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By Elena Schneider | 04/08/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard and Scott Bland

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)

SOCIAL SECURITY SMACKDOWN - "Democratic Senate candidates wage war over Social Security," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "Democratic Senate candidates are hammering their opponents this spring for supporting slashes to Social Security and Medicare benefits. But in a twist to the usual story, those opponents are fellow Democrats, not Republicans."

- In Maryland, "Rep. Donna Edwards used her first TV ad ... to boast that she 'said no to the Social Security cuts Chris Van Hollen said he'd consider.' EMILY's List's super PAC plans to hit former Rep. Joe Sestak on Social Security and Medicare in Pennsylvania." Read more here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e423079eed0b7adc1c7de8580fc23bcb98c3e0b2eee4b8fce780

BEING GREEN - "Steyer plots 2016 Senate endorsements," by POLITICO's Andrew Restuccia and Gabriel Debenedetti: "The Keystone XL oil pipeline may be dead, but billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer hasn't forgiven the Democrats who voted for it - even if they need his help in the 2016 elections. Steyer's well-funded super PAC, NextGen Climate Action, won't back Senate candidates who supported the controversial pipeline, unless they have a public change of heart, the group told POLITICO. ... The Keystone litmus test suggests that Steyer's group won't support candidates like [Colorado] Sen. Michael Bennet ... and Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e42319ff36a88f426f6a045b388dab5d9fdfcde9a3196281897e

FIRST IN SCORE - Direct mail in NV-04 features Trump, Cruz: Democrat Susie Lee is sending mail to "likely Democratic primary voters" across her district that ties Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and GOP Rep. Cresent Hardy to each other. It cites quotes from all three (Trump's "there has to be some form of punishment" for abortion and Cruz's "Social Security is a giant Ponzi scheme") underneath the banner headline: "Too many politicians have the wrong priorities." The ad highlights Lee "standing up for women" and "protecting retirement security." Lee must first get through the primary, where she's running against former Assemblywoman Lucy Flores and state Sen. Ruben Kihuen.

Days until the New York primary: 11. Days until the 2016 election: 213.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about really, really creepy motels: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @theodoricmeyer.

Q1 ROUNDUP - SENATE - Kennedy's super PAC flush in Louisiana: Make Louisiana Proud PAC, the super PAC supporting GOP state Treasurer John Kennedy in the Senate race, raised nearly $2.4 million in the first quarter, according to a draft FEC report. The group has over $2.3 million on hand. The report details $370,000 in individual contributions and a whopping $2.01 million from "other political committees." Kennedy's state campaign committee had over $2.8 million on hand at the beginning of the year and it had long been assumed that the super PAC would try to take over those funds, despite some legal arguments against it, as The Advocate recently reported. See the FEC topsheet here:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e423304a98714d8df133245786a9f22cf62dd8a1e09b494acfdc

- Florida: Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis raised $1.1 million in the first quarter with more than $3.2 million in cash on hand ... Wisconsin: Former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold raised nearly $3.4 million in the first quarter, but it didn't release its cash on hand and declined when asked ... Maryland: Rep. Donna Edwards raised $1.2 million in the first quarter (by far her best quarter since the race's start) but didn't release cash on hand.

- HOUSE - IL-10: Former Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider raised $818,000 in the first quarter, while GOP Rep. Bob Dold raised $730,000 and finished the quarter with $2 million on hand, according to campaign statements. IL-08: Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi raised $340,000 in the first quarter of 2016, ending the period with $440,000 in cash on hand, according to a statement from the campaign. IA-01: Democrat Monica Vernon raised $335,000 this quarter, finishing with $774,000 in cash on hand, according to a statement from the campaign. MD-04: Glenn Ivey raised $280,000 in the first quarter, The Washington Post reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e42303d583103785a15f09aac58debf896efe10a1a52760b7001

McGINTY BOSS says she didn't lobby - Pennsylvania Democrat Katie McGinty's Republican and Democratic opponents have called her a lobbyist, but a statement to Campaign Pro from McGinty's boss at Troutman Sanders says she did nothing of the sort. "I hired Katie to work with me at Troutman Sanders because of her unique expertise on environmental and energy issues, and I served as her direct supervisor at the firm," Tom Jensen, a former managing director at Troutman, said in a statement provided by McGinty's campaign. "Katie was brought on to serve as a policy adviser, not a lobbyist. Katie made it a condition of her employment that she not be expected to lobby and she rejected numerous
opportunities to lobby on behalf of a range clients." Jensen said the firm briefly registered her to lobby under an "abundance of caution." A follow-up form submitted a few months after the original registration removed McGinty's name, meaning she was only registered to lobby for three days.

