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By Theodoric Meyer | 02/11/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard, Scott Bland and Jake Sherman

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)

WHO'S BACKING WHOM - "Mystery super PACs unmasked after FEC filings," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer: "While boastful presidential and congressional candidates touted their fundraising numbers at the beginning of this month after a disclosure deadline, a handful of mysterious super PACs lay quiet but flush with cash amid the flood of reports to the Federal Election Commission." Here's a sneak peek at what we know about two of them:

- Arizona: "Arizona Frontier Fund listed only three donors when it filed its first report to the FEC last month - and one of them says he's never given to the group and doesn't know who it's backing. "I'm not sure how my name ended up on it," said Constantin Querard, a GOP political operative in Arizona who is working as a consultant for David Gowan, one of a half-dozen Republicans running in the 1st District, in the eastern half of the state." After being contacted by POLITICO, the super PAC filed an amended report with the FEC on Wednesday, revealing that the donation actually came from a payday lending company in Ohio.

- Better Louisiana PAC: Better Louisiana PAC, which raised $100,000 from a Louisiana pharmaceutical distributor in October, will support GOP Rep. John Fleming's run for Senate there, POLITICO has learned. Mike Barley, a strategist with Long Nyquist in Harrisburg, Pa., is running that super PAC. Read about more of these mystery PACs here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af07164b0a58da76c7eabe1b4a4c711e632e3db5fb6eff8a9b7

BALLOT BATTLES - "Young short of Senate ballot threshold in initial county petition tally," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af074f068800e420165d780992558f3706143c6071cc6420e1e

Days until the South Carolina Republican primary and Nevada Democratic caucuses: 9. Days until the 2016 election: 271.

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 kcheney@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about dreams coming true: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @kyledcheney.

A LIFT FROM THE SPEAKER - Ryan holds fundraiser for Freedom Caucus head: House Speaker Paul Ryan is headlined a birthday fundraiser for House Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan this afternoon, according to a source familiar with the event. The event at a Capitol Hill townhouse shows how much has changed since the Wisconsin Republican became speaker. John Boehner was often at war with Jordan and his House Freedom Caucus. Ryan has taken the opposite approach, constantly wooing the group of conservatives. Ryan is also headlining a fundraiser for GOP Rep. Rod Blum, another member of the Freedom Caucus, who's facing one of the toughest reelection races in the House in Iowa's 1st District.

SUPER PAC SUPPORT - LCV Action Fund, Sierra Club back Feingold: The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and the Sierra Club have endorsed former Sen. Russ Feingold in Wisconsin's Senate race. The LCV has already spent significant cash attacking GOP Sen. Ron Johnson. Feingold, who spurned outside money in the past, has signaled he will accept the aid of groups like LCV and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in his battle with Johnson. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eaa87f18a685ca997ef82c6a249fb4bdd6ef69ff35866796b58a0c365ffe5e9d

GETTING THE NOD - FreedomWorks endorses Davidson in OH-08: FreedomWorks PAC endorsed Warren Davidson, a businessman, on Wednesday to fill former House Speaker John Boehner's seat in a special election, helping consolidate the support of conservative outside groups around him. The Club for Growth PAC has already endorsed Davidson, who's running in a crowded GOP primary in Ohio's 8th District, and the Club's super PAC started running TV ads backing him this week. "The icing on the cake, after John Boehner's resignation, would be sending a principled conservative like Warren Davidson to Congress," Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks PAC's chairman, said in a statement. The primary is March 15.

