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By Elena Schneider | 01/10/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Zach Montellaro

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)

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD - "Judges toss North Carolina congressional map as 'unconstitutional partisan gerrymander,'" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "A three-judge panel on Tuesday struck down North Carolina's congressional map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, giving the state Legislature only two weeks to adopt a new map and potentially throwing this year's elections into chaos. In a unanimous decision, the panel said that if the General Assembly fails to enact a new map by Jan. 24, a special master will be appointed to draw the districts. ... In this new decision, the panel ruled that the remedial map violated the equal protection clause when GOP legislative leaders drew
the maps with an explicit conservative bias in an effort to favor Republican candidates." Full story.

TO THE PAPER SHREDDER - "White House plans to destroy Trump election fraud commission's voter data," by POLITICO's Josh Gerstein: "The White House intends to destroy voter data collected by the election fraud commission President Donald Trump recently shut down, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday night. White House Director of Information Technology Charles Herndon said in a declaration submitted to a federal court in Washington that officials plan to erase the information, rather than transfer it to the Department of Homeland Security or the National Archives and Records Administration." Full story.

POLLING DATA - "Nearly half of voters say Trump exoneration is likely in 2018," by POLITICO's Steven Shepard: "Nearly half of voters think it's at least somewhat likely President Donald Trump will be exonerated of wrongdoing by the special counsel this year, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. ... Pluralities of voters expect Democrats, who have a significant lead on the congressional generic ballot, to win control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections. ... Democrats have an 8-point lead on the generic congressional ballot, the poll shows, 44 percent to 36 percent. Twenty percent of voters are undecided." Full story.

HE'S RUNNING - "Arpaio running for Senate in Arizona," by POLITICO's Kevin Robillard and Ted Hesson: "Joe Arpaio, the controversial former Arizona county sheriff who was convicted of defying a federal court order last year and then almost immediately pardoned by President Donald Trump, said Tuesday he is running for Senate. ... Arpaio said in a phone interview on Tuesday that he hadn't spoken with Trump about his run for Senate. 'I still support him. It doesn't matter what his position is on me running,' Arpaio said. 'But I'm sure he'll know he'll have a big ally in Washington, and he sure needs [someone] to get his programs and agenda done.'" Full story, plus an interview with Arpaio from
the Washington Examiner's David Drucker, who broke the news.

NEW THIS MORNING - AAN launches $1.5 million digital ad: American Action Network is out with a $1.5 million digital ad effort over the next two weeks that boosting the GOP tax bill. The ads will target 20 Republican-held House seats. Check out the targeted seats here. Watch the district-specific ads here.

Days until the 2018 election: 299.

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.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Score will not publish on Monday, Jan. 15. The next Morning Score newsletter will publish on Tuesday, Jan. 16.

ON THE AIRWAVES - Biss out with first TV ads: Democrat Daniel Biss, who's running for Illinois governor, released two TV ads that cast him as the "Middle Class Governor," a contrast to billionaire J.B. Pritzker. The 30-second ad shows Biss taking care of his kids in the morning, saying, "I think if more politicians had kids in public schools or struggled to balance their own budgets, we'd have an Illinois that worked for the middle class." In the 15-second ad, Biss calls for fully funding public schools by getting "billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes." Watch the 30-second ad here. Watch the 15-second ad here.

- Braun launches new TV, radio ads: Former state legislator and businessman Mike Braun, who's running for Senate in Indiana, is out with a new advertising blitz. The ad attacks "politicians who "put Beijing before Bloomington." Watch the ad here.

BIG HAUL FOR HOUSE GOP OUTSIDE GROUP - POLITICO Playbook reported that the Congressional Leadership Fund and its sister group, the American Action Network, raised a combined $66 million in 2017, a huge haul for an off-year. CLF raised $26 million and has $15 million cash on hand.

Q4 TOTALS - Wisconsin Senate: Republican Kevin Nicholson has just over $500,000 on hand despite raising $800,000 in the fourth quarter. He had $345,000 on hand at the end of the third quarter.

- IL-03: Democrat Marie Newman, who's challenging Rep. Dan Lipinski in a primary, raised $260,000 last quarter, per a statement from her campaign.

- IL-06: Democrat Kelly Mazeski has $510,000 in cash on hand, per a statement from her campaign.

- NJ-03: Democrat Andy Kim brought in $350,000 last quarter, according to his campaign.

- UT-04: Democrat Ben McAdams, mayor of Salt Lake City, raised $500,000 last quarter, per a statement from his campaign.

- Minnesota governor: Democratic Rep. Tim Walz raised $1.1 million in 2017, while fellow Democrat Chris Coleman, the former mayor of St. Paul, said he raised $800,000, The Associated Press reported.

- South Carolina governor: Republican Catherine Templeton raised $720,000 last quarter, ending with $2.3 million in cash on hand, The Post and Courier reported.

- "Gibbons Gives Himself $5 Million Boost After Mandel Leaves U.S. Senate Race," by WOSU's Jo Ingles: "Cleveland-area businessman Mike Gibbons has heard the criticism that he's not able to raise the money needed to take on Brown. So he says he'll put $5 million of his own money in his campaign coffers, now that front-runner Josh Mandel is out of the race." Full story.

PRIMARY PROBLEMS - "Congressional candidate Levi Tillemann says top House Democrat Steny Hoyer urged him to end primary campaign," by Colorado Politics' Ernest Luning: "Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in House leadership, encouraged Democrat Levi Tillemann to end his primary campaign in Colorado's 6th Congressional District during a December meeting at a Denver hotel, saying that state and national congressional and party leaders had decided 'very early on' to consolidate their resources behind another Democrat, Jason Crow. ... "If we just lay back as leaders that have some experience, as leaders that have gone through that district four or five times and lost,
that's not a rational thing to do." Full story.

FROM THE COURTROOM - "Judge ends consent decree limiting RNC 'ballot security' activities," by Gerstein: "After more than three decades, Republicans are free of a federal court consent decree that sharply limited the Republican National Committee's ability to engage to challenge voters' qualifications and target the kind of fraud President Donald Trump has alleged affected the 2016 presidential race. ... The agreement, which dates to 1982, arose from a Democratic National Committee lawsuit charging the RNC with seeking to discourage African Americans from voting through targeted mailings warning about penalties for violating election laws and by posting armed, off-duty law enforcement
officers at the polls in minority neighborhoods." Full story.

NUMBER TWO - "Cordray to name Betty Sutton as running mate in Ohio," via Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray will announce former Rep. Betty Sutton as his running mate, multiple Democrats with knowledge of Cordray's selection confirmed to POLITICO. Cordray's selection means Sutton will end her own gubernatorial campaign." Full story.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "In politics, he's probably done, but I'm not sure he cares." - Lee Stranahan, a former Breitbart News writer, said to POLITICO about Steve Bannon's departure from Breitbart.

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