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By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, aburns@politico.com )


BREAKING AT THE RNC - "Jeff Larson to be named RNC chief of staff" - POLITICO's Jonathan Martin: "RNC Chair Reince Priebus is expected to name Jeff Larson, a longtime Minnesota-based GOP strategist, to be the committee's chief of staff on Thursday, POLITICO has learned. ... His former firm, FLS Connect, specialized in voter contact and Larson worked in that capacity as a consultant on both of President George W. Bush's campaigns and then served as CEO of the host committee when Republicans held their convention in the Twin Cities in 2008. While not the sort given to appearing on cable TV, Larson has earned a sterling reputation in the GOP operative world as a smart and capable strategist. 'He's an adult,' said a Republican official familiar with the pick." http://politi.co/gizkvV


EXCLUSIVE - LARSON COMMENTS: "Republicans have great potential to build on our wins in 2010 and I am honored by the opportunity to be a part of it as the Chief of Staff of the RNC. I share Chairman Priebus' passion for the Republican Party and his vision to run an efficient and effective committee. The transition team has gotten off to a tremendous start and I look forward to continuing on their successes by putting together a talented team to continue the RNC's rich tradition of electing Republicans."


FIRST IN SCORE - 'JOE AND O' - The National Republican Senatorial Committee will release its first web ad of the 2012 cycle this morning, using West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin's vote against repealing health care reform to paint the freshman Democrat as a very willing ally of the White House. "You've seem 'em on tour. The greatest duos of our time," the ad's narrator opens, as pictures of Sonny and Cher, and then Siegfried and Roy appear on screen. "Now, one duo will change everything." The video continues in the style of a concert commercial, showing Obama and Manchin on a jumbotron over a cheering crowd: "It's Joe and O, on tour together ... Including Joe and O's latest hit, 'Voting against Repealing Obamacare.'" Watch the full video: http://bit.ly/i7CV4R


MORE - The NRSC's health care-themed campaign against Manchin will also take the form of Google and Facebook ads targeted to West Virginia, as well as banners on West Virginia news sites and the Drudge Report. All of them link to the website www.joeando.com. Manchin released a statement on his health care vote Wednesday night, defending "the good parts of the bill" and arguing: "We should make every effort to work together on repairing this bill before we start talking about repealing it." But for a Democrat elected in West Virginia, the health care debate is always going to be a real political risk - as Manchin learned during his campaign last year.


As George Will swoons, Mitt Romney leads in Utah and the Las Vegas mayor's race takes a nepotistic turn, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.


TODAY - BULLFIGHT LAUNCHES: Outgoing Media Matters president Eric Burns will announce that he's founding a strategic communications firm, Bullfight Strategies, aimed at showing clients how to combine "effective messaging with a unique understanding of how to aggressively and creatively drive a successful media narrative." Burns is joined in the enterprise by Karl Frisch, another Media Matters alum, and Clay Johnson, one of the founders of Blue State Digital. From the release: "Burns and Frisch built the backbone behind Media Matters' rapid response communications structure that has forever altered the political and news media landscape ... Johnson, an original co-founder of Blue State Digital, is a respected pioneer of digital communications whose technical acumen is unmatched." Full announcement: http://bit.ly/eMHN1i


MORE - MMFA RIPPLES: Burns isn't the only Media Matters executive heading in a more overtly political direction. David Brock, the organization's chairman, has been assembling a third-party campaign group, American Bridge, to compete with the big outside spenders on the right. Burns told Score that he continues to work closely with Brock and consulted with him about founding Bullfight. "How I view this is the Media Matters family - that's really what we are - spreading our wings a little bit," Burns said. "It's certainly possible that we could work with American Bridge, going forward, but nothing has been decided on that front. I'm continuing to advise not only Media Matters but to advise David in what he is doing, going forward."


THE 2012 SCORE - THUNE'S CHOICE: The betting odds currently say the South Dakota senator probably won't run for president, but John Thune insists it's still too early to say. POLITICO's Martin and Raju report on the state of Thune's thinking, including one "more personal factor could keep him in the Senate. His wife, Kimberley, read 'Game Change,' the blockbuster 2008 campaign book that revealed an array of candidate-spouse spats and depicted a brutal life on the campaign trail. 'It was not helpful,' he joked, calling the book a 'downer.' ... Thune and some of his closest aides said he is truly undecided, but it's clear that he's already honing a message in the event he plunges into a contest likely to be filled with current and former governors. The senator would contrast himself with other presidential hopefuls by portraying himself as the lone candidate who has been at the forefront of the national battles against President Barack Obama - something that could thwart attacks that he's a Washington insider." http://politi.co/e1ANQF N.H. SIREN - SULLIVAN SIGNS HICKS: Former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan has enlisted Karen Hicks, the former senior aide to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, in forming a Democratic 501(c)4 group dubbed the July Fourth Forum. The Union Leader's John DiStaso: "Sullivan told the Granite Status this week that the July Fourth Forum, Inc., has now been registered with the New Hampshire Secretary of State's Corporate Division ... The July Fourth Forum will soon begin commenting via press releases, e-mail and the like on what Sullivan calls the promotion of 'responsible and ethical government.' ... The group's board is still being formed, but so far members include former state Sen. Peter Burling and attorney Paul Twomey. Recently added was veteran Democratic operative/organizer/strategist Karen Hicks, whose most recent entry in a long resume of political posts was as field director for Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign." http://bit.ly/g6TA8j


