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By Scott Bland | 06/16/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Daniel Strauss 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)

GEORGIA PREVIEW - "Ossoff, Handel scrap for Georgia special election win," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "The Georgia special election between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff could come down to just a few thousand votes on Tuesday, after a six-month campaign that has attracted outsized national attention as a key early test for President Donald Trump's party. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan have all trekked to Georgia and the campaigns and outside groups have spent a record $50 million in the last six months, building the stakes and the suspense to unprecedented levels in a House district that had always been solidly Republican - until Trump
finished barely ahead of Hillary Clinton there in the 2016 presidential election. 'The whole country is watching and the whole country is waiting with bated breath to see what we're going to say in Georgia,' Ossoff told volunteers at an event last weekend. ... 'Symbolically, the stakes are as high as they can be,' said Chip Lake, a Republican consultant in the state. 'We didn't need a competitive special election to know that we're going to be on defense in 2018, but it does confirm what we already know - we have our work cut out for us if we don't want to lose the House.'" Full story.

- "GOP sirens blaze over Georgia special election," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "The GOP is bracing for the prospect of a loss in Tuesday's Georgia's special election that could have far-reaching implications for President Donald Trump and his party's fortunes in 2018. ... While no one is willing to publicly write off Handel's chances just yet - Republicans stress that she remains competitive and point to robust GOP early voting figures - several private surveys taken over the last few weeks show Republican nominee Karen Handel trending downward, with one private party poll showing 30-year-old Democrat Jon Ossoff opening up a more than five-point lead in the Republican-oriented, suburban
Atlanta seat. ... On Capitol Hill, where GOP leaders huddled Tuesday with rank-and-file House lawmakers on the second floor of the Capitol Hill Club for a conversation about the Georgia race and the 2018 political environment, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers outlined for the group why the party had spent so heavily in the special election, explaining that the outcome would have an outsize role in shaping the midterm election narrative. To date, the NRCC has spent over $6 million boosting Handel." Full story.

- NEW THIS A.M. - Congressional Leadership Fund sends final mailers: The final salvo in the GOP super PAC's $7 million outside-spending campaign in Georgia - the most any PAC has ever spent on a single House race - is a mail program targeting 100,000 households and linking Ossoff to "Nancy Pelosi and Hollywood liberals including Rosie O'Donnell, Jane Fonda and Kathy Griffin," per a release from CLF. See an example mailer here.

- Handel has gotten a slew of late donations from the DeVos family, per a Thursday FEC filing.

- "Georgia 6th race takes tense turn after Scalise shooting," by the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Greg Bluestein: "The race for Georgia's 6th Congressional District took a tense turn Thursday as police cordoned off Republican Karen Handel's street after several suspicious packages containing white substances were found, police said. ... In a statement released by her campaign, Handel said that 'the packages contained threatening letters and a suspicious substance.' ... Democrat Jon Ossoff's campaign reported Thursday that it had received several threats and had responded by hiring a security detail." Full story.

- "Former Georgia Rep. Tom Price will appear in his first public campaign rally of Georgia's 6th District race to urge Republicans to get behind Karen Handel," the AJC's Bluestein also reported. "And he'll be joined at the Saturday event by fellow Cabinet member Sonny Perdue in what's billed as a final get-out-the-vote push." Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 144.

Days until the 2018 election: 508.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4.

STAFFING UP - "Hogan announces top staffers for re-election campaign," by the Baltimore Sun's Erin Cox: "Republican Gov. Larry Hogan announced the top staff for his re-election bid Wednesday ... Hogan's campaign manager is Ryan Reynolds. He comes from the Washington polling firm WPA Intelligence, which has worked with Hogan. The governor's campaign also hired general consultant Jim Barnett, who has worked for several Northeastern Republicans campaigning in states that tend to vote for Democrats." Full story.

- Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Phil Valenziano as her 2018 campaign manager, Angie Hughes as finance director, and Matt Leopold as political director, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports. Valenziano worked for Chris Christie and Hughes for Carly Fiorina in the 2016 presidential race. Full story.

GUESS WHO'S BACK - "Canova announces rematch against Wasserman Schultz," by the Miami Herald's Amy Sherman: "Tim Canova announced he will seek a [Democratic primary] rematch against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz after decisively losing to her August ... In 2016, Canova tapped into Bernie Sanders' small donors and anger at the political establishment to raise about $3.8 million in the race for South Florida's 23rd congressional district. A Nova Southeastern University law professor, Canova ran to the left of Wasserman Schultz by bashing her for taking money from corporate donors and big Sugar. ... Mike Nellis, who headed up Canova's online fundraising through Revolution Messaging in
2016, said there isn't the same widespread anger about Wasserman Schultz now. ... Nellis said Canova also hurt his credibility by spreading conspiracy theories about the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich." Full story.

CANDIDATE WATCH - "The coming $100 million Indiana U.S. Senate race," by Brian Howey in the Herald Bulletin: "With the Senate balance in the 2018 mid-terms potentially hanging on U.S. Sen. Donnelly's reelection, Hoosiers are probably looking at a $100 million race. U.S. Reps. Luke Messer and Todd Rokita are expected to post around $2 million when the second quarter FEC reports are filed next month. ... [GOP] State Rep. Mike Braun of Jasper and Attorney General Curtis Hill are also mulling runs. 'I've heard comments and I've also been approached by people,' Hill told me. 'I think people are looking for bold, fresh leadership in all areas of government, including the United States Senate.'"
Full story.

POLL POSITION - Cuomo leads all comers in 2018 matchups, especially Trump Jr.: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo takes between 57 and 62 percent in the latest NBC4/Marist poll - with his largest vote share coming in a hypothetical matchup with Donald Trump Jr. Fifty-one percent of voters say they do not want him to run for president in 2020, while 45 percent say the same about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. See the poll here.

FOLLOWING THE MONEY - "Gov. Eric Greitens pans call for investigation into charity donor list," by the Kansas City Star's Jason Hancock: "Greitens and the Missouri Republican Party are dismissing calls by a bipartisan group of senators for an investigation into the governor's use of a donor list from his former charity to raise money for his 2016 campaign. ... In late April, Greitens admitted that his campaign had acquired the donor list of The Mission Continues, a veterans charity he founded in 2007. The charity is adamant that it did not - and would not - give its donor list to any outside entity, especially a political campaign. Doing so would violate a federal prohibition on charities
engaging in political activity. That leaves the possibility that the list was taken from the charity without permission, which attorneys interviewed by The Star say would be a crime." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I can confirm that the Vice President has retained Richard Cullen of McGuireWoods to assist him in responding to inquiries by the special counsel. The Vice President is focused entirely on his duties and promoting the President's agenda and looks forward to a swift conclusion of this matter." - Jarrod Agen, spokesman to Vice President Mike Pence, via POLITICO.

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