AD PREP FOR THE FALL - "House Majority PAC makes second round of fall TV reservations," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e4232deb87829657bee0caed8f4d0574488e1f9ebdeea7e95104

ON THE AIRWAVES - Chamber hits Strickland in Ohio: The Chamber, which endorsed GOP Sen. Rob Portman last week, released a 30-second ad, titled "The Numbers Ted Strickland Doesn't Want You To Know," features a narrator ticking off poor economic statistics over black-and-white footage of Strickland and workers standing on factory floors. Watch the ad here. More details on the ad buy here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e423118d7ac6d3420643bab5b62e1ba0488db5d7fcee8782fa13

HOUSE POLLING DATA - In Indiana's 9th ... An internal poll from Indiana Jobs Now, the super PAC backing Republican Trey Hollingsworth, showed Hollingsworth leading the crowded primary 28 percent to Attorney General Greg Zoeller's 16 percent and high single-digits for state Sen. Erin Houchin and Brent Waltz. National Research conducted the poll of 400 likely primary voters March 22-23, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. The PAC had previously released a poll showing Hollingsworth and Zoeller statistically tied. Indiana Jobs Now has also added the Louisville market to its ad buy hitting Zoeller for being soft on "amnesty." See the memo from National Research's Adam
Geller here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e423f6204bdeab1ff41d08e6345bc7b5ea0cb8d09b33c4285167

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Why Cruz went to that matzo bakery," by POLITICO's Katie Glueck: " ... Cruz - who visited a matzo bakery in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon, rolling out the unleavened bread and joining in singing the Passover song "Dayenu" - has been wooing the Orthodox Jewish community since well before he ran for president. And as the Republican primary comes to New York on April 19, Cruz is hoping he can turn long-cultivated support into the race's scarcest resource: delegates. There are 95 delegates at stake in New York, Donald Trump's home state, and one where he boasts a double-digit lead in statewide polls. But of the 95 delegates, only 14 go to the statewide winner, while
81 are handed out based on results at the congressional district level. And if Cruz can turn out Orthodox supporters in Brooklyn and other heavily Jewish districts, he may be able to improve his delegate tally in a state that was always going to be an uphill battle." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e4233e3f82d1379f1f3857051945a8b489f4ed1b7b74582c5963

- "Democrats fret Sanders-Clinton descending into GOP-like chaos," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim: "Democrats have long taken comfort in the fact that their party's presidential primary race has been utterly refined compared with the Republican contest's parade of insults, bluster and profanity. Those days are over. After Bernie Sanders accused Hillary Clinton of being not "qualified" to be president - in response to Clinton refusing to say that Sanders is - the race has taken a nasty turn. And party leaders fear it could turn into a distracting sideshow, hindering their efforts to eventually unify the party's rival factions against the GOP. In interviews, Democratic
senators said on Thursday that the two candidates need to cool it. They mostly blamed Sanders, which isn't surprising since Clinton is the overwhelming favorite of Capitol Hill Democrats." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e4238e0a56457fec6c96ba45483c207b90b0ef18c8e795c009c2

- "A Pastor With a Passion for Trump," by The Wall Street Journal's Beth Reinhard and Reid J. Epstein: " ... Mr. Trump gained one of his most loyal and hardworking surrogates on the campaign trail: Mark Burns, a pastor from small-town South Carolina and the owner of a fledgling Christian television network. ... Mr. Burns also stands out as one of the few who publicly defended Mr. Trump last week after he said women who obtain abortions should be punished if the procedure was outlawed. Hours later, Mr. Trump backtracked and said only abortion providers should face repercussions. ... Harsher criticism has come from some of Mr. Burns's other colleagues, who suggest he's trying to promote
himself and his one-year-old Christian television network on the back of Mr. Trump's success." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e4236f089c192ef7d55846b966385f11947861313dede5abf1ae

- "Cruz fundraiser heard toeing donations rule," by POLITICO's Isaac Arnsdorf: "A fundraiser for Ted Cruz may have broken election law by suggesting supporters at an official event give unlimited donations to an allied super PAC, a recording obtained by POLITICO shows. ... Campaigns and their agents are not allowed to solicit donations exceeding federal limits. The Federal Election Commission has said officials can direct donors to super PACs but only personally solicit for up to $5,000. Lewis, however, is heard asking for unlimited and corporate dollars." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e42362691e140f940054fc962d1759902fdd8ed2116d07dc5a83

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I met w/ Judge Garland because my responsibility to people of #IL is more important than partisanship," Sen. Mark Kirk tweeting, pointedly, along with a handwritten thank you note from President Obama. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c7083cd24a56e423a3cb25d0df82e73716b0e220c4dc793f6b3aabc8e841dcf0

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