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By Elena Schneider | 02/01/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Scott Bland, Theodoric Meyer and Kevin Robillard

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)

"Clinton, Trump swap styles in final Iowa appeal," by POLITICO's Eli Stokols in Council Bluffs, Iowa: " ... Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, who the final polls show leading their respective Republican and Democratic rivals in the state, brought their closing arguments to the state's western edge. Both brought their pregnant daughters onto the stage. But only one delivered a fiery, populist pitch. ... Feeling the heat from Bernie Sanders, Clinton ratcheted up the rhetoric - and the volume of her voice - as she railed against a corrupt tax code and lax regulations on Wall Street that are 'corrosive to our democracy.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d5290397fcbaced2b6937cfbb0ca20155dae3d87bc0a20b36a01

- "Cruz fights off attacks in sprint to the finish," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Kristin Roberts: "Ted Cruz finds himself fighting on two fronts with just hours to go until Iowans cast the first votes of the 2016 presidential election, with Donald Trump pounding him on one side and Marco Rubio, who has clawed to within striking distance, on the other. But by mid-afternoon Sunday, Cruz - who has declined to take press questions since a morning appearance on the Sunday shows - tried to project an upbeat message, leaving the attacks to his high-profile surrogates." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d529053f49042181b7a16d0815e27e241aa122a3a861fc0bef0a

CASH RACE - DSCC outraises NRSC in December: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $5.1 million in December, the committee said on Sunday night, beating out its Republican counterpart. The DSCC had $10.8 million in cash on hand, although it still has millions in debt. The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised less, bring in less than $3 million in December, but it had more cash on hand, with $11.7 million.

FEC DAY! THE HOUSE BATTLEGROUND - Our campaign finance elves were up late putting together a comprehensive chart of FEC numbers in the biggest House battlegrounds of 2016. A few notables: Multiple incumbents like UT-04 Republican Mia Love, NJ-05 Republican Scott Garrett, and especially NJ-01 Republican Frank Guinta got outraised by challengers. House Republicans, though, will cheer the cash leads many other incumbents retain over Democratic challengers. See the full chart here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d5298cae028318f52c5d3bffa6ff787f6cc1f29440d1f24104a5

- More on Guinta: GOP Rep. Frank Guinta has announced that he's running for reelection. But he raised less than $72,000 in the fourth quarter, giving him $367,000 in cash on hand, and last week Guinta told WMUR that he had repaid $355,000 in improper contributions the FEC had dinged him for - meaning he has only $12,000 in the bank now for his reelection campaign. "It was important to start the year fresh, with all facets of the agreement complete," Guinta said. Meanwhile, both Republican Dan Innis and Democrat Carol Shea-Porter outraised him. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d529b70dd1841bc8813e4ae3cffa8594b8f9dc5f28d268af168a

- FIRST UP: EARLY PRIMARY NUMBERS - We've also got a handy list of campaign finance numbers from the first set of competitive primaries that await us in March. Most incumbents with challengers have hefty cash leads, though North Carolina Republican Walter Jones has little on hand. In John Boehner's old district, Bill Beagle started the year with the most to spend. See the full list here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d529ecbb1676c9ad85e1eda9a05e123a0b4f56b23dd08fbbee53

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 realistic Kens: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @kyledcheney.

ANOTHER EARLY RETIREMENT - "GOP Rep. Reid Ribble retiring," by POLITICO's Mike Zapler: "Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) announced Saturday night he will retire at the end of this term after six years in Congress. The 59-year-old lawmaker had vowed not to serve more than four terms when he was first elected in 2010. ... Ribble made headlines in October when he quit the House Freedom Caucus, the group of roughly 40 hardline GOP lawmakers." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d529d1eb851c9fcc68fcfac81bb4cb9c4647632f1ec0819ba7cf

- Keep an eye on Republican Mike Gallagher, a Marine vet and former Senate staffer who recently advised Gov. Scott Walker on foreign policy, as well as Democratic Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, who has a history of winning races in battleground areas (Walker twice carried his county by wide margins), and 2012 Democratic nominee Jamie Wall, among other candidates who will likely start coming forward this week.

MORE FOURTH QUARTER NUMBERS - Jolly, DeSantis clash over fundraising: Rep. Ron DeSantis was the clear fundraising winner on the GOP side of Florida's primary, raising $772,000 in the fourth quarter, outraising Rep. David Jolly, who brought in $112,000; Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, who raised $318,000 and businessman Todd Wilcox, who raised $318,000. DeSantis has $2.6 million on hand, with Wilcox as his closest competitor with just over $1 million.

- But after his campaign put out a statement bragging about his fundraising and arguing DeSantis was the "only candidate who will have both the resources necessary and the conservative grassroots support to beat Patrick Murphy or Alan Grayson in November," the Jolly campaign responded by noting DeSantis was "bragging about how much money he raised during the same period ISIS was terrorizing Paris and San Bernardino" and releasing a web video contrasting DeSantis' trip to Vegas for a fundraiser with Jolly's push to bar congressional candidates from asking directly for donations.

