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By Elena Schneider | 11/28/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Scott Bland

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)

WHAT'S NEXT - "Democrats look to 2018 governor's races for rebuild," by POLITICO's Scott Bland, Gabriel Debenedetti and Kevin Robillard: "Shell-shocked Democrats looking to recover from 2016 see the large slate of upcoming governor's races as their most likely path out of the political wilderness - starting in the Midwest. Twenty-seven of the 38 governorships up in 2017 and 2018 are Republican-held, including many seats that will be open after eight years of GOP control. That means widespread opportunities for Democratic gains, as well as a critical chance for new ideas and new blood to emerge as the party seeks to identify its next generation of leaders and dig out from a low point after
President-elect Donald Trump's shocking White House win. The sweeping gubernatorial map takes in virtually every national battleground state and segment of the electorate. Diversifying states where Democrats have struggled in recent midterms, like Florida, Nevada and New Mexico, will have open races in 2018. Unorthodox Republicans who carried blue states like Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts in 2014 will face reelection challenges, too, while Democrats will also look to replicate recent successes in a handful of red states. And critically, Democrats itching to prove they can still win in the Midwest will get the opportunity to test themselves by chasing GOP-held governorships in Iowa,
Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin."

- Key quote ... "I don't think there's any question that 2018 will be a watershed year for the Democratic Party in the Midwest," said Joe Rugola, an Ohio labor leader with AFSCME and an at-large member of the Democratic National Committee. "We have to reverse some of the voter patterns we saw in 2016 or we're going to end up with two Americas." Full story.

SORE WINNER - "Trump's baseless assertions of voter fraud called 'stunning,'" by POLITICO's Andrew Restuccia: "Donald Trump on Sunday used the platform of the presidency to peddle a fringe conspiracy theory to justify his loss of the popular vote, claiming without evidence that millions of people voted illegally Nov. 8. Trump's tweets marked an unprecedented rebuke of the U.S. electoral system by a president-elect and were met with immediate condemnation from voting experts and others. And they offered a troubling indication that Trump's ascension to the highest political office in the United States may not alter his penchant for repeating unproven conspiracies perpetuated by the far-right.
'In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,' Trump wrote on Twitter. There is no evidence to support Trump's claim and PolitiFact ruled it false. Election law experts quickly rejected Trump's claim as farfetched." Full story.

- GREENS START HOPELESS RECOUNT PROCESS - "Trump rages as Clinton helps recount," by POLITICO's Brent Griffiths: "After a period of public silence about the results of the 2016 election, Clinton's top campaign lawyer said the campaign will play a role in the recount initiated Friday by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. It will follow the same approach in Michigan and Pennsylvania if the third-party hopeful pursues recounts in those states as she has indicated. 'Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we
intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides,' Marc Elias, Clinton's general counsel, wrote Saturday on Medium. Trump delivered a measured response - measured by his standards - attacking Stein directly but refraining from criticizing Clinton. 'This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than one percent of the vote overall and wasn't even on the ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount,' Trump said in a statement released by his transition team." Full story.

- "On the back of a debunked fear of election tampering in key swing states, the Green Party presidential candidate raised nearly $5 million to fund a recount effort." Full story.

DOWN-BALLOT RECOUNT UPDATE - "Elections officials: Need more than a news release to act on McCrory's recount deal," by The Raleigh News and Observer's Craig Jarvis: "Gov. Pat McCrory's offer to withdraw his demand for a statewide recount of the votes cast in the general election in exchange for a hand count of Durham County ballots remained unresolved Sunday. The State Board of Elections held an emergency meeting by phone on Sunday afternoon to consider a request for an expedited appeal of ballot tabulation concerns that the Durham County elections board had rejected. The meeting was called after McCrory's campaign sent out a news release Saturday night proposing that deal. But the
governor's campaign had not made a formal request to the state board as of the time it met, and so the board had nothing to act on." Full story.

- CA-49 UPDATE - Issa maintains solid lead, but advantage (2,348) cut in half since last week: GOP Rep. Darrell Issa's lead is down since we last checked in on Friday, Nov. 18, but he still has an edge over Democratic challenger Doug Applegate. Issa's advantage has slipped from 4,953 because of Applegate's strength in San Diego County. There are still about 52,000 uncounted mail and provisional ballots in San Diego County, according to the latest count by the county voter registrar Sunday night. But: Only a fraction of those will be in CA-49, and Applegate is running out of time and room to make up the gap.

Days until the 2017 election: 345.

