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By Theodoric Meyer | 01/24/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Elena Schneider, 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)

FLOOR FIGHT? - Race for DNC chairman could go to Atlanta: Democrats are increasingly convinced that the race for Democratic National Committee chairman could be a fight to the finish, staying undecided until the DNC meets and votes in Atlanta on Feb. 23. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and one of the seven candidates vying to run the DNC, floated that prospect in an interview with POLITICO last week. The last time there was an open race for DNC chairman, in 2005, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's last opponent dropped out days before the vote. Asked if he thought DNC members might head to Atlanta without knowing who the next chair is, Buttigieg said, "I mean, it's tough for
me to call, but given the dynamics right now it certainly seems like that's possible."

- Buttigieg also weighed in on the nascent reelection campaign of his home state senator, Joe Donnelly, one of 10 Senate Democrats up for reelection in states carried by President Donald Trump. "One thing that I think he understood very well going back to when he was running for House is having a presence everywhere," Buttigieg said. "When I was home in 2006 ... I offered my services to the campaign, imagining that I was going to be writing policy briefs or something. It was a very important education for me in how politics actually works. I was mostly in charge of distributing balloons at parades and he sent me to this place called 12 Mile, Indiana. ... [H]e would show up in these counties
where it was virtually impossible for a Democrat to win."

PERSONNEL MOVES - Jolly hires Crist staffer: Former GOP Rep. David Jolly of Florida, who lost his Tampa-area seat to Democrat Charlie Crist in November, has made the unusual move of hiring away one of Crist's congressional staffers just weeks after Crist took office. The staffer, Vito Sheeley, had been serving as Crist's district director after working for his campaign. He'll be "a senior advisor for the 2018 political cycle," according to a statement from Jolly's political team.

- It's unclear what drove Sheeley to leave to work for Crist's old opponent. One source familiar with the staff changes said that Sheeley had been fired, and "Crist then tried to present an alternative narrative" to explain his exit by telling The Tampa Bay Times that Sheeley would be joining St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman's reelection campaign. Crist's office denies firing Sheeley. "I only wish the best for Vito," Crist said in a statement. "He did a wonderful job on our campaign, for which I will ever be grateful. I hope for a very bright future for he and his family." Sheeley did not respond to request for comment. Jolly, for his part, said he's made no decision on whether he'll
challenge Crist in a rematch in 2018 yet. "No declaration, no exploratory committee and I'm not actively considering it right now," Jolly said.

SPECIAL DELIVERIES - Senate approves Pompeo for CIA director: The Senate voted 66-32 to confirm Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) as CIA director on Monday, giving President Donald Trump his third cabinet confirmation.

- Fifteen Democrats voted in favor of Pompeo, including four of the 10 Senate Democrats up for reelection in states Trump carried: Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The other six - Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Jon Tester of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin - voted nay, making Pompeo the first Trump cabinet nominee any of them opposed. Pompeo's confirmation means Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has five days to call a special election to replace him, which will be held 75 to 90 days after his announcement. That puts the special
election sometime in April. The district is heavily Republican.

- Becerra to be sworn in as California attorney general Tuesday: "The state Senate on Monday voted 26-9 in favor of final confirmation of Rep. Xavier Becerra as California's attorney general, putting on watch a veteran politician who has promised to block efforts by President Trump to roll back state policies on immigration, civil rights and the environment," The Los Angeles Times' Patrick McGreevy reports. His confirmation kicks off the special election to fill his overwhelmingly Democratic seat in Los Angeles, with state Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez considered the man to beat. Here's The Times' full rundown of who's running.

Days until the 2017 election: 287.

Days until the 2018 election: 651.

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

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DONOR DISCORD - "Trump's biggest donors consider abandoning new political arm," by POLITICO's Eliana Johnson and Kenneth P. Vogel: "Tensions between President Donald Trump's senior political aides and a pair of his most important donors are threatening to upend plans for an outside political group expected to play a key role in advancing his agenda. Now, just days after Trump's inauguration, the donors expected to provide much of the funding for the group - the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah Mercer - are considering abandoning the effort and launching an independent effort of their own, a half-dozen sources with knowledge of the situation told POLITICO. It is
unclear precisely why Rebekah Mercer became unhappy with the plans for the organization, though tensions surfaced between her and Brad Parscale, who served as the Trump campaign's digital director, during a December meeting in Trump Tower." Full story.

