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Bianca Padró Ocasio, Scott Bland, Kevin Robillard and Daniel Strauss

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)

THE LATEST IN CA-34 - "Ahn and Gomez appear headed to a runoff in L.A.'s congressional race" by the LA Times' Christine Mai-Duc: "Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez will advance to a runoff for the 34th Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. His fellow Democratic rival, former L.A. city planning commissioner Robert Lee Ahn, was in second place and claimed victory early Wednesday morning as thousands of votes separated him from the rest of the huge field. The two top finishers among the 24 in the race will meet in a June 6 runoff." More here.

SPECIAL ELECTION UPDATE - Ending Spending jumps into GA-06, backing Karen Handel: "Ending Spending, a GOP group founded by the Ricketts mega-donor family, is launching a six-figure TV ad buy supporting former Secretary of State Karen Handel in Georgia's House special election, setting up a familiar primary dynamic between competing GOP groups." Watch the ad here. Full story.

- New CLF ad again links Ossoff and Pelosi in GA-06: "The Congressional Leadership Fund's latest TV ad in Georgia's special election continues the recent drumbeat of GOP advertising linking Democrat Jon Ossoff to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi." Watch the ad here. Full story.

- SurveyUSA poll: Ossoff 43, Handel 15, Gray 14, Moody 7, via WXIA: See the results here. Our key takeaway from this and other polls of the GA-06 special: Everyone, down to the campaigns and political groups involved in the race, are deeply unsure about what turnout is going to look like for the April 18 all-party primary, which adds an extra element of uncertainty to polling. The makeup of the electorate will be the key factor, which is why GOP groups are trying to pump up Republican energy to oppose Ossoff and Democratic enthusiasm. And polling could move a lot depending not only on how the campaign develops but on assumptions different pollsters make about turnout.

MOVING ON - "2016 contenders carve out their place in Trump's Washington," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "Far from winding down their political operations or retreating from the national scene, the collection of failed 2016 presidential primary hopefuls is cutting a high-profile in the early weeks of the Donald Trump era, determined to leverage their newfound national stature for the 2018 elections and beyond. ...In fact, there's little to indicate the 20-plus former presidential candidates are licking their wounds. Instead, many are busy surveying and mapping the unpredictable new electoral landscape, determined to carve out their place in it with Trump's unpopular White House serving
as the backdrop. For Sanders, who will be 79 years old in 2020, it's as much about expanding his progressive political movement as anything else. For others, the moves are an attempt to springboard off their 2016 campaigns and maintain a national presence at a time of great turmoil within both parties." Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 216.

Days until the 2018 election: 580.

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

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

RECRUITING STATION - "Democrats recruit veterans early for 2018 battle," by POLITICO's Edward-Isaac Dovere: Expect a big raft of congressional candidates declaring for both parties soon, with the first quarter over, and expect a number of those on the Democratic side to be veterans, per our chief Washington correspondent: "[DCCC] leaders have already met with 255 potential candidates across 64 districts, convinced that the shifting political environment has opened new opportunities that they'll chase in next year's midterms. A rough profile of their ideal candidate has started to emerge: veterans, preferably with small business experience too. They'd like as many of them to be women or
people who've never run for office before - and having young children helps. ... This past Saturday, candidates preparing to be in the first round of campaign announcements quietly made their way to DCCC headquarters in Washington for the first pre-launch boot camp, following several staff training sessions. Half the attendees were women, and half were veterans, according to a DCCC official." Full story.

- SCORE EXTRA - One example from a suburban battleground district: Keep an eye out for a potential campaign launch from Chrissy Houlahan of Devon, Pa. (in GOP Rep. Ryan Costello's PA-06), who formed an exploratory committee for a congressional run last month. Houlahan was an Air Force officer and later a top executive at AND1 before going into education as a teacher and nonprofit executive, according to her corporate bios. Houlahan and a contact for her committee did not respond to requests for comment.