EARLY VALENTINE: Washington Post columnist and conservative doyen George F. Will pens a love letter to Rick Santorum today, suggesting the former Pennsylvania senator could be a viable presidential candidate because social conservatives "are feeling neglected and are looking for someone like Santorum." "How can he, having lost his last election, run for president? Isn't he a spent political force? Well, was Richard Nixon defunct after losing the California gubernatorial race in 1962?" Will asks, continuing: "Santorum does not ignore economic issues, but as a relentless ethicist, he recasts those as moral issues ... He is, of course, correct that America's debt crisis is, at bottom, symptomatic of a failure of self-control, a fundamental moral failing." http://bit.ly/e6Z9Ai


THAT MAKES TWO: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann will visit South Carolina on Feb. 19, CNN reports, following up her trip to the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa with a jaunt to a second early presidential state. Peter Hamby: "The outspoken conservative and Tea Party favorite will address a South Carolina Federation of Republican Women lunch in Columbia ... Spartanburg County Republican Party Chairwoman LaDonna Ryggs told CNN Wednesday. Bachmann will headline a fundraiser for the Spartanburg County Republican Party later that evening. 'She is obviously exploring her options and seeing what's out there,' Ryggs told CNN." http://bit.ly/eM1Bx3


SENATE SCOOP - CATANESE SAYS MOURDOCK'S IN: Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar is about to draw a formidable primary challenge from state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, a Republican who won reelection last year by the widest margin of any statewide election winner. POLITICO's David Catanese: "Mourdock, a former county commissioner who won the treasurer's office in 2006, has been solidifying his plans by reaching out to campaign operatives and vendors and was in Washington this week to touch base with a coterie of players who could aid his insurgent bid. 'Mourdock is meeting folks around town. He was here yesterday. I'm expecting a public announcement very soon,' one conservative operative told POLITICO. Offered another GOP player, 'I understand Mourdock is planning to jump into the race soon. Sounded like weeks, not days.'" http://politi.co/hqWEE3


MORE - OH, BEHAVE: "Mourdock's itinerary included a meeting with South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who developed a reputation as a crowning conservative king-maker during the 2010 cycle. But DeMint has publicly promised not to oppose any sitting Republican incumbents this cycle -- an olive branch extended to the National Republican Senatorial Committee." Also on Mourdock's itinerary was a meeting with the Club for Growth, Mike Connolly, a spokesman for the group confirmed to Score. "We're looking at every possible upgrade opportunity in House and Senate races, irrespective of which party holds the seat now," he said. http://politi.co/hqWEE3


POLL OF THE DAY: Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman will face a serious challenge on his home turf if he competes with Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination in 2012. Washington Post polling guru Jon Cohen reports that an Exoro Group/University of Utah poll gave Romney a huge, 65 percent to 16 percent lead over Huntsman among Republican voters in the heavily Mormon state. Cohen: "Including all Utah voters, Romney still had a big 20-point margin, winning 48 to 28 percent. (The poll was conducted before Huntsman announced his intention to resign from his post as U.S. Ambassador to China.) ... Huntsman left office with sky-high approval ratings, scoring 84 percent in a March 2009 Utah voter poll." http://wapo.st/i43wfI More on "The Mormon primary" here: http://politi.co/enlzlg


DYNASTY WATCH - VEGAS EDITION: In a surprise reversal of her stated plans, Carolyn Goodman - the wife of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman - has announced that she'll run to succeed her husband when he leaves office this year. KVVU-TV's Jason Latham: "Every candidate on the ballot was hoping to get the endorsement from the term-limited 'happiest mayor in the universe,' but it's pretty obvious now who Oscar Goodman will be supporting. ... But Mrs. Goodman established her own identity and base of supporters more than two decades ago when she founded the Meadows School. ... Now she enters a race that includes Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross and Clark County commissioners Larry Brown and Chris Giunchigliani, along with several lesser known candidates." http://bit.ly/gHlzvu


CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Secretary Gates is both amused and flattered by the website, but he will retire from government for good later this year ... He looks forward to following the 2012 presidential campaign from his home in the Pacific Northwest." - Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, responding to a website set up to draft the current defense secretary into the 2012 race http://politi.co/gtH3zo

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