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By Daniel Strauss | 01/19/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Zach Montellaro and Elena Schneider

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 ON THE MIND - "Abrams, Evans fight to turn Georgia blue" by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "Encouraged by statewide victories last year in Virginia and Alabama, Democrats are setting their sights this fall on another Deep South prize once thought to be out of reach: Georgia's governorship, a seat the party hasn't held in more than 15 years. ... It's a playbook that worked for Democrats in the special election for a Senate seat in Alabama last month. Doug Jones ran up huge margins among African-American voters who showed up in droves, while running stronger than other recent Democratic candidates in the state's suburban counties. ... "This is a unique moment," said state Sen. Jason
Carter, Democrats' unsuccessful nominee for governor in 2014, who conceded the scandals surrounding Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore contributed to the party's victory in Alabama." Full story.

MARYLAND MATTERS - "Maryland Democrats don't see Manning as a threat to Cardin" by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "Chelsea Manning surprised Maryland's political establishment last weekend when she announced a Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Ben Cardin - but few progressives are lining up behind her, and there is little appetite for a challenge to Cardin from the left. Manning announced last weekend that she would run against Cardin, beginning a long-shot effort to unseat the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a political giant in Maryland, who has served in federal office since the late 1980s and has held office since the 1960s, when he inherited his uncle's
seat in the state House of Delegates while he was still in law school." Full story.

SCOOP - New Republican candidate running for MS-03: Mississippi state Sen. Sally Doty plans to run for outgoing Rep. Gregg Harper's congressional seat in the state's 3rd Congressional District. Doty plans to make her formal announcement in Brookhaven next Friday, Jan. 26th.

RYAN REELECT - "Ryan's 2017 fundraising haul: $44 million" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "House Speaker Paul Ryan raised more than $44 million in 2017, an off-year record for any House leader - a financial haul Republicans hope will shore up vulnerable GOP members in what's shaping up to be a tough midterm cycle for Republicans. ... The infusion of cash comes after Republicans passed a tax reform law last December, which GOP members said would drive support among voters and donors. But in 2018, Republicans must defend their 24-seat majority over a broad battlefield, while President Donald Trump's approval ratings remain in the low 40s and Democrats hold a wide lead on the generic
ballot. Nearly two dozen retirements, including California Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa earlier this month, will force Republicans to spend more heavily to defend these open seats." Full story.

NO COMPETITION - "Democrats sweat nightmare scenario in California" by POLITICO's David Siders: "Democrats who cheered the retirement announcements of Reps. Darrell Issa and Ed Royce last week are sobering up to a new fear: A potential nightmare scenario in which no Democratic candidate ends up on the November ballot in either seat, dealing a blow to the party's efforts to retake the House. The problem is California's unusual, top-two primary system, where the top two vote-getters regardless of party affiliation advance to the November general election. ... In recent days, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee acknowledged it could be forced to spend money in one or both primaries
to ensure that two Republican candidates do not finish atop the field in June. And Democratic candidates, mindful of a potential culling effort, have sped up their voter outreach, polling and opposition research operations. The party is seeking to avoid an embarrassing repeat of 2012, when two Republicans finished ahead of then-Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar in an Inland Empire congressional district in which Democrats held a voter registration edge." Full story.

Days until the 2018 election: 290

Upcoming election dates - Arizona 8th District special primary: Feb. 27. Texas primaries: March 6. Pennsylvania 18th District special election: March 13. Illinois primaries: March 20.

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

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

HARD PASS - "Top Democratic recruit passes on Mississippi Senate run" by POLITICO's Edward-Isaac Dovere: "Brandon Presley, Democrats' top recruit for an acknowledged uphill campaign for Senate in Mississippi, announced Thursday that he would not run for the seat held by Republican Sen. Roger Wicker this year. Sources familiar with the decision say that it was driven by a sense that Chris McDaniel - the conservative state senator who nearly knocked off Sen. Thad Cochran in a bitter GOP primary four years ago - would not be able to mount a strong primary challenge against Wicker, especially in the wake of the political collapse of Steve Bannon, who'd been pushing McDaniel to run again. ...
Presley's exit leaves Democrats with Mississippi as the only state without a candidate as they try to go on offense even in deep Republican parts of the country. Attention now turns to David Baria, a lawyer and state House minority leader." Full story.