Q1 FILINGS - Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp raised $1.6 million, has over $2 million on hand: It's a first-quarter-of-the-off-year record in North Dakota (something you may be hearing a lot this year, as both parties' fired-up bases attack records like 'roided-up East German shot putters). Still: "The disclosure suggests Heitkamp, who will run in a state Trump won by 36 points, is attempting a show of force ahead of what's likely to be a long and bruising campaign. ... No Republican has formally announced a bid to challenge her, but Rep. Kevin Cramer - a Trump ally - is frequently mentioned as a possible candidate." Full story.

- GOP Rep. Darrell Issa raised $350,000 for CA-49, per the San Diego Union Tribune.

- End Citizens United projects $35 million cycle: End Citizens United announced Tuesday that it expects to raise $35 million, "surpassing the $25 million it raised for the 2016 elections," per a memo from the group. In the first quarter of the year, End Citizens United raised $4 million, touting its average contribution size as $12.

TAX PREP - "Noem keeps raising federal money as she runs for governor," by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: Full story.

2018 WATCH - Templeton will challenge McMaster in South Carolina: Catherine Templeton, a former director of the state's health department, will challenge Gov. Henry McMaster in the 2018 Republican primary. McMaster, an an early Trump supporter who assumed the governorship when former Gov. Nikki Haley became U.N. Ambassador, could also face a challenge from former Lt. Gov. Yancey McGill. Templeton's announcement came just a day after Sen. Tim Scott announced he wouldn't run for governor. The Post & Courier has more. Full story.

- "George Brauchler telegraphs next move: A GOP bid for Colorado governor," by The Gazette: "Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler appears poised to announce a run for governor as early as Wednesday. The Republican - who rocketed into the political limelight after criticizing Gov. John Hickenlooper for issuing a stay of execution to convicted killer Nathan Dunlap in 2013 - posted an announcement teaser video to his Facebook campaign page on Tuesday. 'We're frustrated with weak elected officials who continue to dodge difficult decisions, and career politicians who assure us that the answers to Colorado's biggest problems are just one more election away.'" Full story.

- GOP state Sen. Eric Brakey to challenge Maine's Sen. Angus King: Brakey, 28, is pegged as a longshot candidate who could easily be eclipsed by GOP Gov. Paul LePage in the primary, should he choose to run. "Washington thinks it has all the answers, but the truth is Washington doesn't," Brakey said in his announcement video. Axiom Strategies will be Brakey's general consultant, according to the campaign. Jessica Corbett, formerly GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin's finance director, is serving as finance director and senior adviser.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "As Trump pursues 'America first,' China's Xi sees opening for primacy in Asia," by The Washington Post's David Nakamura: "President Trump's retrenchment of U.S. global leadership on issues such as free trade, climate change and multilateral alliances has opened the door for an unlikely rival to assert itself - China. Since Trump's unexpected victory in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping has moved to position his fast-developing nation as a defender of globalization, and he has accelerated Beijing's challenge to U.S. primacy in Asia. This budding shift of power dynamics has alarmed U.S. allies and partners in the region and raised the stakes as Trump prepares
to welcome Xi for a two-day summit starting Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida. The two are expected to discuss a wide range of issues, including North Korea's mounting nuclear threat and a lopsided trade imbalance in China's favor, in what aides called a meeting aimed at establishing a working relationship." Full story.

- "Trump Speaks Out, in Muted Tones, on Rights Abuses," The New York Times' Peter Baker: "As the world recoiled at the televised images of lifeless children in the latest atrocity in Syria's savage civil war on Tuesday, the White House issued a statement expressing outrage just as any White House presumably would. But where other presidents might have used the moment to call for the departure of Syria's authoritarian leader, Bashar al-Assad, President Donald Trump's spokesman dismissed the notion as impractical because it would not happen. 'We would look like, to some degree, rather silly not acknowledging the political realities that exist in Syria,' said the spokesman, Sean Spicer. Mr.
Trump has dispensed with what he considers pointless moralizing and preachy naïveté. He has taken foreign policy to its most realpolitik moment in generations, playing down issues of human rights or democracy that animated his predecessors." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I have asked the [Senate] Intelligence Committee, Sen. [Richard] Burr, Sen. [Mark] Warner, to conduct a bipartisan investigation of this whole episode." - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backs investigation into Susan Rice on Flynn unmasking, POLITICO reported.

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