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


With Scott Bland and Theodoric Meyer

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)

ALL THE SINGLE LADIES - "Cruz seizes on Trump's struggles with women," by POLITICO's Katie Glueck in Waukesha, Wis.: "It's true: Despite the Megyn Kelly insults, the standing by his man accused of grabbing a female reporter, the mocking of his top rival's wife's appearance, Donald Trump is beating Ted Cruz among Republican women. At least that was the case until Wisconsin. Seizing on the pileup of Trump's putdowns, Cruz has made a direct and concerted appeal to female voters, whose response has helped propel the Texas senator to a double-digit lead in the state ahead of Tuesday's primary. He's looking to parlay that expected success into future wins and, ultimately, to make the case that
Trump's unpopularity among women makes him unelectable in the general election. ... A person close to the Cruz campaign said that earlier in March the race was tied here, but polls now show Cruz's Wisconsin numbers moving more strongly in his favor, partly on the strength of support from women as Cruz intensifies efforts to engage female voters." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5b0fbfc5dc059e70608ed355ba9bdad11e59a73b24178d8232

- ICYMI: Tried and true strategies ... "Cruz revives winning Iowa strategy for Wisconsin," by POLITICO's Shane Goldmacher and Katie Glueck in Ashwaubenon, Wis.: " ... As Cruz seeks a watershed defeat over Donald Trump in Wisconsin on Tuesday to reset the Republican race, on the heels of their scramble for delegates in North Dakota over the weekend, the Texas senator is rerunning the same Iowa playbook that dealt Trump his worst loss of the cycle." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5b06ec54960e1da7f5ef350c874b9cedb8620748b8472b699a

CHECK PLEASE - DSCC spending to boost McGinty on TV: Senate Democrats are putting TV advertising behind their endorsement of Katie McGinty over former Rep. Joe Sestak and John Fetterman in Pennsylvania's Senate primary. Late Friday, McGinty's campaign began replacing some of its TV advertising with a coordinated expenditure funded by the DSCC. (Roll Call's Alex Roarty reports the DSCC's total spend at $425,000.) The committee has been assertive backing favored candidates in primaries this cycle, but this is its most aggressive move yet.

- Pre-primary coordinated spending is normal for the DSCC. Candidates from Montana's John Walsh and Georgia's Michelle Nunn in 2014 to New Mexico's Martin Heinrich and Connecticut's Chris Murphy in 2012 have benefited from party spending despite running in contested primaries. But the scale of the McGinty/DSCC TV buy is very notable, with McGinty behind in all public polling and the DSCC trying to avoid having an endorsed candidate lose a primary for the first time since 2010 - when Sestak beat party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter. (The DSCC's endorsed candidate in North Carolina also lost his primary that year.)

- Sestak is fundraising off the DSCC buy, emailing his list that "D.C. Dems will again re-elect Pat Toomey" by using up funds that could be spent in the general election in the primary, as it did with Specter in 2010. It has not been a great cycle so far for politicians taking the inside track, but the combined weight of of establishment money and President Barack Obama's endorsement may give McGinty a powerful boost. And the DSCC's spending also raises the question of whether it might spend big money in a few months in Florida, the site of another contested Democratic primary. Pennsylvania's primary is on April 26.

Days until the Wisconsin primary: 1. Days until the 2016 election: 218.

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 our New York nightmares: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @theodoricmeyer.

FIRST IN SCORE - Faso up with first TV ad in NY-19: John Faso, the former GOP gubernatorial nominee who's fighting an expensive primary battle for the New York seat that GOP Rep. Chris Gibson is vacating, is going up with his first TV ad on Monday. "A fighter never shies away from the challenge. He advocates for our families, veterans. Stands up for farmers and small business," the narrator says before highlighting Faso's accomplishments in the state Assembly." Faso is facing Andrew Heaney, a businessman, in the June 28 primary. The ad is airing across the district on cable. A Faso spokesman declined to say how long the ad was running or how much the campaign was spending. Watch the ad:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5b9d3f0edcb335aae95fd8bc3cdcd7045e18a71c073e514390

UNLIMITED LIABILITY - "Republicans on FEC suggest they may scrutinize mystery corporate donors," by The Washington Post's Matea Gold: " Their stance suggests the potential for movement by the polarized six-person panel, where a sense of stasis has been the norm. Democratic commissioners, however, reacted with skepticism, saying that their GOP colleagues have until now delayed and actively blocked examination of such cases. But Lee Goodman, one of the Republican commissioners, said in an interview that contributors seeking to mask themselves through a privately held company or limited liability corporation (LLC) should think twice. ...'If you funnel money through an LLC entity for the
purpose of making a political contribution and avoiding disclosure of yourself, that is an abuse of the LLC vehicle,' Goodman added." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5b319770f9e0b06d6345f8e64effed15ea26ff4c3130d1cfa0