ASSEMBLING ALLIES - "J.B. Pritzker leans on Sacks, Steans as he explores governor's run," by POLITICO Illinois' Natasha Korecki: "As J.B. Pritzker explores a 2018 bid for [Illinois] governor, he has tapped an array of advisers that includes influential Democratic donor Michael Sacks, POLITICO has learned. Sacks, GCM Grosvenor CEO and a top personal adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, called Pritzker 'extraordinary' and offered his backing should Pritzker ultimately file campaign papers. Sacks was the lead donor to the anti-Gov. Bruce Rauner political action committee, LIFT - Leading Illinois for Tomorrow - in last November's legislative battles, and has long financially backed Emanuel's
campaigns and funded Democratic efforts in Illinois and elsewhere. ... Among others with whom Pritzker is conferring on an unofficial basis: state Sen. Heather Steans, who chairs the Senate appropriations committee and Matt Hynes, former chief lobbyist to the city of Chicago under Emanuel, said Becky Carroll, who is handling Pritzker's communications for this phase." Full story.

TACTICS AND STRATEGY - "Angry Democrats study the Tea Party's playbook," by The New York Times' Jonathan Martin: Democratic "leaders, eyeing the huge protests last weekend and growing worries over the promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act, are hoping to recreate the mass movement that sprang up in 2009 and swept Republicans to power in the House and in governor's races across the country - a Tea Party equivalent from the left. And they are turning to the same playbook that guided their conservative counterparts in the aftermath of Mr. Obama's election: creating or expanding a number of groups outside the formal architecture of the party, focusing on often-overlooked state legislative
and redistricting campaigns, and bringing together frightened fund-raisers to underwrite it all." Full story.

POST-RACE ANALYSIS - Clinton won majority of Virginia state House seats: The crew at Daily Kos Elections broke down the presidential vote by state legislative district in Virginia and found Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won a majority of the state's House districts - even though the map is a GOP gerrymander. Clinton carried 51 seats, including 17 held by Republicans. Every seat is up in 2017, but Democrats may have a hard time taking back the chamber: Republicans have a 66-34 majority. More from Daily Kos here.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Trump's shadow cabinet," by POLITICO's Josh Dawsey and Nancy Cook: The White House is installing senior aides atop major federal agencies to shadow the administration's Cabinet secretaries, creating a direct line with loyalists who can monitor and shape White House goals across the federal bureaucracy. The aides chosen by the White House-given the title of senior adviser in each agency-have already been responsible for hiring at some departments and crafting the blueprint of Trump policy before the Cabinet members win Senate confirmation to take office. ... The arrangement, described by four people involved in the transition planning, appears designed to help
the White House maintain control over its priorities despite pledging to give Cabinet secretaries unusual autonomy. Having senior advisers reporting to both the agency chiefs and the White House could spur early tensions and create conflicts with that pledge of autonomy." Full story.

- "Trump repeats debunked voter fraud claim at meeting with Hill leaders," by POLITICO's Heather Caygle, Burgess Everett and Kyle Cheney: "In his first meeting with congressional leaders of both parties since taking office, President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated a debunked claim that he only lost the national popular vote because of widespread voter fraud. Multiple sources described the exchange as part of a generally light-hearted meet-and-greet between Trump and the lawmakers at the White House. It's unclear if any of the leaders responded to Trump. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) confirmed that Trump made the voter fraud claim, but added, 'I didn't pay a lot of attention
to it. I was ready to move onto some policy issues. I didn't anticipate that discussion.'" Full story.

- "Trump's latest hire alarms allies of Ryan - and bolsters Bannon," by The Washington Post's Robert Costa: While Julia Hahn, the Breitbart writer expected to join the Trump administration, "will serve in a midlevel role as a special assistant to the president, her hiring alarmed and angered several allies of [House Speaker Paul] Ryan, who expressed concern Monday about what they see as a brazen move by [Steve] Bannon that threatened the fragile comity between Trump and Congress - and brightly underscored the Trump team's insouciance about enlisting Ryan's fiercest critic. Privately, a number of House Republicans told The Washington Post that Hahn's involvement signaled Bannon's plans to
possibly put her to use against them, writing searing commentaries about elected Republican leaders to ram through Trump's legislative priorities and agitate the party's base if necessary." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "A lot of people told me, 'I know you guys are good, and I'm definitely voting for you, but I'm one of those deplorables.'" Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), who represents a northeast Philadelphia district with a substantial number of working-class white voters. (Philadelphia magazine)

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