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By Theodoric Meyer | 04/13/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard, Scott Bland, Daniel Lippman 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)

SUPER PAC MISSTEP - "White House demands Maryland super PAC pull Senate ad," by POLITICO's Edward-Isaac Dovere and Kevin Robillard: "The White House is wading into one of the hardest-fought Democratic primaries in the country - to tell one side to stop invoking the president on its behalf. In an unprecedented and forceful move, President Barack Obama's administration is slamming a new gun control-themed ad from a super PAC backing Rep. Donna Edwards for Senate in Maryland, calling it 'misleading' and demanding it be pulled down. ... the ad, written to hit a nerve, hit the wrong nerve in the White House, where gun control is the most emotional issue from the Oval Office on down. Political
director David Simas moved immediately on Tuesday to get the ad hitting Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Edwards' opponent, taken off the air, acting on behalf of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who's been leading the administration's gun control push." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef37052cbc91ea63825768f726fe6becd3db3f472aafb59297f6b20

NEW OUTSIDE GROUP UNVEILED - "Mercer backs new super PAC for N.Y. House races," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef3705255c1168c929283c99a807943206de47b07848740154c48f5

GETTING THE NOD - Fiorina super PAC will now play in Senate races: Carly Fiorina is long out of the presidential race, but she still seem to be trying to exert influence in 2016 elections - and so is the super PAC that backed her. The super PAC, CARLY for America, will this morning send a fundraising email from Fiorina announcing her endorsements of GOP Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mike Lee of Utah, as well as Rep. Marlin Stutzman, the more anti-establishment of the two Republicans running for Indiana's open Senate seat. "These candidates are the kinds of citizen-leaders we need to take our country back, and take on the political establishment in 2016," Fiorina writes in the email.
"But believe me: these are also the kind of strong conservative leaders that Republican party bosses would love to see lose in 2016." The super PAC still had $1.4 million on hand on Feb. 29.

Days until the New York primary: 6. Days until the 2016 election: 209.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about our fears of a robot takeover: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @theodoricmeyer.

POLL NUMBERS - NBC/Marist poll: Van Hollen 44, Edwards 38: Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen has the edge over Rep. Donna Edwards in Maryland's Democratic Senate primary, according to NBC4/Marist University poll of the contest released Tuesday. Among likely voters, Van Hollen is earning 44 percent of the vote to Edwards' 38 percent, the poll said. Eighteen percent of voters are undecided.

CASH HUSTLE - End Citizens United raises $4.1 million in first quarter: End Citizens United PAC, which backs Democrats who support campaign finance reform, banked $4.1 million in the first quarter, giving the PAC - which is not a super PAC - $3.9 million in cash on hand. The PAC has shelled out on TV ads recently urging vulnerable GOP senators to move forward with filling the Supreme Court vacancy.

MORE SENATE FUNDRAISING NUMBERS - Arkansas: GOP Sen. John Boozman raised about $802,000 in the first quarter, giving him $1.8 million in cash on hand, The Associated Press reports. Democrat Conner Eldridge brought in about $315,000 in the quarter and had about $372,000 in cash on hand. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef370529bd7080f08d78359327ba499086fba8b658ea6ff7a60e4df

- North Carolina: GOP Rep. Richard Burr raised $1.1 million in the first quarter, giving him $5.8 million in cash on hand, according to his campaign. Democrat Deborah Ross raised $1.3 million in the quarter, her campaign said. It did not release cash on hand figures.

MORE HOUSE FUNDRAISING NUMBERS - CA-31: Republican Sean Flynn raised more than $462,000 in the first quarter and has about $390,000 on hand for his bid to challenge Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar, his campaign said.

- MI-08: Democrat Melissa Gilbert raised about $319,000 in the first quarter, according to her campaign.

- MN-07: Democratic Rep. Colin Peterson raised about $155,000 in the first quarter, according to his FEC report, giving him about $469,000 in cash on hand.

- NY-19: Democrat Will Yandik has raised more than $256,000 in the first quarter, The Times Union reports. His primary rival for the open seat, Zephyr Teachout, previously announced she'd raised $530,000. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef370527a4781c47474df73b8b5a3f30b6d5e3715e20aa6c355a210

- PA-08: Republican Brian Fitzpatrick raised about $452,000 ahead of the April 26 primary, giving him about $413,000 on hand. Democrat Steve Santarsiero brought in about $428,000, his campaign said, but declined to say how he had banked. Santarsiero's primary rival, Shaughnessy Naughton, declined to provide fundraising figures.