INSIDE NUMBERS - Internal poll: Forbes starts VA-02 primary with an advantage: An internal poll from Rep. Randy Forbes' campaign shows him with high name ID and a healthy primary lead against state Del. Scott Taylor in his new district. The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, shows him earning 43 percent of the GOP primary vote to 24 percent for Taylor. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. A Tel Opinion Research poll conducted for Taylor showed an evenly divided race, the Virginian-Pilot reported: bit.ly/1o6jkfC

ON THE RECORD - Kander criticizes Blunt on draft record in Missouri Senate race: GOP "Sen. Roy Blunt's claims about his Vietnam-era draft record emerged Wednesday as an issue in his re-election campaign against Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, a Democrat," The Kansas City Star's Dave Helling reports. "In a news story posted online Wednesday morning, The Star reported Blunt received three draft deferments while a college student in the late 1960s. Blunt's office did not disclose the deferments in 2015, when the newspaper specifically asked Blunt's office about the senator's draft history."

- "In a weekly telephone news conference with Missouri reporters later Wednesday, Blunt said he had not hidden the deferments. 'Anytime anybody ever asked me about that, I would have said I had student deferments, and was then included in the first year of the lottery,' he said. But Blunt's office did not disclose the deferments in February 2015, when The Star directly asked if he had ever received one." "I don't sit in judgment of anyone who chose not to serve in Vietnam," Kander said in a statement, "but hiding three deferments and saying you couldn't remember them is completely inexcusable." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af075f4c67f1520c2dcebe0b55f335760fae7c83321a5267e86

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "How Bernie built a fundraising juggernaut," by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel: Bernie "Sanders' campaign has melded its fundraising into its core mission in a way that is without precedent in American political history. It's more than a means to an end. It is the purpose of his campaign \u2015 the vehicle for regular people to buy into the idea that they can fight back against a moneyed elite that has tilted the scales against them. ... And, despite appearances, the strategy behind Sanders' small-donor juggernaut is deceptively sophisticated, using cutting edge technology and techniques to create a perfect fundraising storm never before seen in presidential politics. The
architect of the strategy is a 39-year-old former Marine named Tim Tagaris, who has quietly developed a reputation as the left's leading practitioner of digital and email fundraising." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af030a909296e77350ae445ddab7351f249c6040160b35fb9a1

- Sanders boasts all the time that he doesn't have a super PAC, but the National Nurses United for Patient Protection super PAC is backing him - and it looks like it's already in South Carolina. "A great Q&A session happening now in Columbia, SC about talking to black women about @BernieSanders," the super PAC tweeted on Wednesday, then deleted the tweet, BuzzFeed News' Evan McMorris-Santoro reports. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af0224b0c397d5589fe1a4ce17591c1a2b505ee48d6c263bc91

- "Democrats to Clinton: Fix your messaging," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti in Manchester, N.H.: Most of the Democratic establishment still thinks Hillary Clinton is on track to win the nomination. But they're frustrated after Iowa and New Hampshire. "'Do they not understand what is happening? Do they not understand what a big problem they have with young voters and women?,' said one exasperated national Democratic strategist who is not working for either candidate, explaining that none of the messages Clinton has tried out since launching her campaign in April - including the current 'Fighting For You' - have come close to working with those groups."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af03442a721bab1d5343571e4a41cad21a5c277600c8d02bf2e

- "Clinton allies forming group to protect, register voters," by The Associated Press' Ken Thomas in Manchester, N.H.: Allies of Hillary Clinton are forming a new $25 million political organization aimed at expanding voter protection efforts and driving turnout and registration among Latino and black voters essential to her Democratic presidential campaign. The new group, Every Citizen Counts, is beginning its work as Clinton faces a stronger-than-expected challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose overwhelming victory in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary has set off new worries among Democrats that Sanders may soon cut into Clinton's advantage with black and Hispanic voters." The
group will be structured as a nonprofit and won't have to disclose its donors. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af0ee1dd1d125f3cb9cfb425eb451e6a5a5e780bd51c9572eb7

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "If we had had smartphones when I ran for president, I'm not sure I would've run." - President Barack Obama, who still prefers handshakes to selfies. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3e11c3e2c8c17af0a209c30feee5b355f287c74a2bfd10e402f092d86e58cf72

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