FIRST IN SCORE - DSCC wants to tie Trump's comments on abortion to GOP candidates: The DSCC will use the Republican front-runner's recent controversial comments about abortion to target Republican candidates with a series of press releases to go out today, asking: "What punishment would [Republican candidate] inflict on doctors?" The releases will go after Sens. Pat Toomey, Rob Portman, Ron Johnson, John McCain and Richard Burr, as well as Reps. Joe Heck, Ron DeSantis, David Jolly and two candidates in Colorado, Robert Blaha and Tim Neville.

INTERNAL AFFAIRS - Senate polling in Maryland: Rep. Chris Van Hollen leads by five points over Rep. Donna Edwards in the Democratic Senate primary, according to a new Garin-Hart-Yang poll commissioned by Van Hollen's campaign. The survey showed 45 percent of Democrats backing Van Hollen, while another 40 percent support Edwards. 15 percent are still undecided. Van Hollen's pollsters surveyed 604 likely primary voters from March 28 to March 30, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. Other recent public surveys have either shown a tied race or Edwards in the lead.

- ... and in Florida: Rep. Alan Grayson takes 33 percent to Rep. Patrick Murphy's 32 percent in a new Democratic primary robopoll by Public Policy Polling. More than a third of voters, 35 percent, are still undecided. The poll, commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy For America, surveyed 829 likely Democratic voters from March 22 to March 23 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5bab2f24120fadfd49bd18fead8a70ab5e9ab337adcc32b450

AIR WAR - Senate Leadership Fund backs Indiana's Young in first TV ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5b55c0a1bf275d9311e5048e173755d833270aaf9426b508b0

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "The GOP's (other) convention nightmare," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "Republicans, already girding for their most tumultuous convention in decades, now have another fight brewing: a divisive battle over gay marriage on the party's official national platform. It's an issue that drives intense passion, and one that splits the mainstream and evangelical wings of the GOP. With the convention less than four months away, both sides are mobilizing in anticipation of a bitter clash over whether the party should embrace a more moderate approach to gay nuptials in keeping with a public that is more open to it - or maintain the hard line the party's base demands. Some of
the party's biggest financiers, attempting to transform the GOP's approach, have been helping to bankroll the American Unity Fund, a group that has launched a well-organized, behind-the-scenes effort to lobby convention delegates who will draw up the platform. It is asking them to adopt language that would accommodate same sex marriage." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5b419f4b366d295f2d77db3e5a8ec91a22732cddabb5726fb8

- "Democrats angle for power in Clinton administration," by POLITICO's Lauren French: "Rep. Jim Himes has raised hundreds of thousands as a bundler for Hillary Clinton. Rep. Tim Ryan trekked to dozens of events across his home state of Ohio to help elect the former secretary of state. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver risked political suicide in 2008 by sticking with Clinton when African-American politicians and voters were flocking to Barack Obama's insurgent campaign. The Clinton foot soldiers are among the members of Congress who may be in line for a nice return on their hard work if she wins in November - a job in the new administration, perhaps, increased political clout or help from the
commander-in-chief reaching the next rung on the political ladder." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5b6e5a047dbf70f2e615d311431010a0b2db89281ed3ae7b86

- "Trump campaign shrinks Lewandowski's role," by POLITICO's Ben Schreckinger and Kenneth P. Vogel: " ... In early March, Lewandowski ceded authority over many hiring decisions to a lower-ranking staffer. In recent days, the campaign's press office has been overruling his decisions about issuing credentials for campaign events. Going forward, Trump's just-named convention manager, Paul Manafort, is expected to take a leading role not just in the selection of delegates, but in the remaining primaries themselves, according to three people on or close to the campaign. The shift is, in part, a natural outgrowth of the campaign's maturation. But according to sources close to the campaign, it's
also at least partly the result of long-simmering concerns among some members of Trump's inner circle about Lewandowski's lack of national experience, his perceived unwillingness to challenge Trump and his brash temperament." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b68eddeba8d7ca5ba7c3e156b0ee81d88a477ff735d45d05225e0242e3dbdd2c

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "A lot of the people I have talked to are focused on other things." - Congressional candidate Fred Costello, one of several commenting on how the presidential race is sapping Florida donors' attention (and money) from down-ballot campaigns in the state, via the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

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