Q4 TOTALS -

- Iowa: Democrat Fred Hubbell reported raising $3 million from May 31 to the end of 2017 for his governor bid. The campaign declined to release Hubbell's cash on hand.

- FL-21: Republican Kurt Jetta raised $340,000 last quarter, which includes a $250,000 personal loan to his campaign.

- GA-06: Democrat Bobby Kaple raised $260,000 last quarter.

- ME-02: Democrat Jared Golden raised $240,000 last quarter.

HUH? - "GOP Congressman Costello accuses his opponent's allies of trespassing, but police say there was 'no crime,'" by The Philadelphia Inquirer's Holly Otterbein: "...During the weekend, Costello wrote on Facebook that a 'disturbing' political incident had taken place at his house. He claimed that two 'associates' of Houlahan had gone onto his property on Saturday, snapped pictures of his home, and intimidated his wife. 'Families should always be off limits,' he said. 'We were able to get some footage of the incident and hope these individuals will be apprehended.' Houlahan wrote on Facebook that 'this incident had nothing to do with me' and she was nonetheless 'sorry to hear what
happened.' Costello took this as an admission of guilt: He said he would 'accept [Houlahan's] apology' as long as she asked her allies 'to stop this type of behavior.'" Full story.

DEMS' DISCORD - "Chicago Democrats throw Lipinski under the bus - and blame Trump" by POLITICO's Natasha Korecki: "When two veteran members of Congress kicked one of their own Democratic colleagues to the curb on Wednesday, even they had to admit it was an unprecedented act. By condemning Rep. Dan Lipinski and publicly endorsing his little-known primary opponent, Reps. Luis Gutiérrez and Jan Schakowsky did the unthinkable, plunging a knife into the back of a neighboring Chicago-area congressman whom they'd served with in Congress for over a decade. ... Asked if he felt betrayed by his colleagues, Lipinski said he wasn't surprised at all. 'Jan has worked against me in the past. She's
never come out formally against me. Her husband has been straight about working against me,' Lipinski told POLITICO." Full story.

STAFFING UP - Pro-Bill Schuette super PAC brings on Scott Hagerstrom: The Better Jobs, Stronger Families super PAC, which supports Attorney General Bill Schuette in the Michigan gubernatorial race, has brought on Scott Hagerstrom. Hagerstrom served as the state director for Trump's 2016 campaign and also worked as the Director of Grassroots and Strategic Engagement for the Coalition Against Higher Taxes and Special Interest Deals Ballot Committee. Hagerstrom also did a stint as the state director for Americans for Prosperity and worked in Michigan's House of Representatives.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Shutdown threat tanks West Wing morale" by POLITICO's Andrew Restuccia: "The first year of Donald Trump's presidency is coming to a close with administration officials exhausted and uncertain after two weeks of chaos that have been extraordinary even by the standards of this White House. The drama underlines a fundamental truth about Trump's presidency: the faces may change, but it seems the storyline never does. ... Some West Wing staffers are dealing with their frustration by keeping their heads down and focusing on the issues over which they have control. As a result, the White House is becoming increasingly siloed, with policy staffers separated from the top
brass in the West Wing. But some episodes can't be ignored. Trump's comments during a closed-door immigration meeting last week in which he referred to 'shithole' countries are still reverberating, with several administration officials privately worrying that their future job prospects could be damaged by association, according to a person familiar with their thinking. People close to the Trump administration argue staffers are just feeling the wear and tear of jobs that routinely involve working 12-to-15-hour days." Full story.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "He's a great guy - loves this area, loves this country. He just met me at the plane and he's here someplace. But actually, this is about tax cuts. This is about economic reform. But Rick is a great guy. He's a special person" - President Donald Trump on Republican Rick Saccone.

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