- UT-04: GOP Rep. Mia Love raised $611,000 between Jan. 1 and April 3, the odd time period covered by the FEC report her campaign was required to file ahead of her state's Republican convention. She had $1.1 million in cash on hand. Her Democratic rival, Doug Owens, raised about $399,000, giving him $766,000 in cash on hand.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH $9.1 MILLION? - David Trone has spent it running for Congress: The Democratic candidate running in Maryland's 8th District made the disclosure in a full-page ad in The Washington Post (yet another expenditure). The Post's Bill Turque notes that it means Trone has likely spent more of his own money than any House candidate in history. Here's Trone's explanation: "Campaigns shouldn't be this expensive. But they are, especially when you're a big underdog in an expensive, fragmented media market. ... I'm self-funding because it's the right thing to do. It's better than taking money from PACs, lobbyists and other big donors. It has made me a better candidate, and I believe
it will make me a more effective congressman." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef370520bed1b2011e3564ee25329412241e838118c98450b42e826

RULING IT OUT - Top GOP prospect won't run in FL-13: "Republican former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, widely viewed as the only Republican with a shot at winning the Pinellas congressional seat to be vacated by David Jolly, has decided against running for the seat," The Tampa Bay Times' Adam Smith reports. The district has become more Democratic under court-ordered redistricting. "The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination is former Gov. Charlie Crist, and a Crist vs. Baker race would have been one of the most watched in the country. Crist still faces a stronger-than-expected primary challenge from former Defense Department official Eric Lynn, and the Democratic nominee will likely
face a low-profile Republican in the general election." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef370520086f163a39e0e97d5ba33f81a36a36da4727e30c230d6c4

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump's missed opportunity," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney: Another week gone, another opportunity lost for Donald Trump to pick up Republican National Convention delegates. Nebraska is tailor-made for Ted Cruz, and when the state holds its winner-take-all primary on May 10, party leaders say Trump is an all-but certain loser. Facing those dim prospects, Trump's best hope in the state may have been to get a few of his supporters on the list of people who will fill those delegate slots - supporters who, in later rounds of voting at a contested convention, would be inclined to abandon Cruz and help Trump. But that's where the billionaire appears to have missed his
chance: Party officials say they saw virtually no organization by the mogul's campaign last week when Republicans in all 93 Nebraska counties held local conventions." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef37052fdf8af67a127cc66fd13d8a547de20df6f23e7b3bf5eff5f

- "Cruz's message to Wall Street: Help me," by POLITICO's Ben White: This Monday, assorted bankers, traders and Wall Street lawyers will gather inside the neo-Georgian walls of the Harvard Club in midtown Manhattan to write big checks to an unlikely recipient: Ted Cruz," who's railed against "crony capitalism" and banks that are too big to fail. "But now he's desperate: Cruz, who has already received $12 million in support from the financial industry, needs Wall Street money more than ever." Some bankers see Cruz as the lesser of two evils - but others can't bring themselves to back him. "'I couldn't do it because I just don't like the guy,' [the investor Ken] Langone said, echoing
sentiments uttered privately by executives all over the financial industry." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef37052d648206508c8d1c7621b7d176a3d35a71a422867e7fe9b81

- John Kasich may not win any of the six northeastern states - New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island - that will cast primary ballots in the next two weeks. But the pressure's on to beat Ted Cruz in all of them. "John needs to at least come in second in all of these states," former Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), a Kasich supporter, told The Wall Street Journal. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef3705245c15d8ed3bd91b414422002f9928a4c2ac1db832355368b

- "Bernie's allies sweat Vatican trip," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "It's just a quick jump across the Atlantic, a two-day turnaround. But Sen. Bernie Sanders' decision to leave the campaign trail late Thursday and head to a Vatican City conference later this week still has some allies scratching their heads and wondering if it's the best use of the underdog's limited time." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef3705234fa259d597d43e614769d932142bfbfe68c2706d2361409

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We are very blessed that our opponent had no idea what he was doing on this until about a month ago." - Ken Cuccinelli, who's overseeing Ted Cruz's efforts to secure Republican National Convention delegates who will be loyal to him during multiple rounds of balloting. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19a331709ef37052a18b26fa2e51e3fc98ac187cd1ca3a9b284499476d22ce1c

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