- DeSantis attended the Koch brothers' retreat in Palm Springs this weekend, Florida Politics reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d529294fb1fe6c3a23487ca3c7255c1b2fbf2f189f4d2f21ca50

Wisconsin: Democrat Russ Feingold raised $2.65 million in the fourth quarter, beating Republican Sen. Ron Johnson by about $1 million. Feingold has $4.8 million in cash on hand, while Johnson has $4.4 million on hand.

FL-02: Neal Dunn, who's locked in a competitive primary with Mary Thomas, raised $135,000, with another $65,000 in a personal loan, in the fourth quarter, Florida Politics reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d52948bc374c357896e40542863bc37d3a7e30799b6c1072ba2a

TROUBLE BREWING AT HOME - Bera misses first shot at Democratic Party endorsement after trade, refugee votes: Rep. Ami Bera made a personal appeal on Sunday for his party's endorsement in his reelection bid, but he failed to garner enough support, the Sacramento Bee reported. Bera does not have a Democratic challenger, but voters still expressed frustration over some of Bera's votes, in particular, on trade legislation and limiting Syrian refugee resettlement. California's 7th District is competitive, with Bera squeaking past his opponent, Doug Ose, in 2014. This year, Bera faces Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d529af4ec835926e63d84f057561c9a16188658696cbaf13f03f

CALIFORNIA CLASHES - "Why activists in these California swing districts are feuding with the national Democratic Party," by the Los Angeles Times' Javier Panzar: The Times spotlights California's 25th District, where Lou Vince, a Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant who's struggled to raise money, was asked to drop out of the race, but refused. He maintains activist support, even as another Democratic candidate, Bryan Caforio, has joined it. "The rift in the 25th District and an ongoing dispute between Democratic party leaders and locals in the Central Valley congressional seat offer an inland California flavor to what is a national trend this year: grassroots activists bucking the
establishment." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2a8c00b39ad4d529e3b3fe96245c3e537d142c6b4cd082158422ddcb17a03aa9

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - FUNDRAISING ALERTS: Sanders raised $20 million in January http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea160156f2ebfa60d14abdc3e80d7263d733f46fce5f7e77bd02c79b Christie has just $1 million on hand http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea16015642b156761fd03d8d265cdf09dda603660990dc69ab458b41 Rubio camp raised $14 million last quarter http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea1601561ee592c0e3f1e767295d133ef3ceef4583572bed3d9e5877 Rubio super PAC also raised $14 million-plus in second half of 2015 http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea160156b7ca4fff5dd942c829d59e339e16fc75a3d7b9ed65c55af1 Tom Steyer plans more spending in 2016 http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea16015649b4f88e27d86670b9119ff279e9831e37081e23c712173c Carson fundraising plunged after stumbles http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea16015615b0f8b5a0abfd4d2f362dbace4c369b286a19fa9cf3343a Bush super PAC fundraising experienced massive second-half drop in 2015
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea16015627dcb4def3323139bf3ae714f4a966d5f02458ff89f99e62 George Soros donated $8 million to pro-Hillary Clinton groups http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea1601569fdd99f18b9bde29807c1843fa7832e96de4b1643829c9b3 Clinton's campaign spending boosted 28 percent quarter-over-quarter politi.co/1SwdPlm

- "6 problems with the Iowa polls," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard: "After a series of high-profile misses in recent elections, America's pollsters outlined the hazards of polling the 2016 Iowa caucuses in interviews with POLITICO over the past week. Here are six things that complicate their efforts and could lead to an official result that doesn't look much like the one the polls appear to predict now." 1. It's a caucus - not a primary ... 2. Who's in the poll? ... 3. Trump and Sanders might change voter profile ... 4. Turnout's king but it's hard to predict ... 5. Democrats count delegates, not votes ... 6. Polling is harder now. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f23a6a5fea160156d54fce1183b485fc1bf20ec1174f5dfdf49463d3876633ae

- GOING THERE - "Does Iowa really matter? And should it?" by The Washington Post's Dan Balz: "The reality is that, no matter the criticism of the process, Iowa always matters. As the first event, it is hardly decisive, but its role in winnowing the field and offering clues as to the candidates' core supporters is important. ... Beyond the caucus process, Iowa's place at the front of the line draws continuing scrutiny and criticism. Why should a state that is not demographically representative of the country have such a coveted place in the primary-caucus calendar? ... For Democrats in particular, the lack of diversity is an issue that the party has wrestled with for years ... Republicans
also have an issue because the caucus electorate, with its preponderance of religious conservatives, is more conservative than the party as a whole. Christian conservatives made up 57 percent of the GOP caucus electorate in 2012, which has caused most mainstream Republican candidates to avoid or play down their investment in the state, hoping to discount the results." wapo.st/1nGGNUB

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I guess the bars let out early." - Ted Cruz, on a heckler who yelled "Ted Cruz looks weird!" before vomiting and being escorted out of an event Sunday, via the Washington Examiner. washex.am/1KkP4HA

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