Days until the 2018 election: 709.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we continue to tweet about politics and occasionally about dogs on Thanksgiving: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

DOING SOMETHING? SAY SOMETHING - Starting or joining a new consulting firm? Got work to tout from your current firm? Overhear some post-election gossip on the National Review cruise? Get in touch, and we'll get it in Score: tmeyer@politico.com or eschneider@politico.com.

2018 WATCH - Tom Udall to decide on New Mexico governor run by year's end, by the Santa Fe New Mexican's Milan Simonich: "'I could probably delay this more, but I think it's better off for the party not to,' Udall ... said in an interview. If he runs for governor, most or all other Democrats who want the job will stay on the sidelines. ... On Thanksgiving Day, at a family gathering in Corrales, he discussed with his wife, daughter and son-in-law the possibility of entering the race. Udall wouldn't disclose what they said. ... Udall said he has long thought of running for governor. As state attorney general in the 1990s, he worked alongside Govs. Bruce King and Gary Johnson, and envisioned
himself in the job they held. Instead, he opted to run for Congress. ... Now, at age 68, he is again taking a long look at the governor's race." Full story.

- See more 2018 rumblings in the roundup here.

STILL 2016 - LOUISIANA'S NEXT SENATOR, PROBABLY - "John Kennedy taps Trump connection," by The Times-Picayune's Richard Rainey: "Kennedy has politics and the dominating public attitudes of the day on his side. An early front-runner, he has never trailed in independent polls. He took one out of every four votes in the 24-candidate primary. Despite decades in public service and 16 years in elected office, his self-presentation as a political outsider seems to be working. For Kennedy, 65, it's about time. He has tinkered with the alchemy of winning a seat in Congress' higher chamber for more than a dozen years. He has switched targets, even switched parties, but lost Senate races in 2004 and
2008. That, however, was before his anti-Washington message caught a groove in the rising age of Donald Trump." Full story.

UP ON THE HILL - "5 senators essential to Trump's success - or failure," by POLITICO's Elana Schor: "Republicans will control both sides of the Capitol next year, and with Donald Trump in the White House, GOP lawmakers are eager to make good on their campaign promises and enact sweeping changes to everything from Obamacare to immigration. But there's a catch: Their narrow 52-vote majority in the Senate doesn't give Republicans a lot of margin for error. They'll have to win some Democratic support if they want to block any filibuster threats, and red-state senators up for reelection in 2018 are likely to be prime targets. And even a small number of GOP defections - particularly from the
party's dwindling moderate wing - could spell an early demise for overly ambitious proposals." Including: Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Full story.

PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION UPDATE - "In father's scandal, the genesis of Jared Kushner's unflinching loyalty," by The Washington Post's Shawn Boburg: "Jared Kushner was just an undergrad at Harvard when politicians began receiving big-dollar campaign donations bearing his name. In reality, the money was sent by his father, a powerful New Jersey real estate mogul. Over the course of several years, Charles Kushner pumped half a million dollars into political campaigns, avoiding legal limits by attributing checks to family members and business associates without their knowledge. The scheme sent the elder Kushner to prison and engulfed the family in scandal. It was a defining and pivotal episode
for Jared Kushner, now 35, who is poised to become one of the most trusted advisers to his father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump. The donation scandal provides a glimpse of the privilege and influence that marked Kushner's upbringing in a prominent family. But friends say it also reveals in Kushner a fundamental trait that Trump prizes and has strengthened their bond: unflinching loyalty." Full story.

- "Democrats wrestle with Rust Belt dilemma," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "One month ago, Democrats viewed Arizona and Georgia as winnable states for the first time in decades. And demographic trends seem to have put Texas in play as well. But then came Hillary Clinton's shocking loss to Donald Trump, powered largely by her unexpected weakness across the traditionally Democratic industrial states of the Rust Belt. Now, party officials in the fast-growing, so-called purple states that so recently looked within reach - all of which also fell to Trump - are increasingly wary that national party leaders will redirect their focus toward Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, denying them
the critical attention and resources that might otherwise accelerate their movement toward swing state status." Full story.

- "Trump advisers hit Mitt," by POLITICO's Andrew Restuccia: "Top advisers to President-elect Donald Trump escalated their attacks on Mitt Romney on Sunday, catapulting their long-simmering frustrations on to TV news in an extraordinary public airing of grievances. In a series of interviews on the Sunday political talk shows, Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump aide, argued firmly against tapping Romney for secretary of state, echoing internal skepticism among some in Trump's inner circle." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We'll wait to see how the next few months play out, but I'm looking forward to the challenge." - Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), talking about the beginning of the Trump Administration and the run-up to 2018 in the Flathead Beacon.

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