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By Kyle Cheney

With Andrew Restuccia

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. (
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TODAY ON CAMPAIGN PRO - "Dems in a bind as Manchin, Heitkamp, McCaskill weigh governor runs," by Campaign Pro's Kyle Cheney:
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BOXER PUNCHES OUT - "All eyes on Newsom, Harris for Boxer seat," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt, with Darren Goode: "[M]ost of the attention turned to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Kamala Harris ... the contest could be among the most expensive Senate races in history. For years, the state's political class has buzzed about the tantalizing possibility that Newsom and Harris would one day collide ... Democratic operatives close to the pair ... said there was virtually no chance Newsom and Harris, political contemporaries who began their careers in San Francisco, would square off; instead, they said, one would run for Boxer's seat while the other would agree to wait until 2018,
when the state's governorship will be open and the other Senate seat could be, too. 'They're going to make a pact,' said Joe Cotchett, a prominent San Francisco-area trial attorney who is friends with Newsom and Harris."
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- Per POLITICO Pro Energy's Andrew Restuccia: Steyer eyeing Senate seat - Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is mulling the possibility of running for Boxer's seat, according to a person close to the former hedge fund trader. 'My sense is that he will take a look at it and consider it over the next few days or so,' the person said. The person added that Steyer has been approached by some in the liberal community to run while other have urged him to run for governor of California. Steyer has spent millions of dollars on federal elections in recent years to raise the political profile of climate change. If he runs, Steyer would likely be one of the most environmentally focused
candidates in the country.

- 'Issa: Boxer's seat was already 'vacant,'" by POLITICO's Jake Sherman: California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa declined to discuss his interest in the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Barbara Boxer - and instead criticized her tenure in office. "There's been a vacancy for two decades," Issa said outside a men's room near the House floor. "The fact that she's not running doesn't change the fact it's always been a vacant office." Pressed about his interest, Issa replied, "Thanks guys." California is a solidly blue state but Issa has hundreds of millions of dollars and could self-fund a campaign. Issa has mounted unsuccessful statewide races in the past.

- L.A. mayor won't run for Senate: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who had been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, said today on social media that he won't run for the Senate. "I love my job and I love my city and I am committed to the work here," said Garcetti, a Democrat first elected in 2013, on his verified Twitter account. "I will not run for Sen. Boxer's seat." His tweet:
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FROM THE COURTHOUSE - "Grand jury investigating loans to Kansas governor's campaign," by The Associated Press' Roxana Hegeman from Wichita: "A subpoena obtained by The Associated Press shows a federal grand jury is looking into loans made to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's re-election campaign. The subpoena orders the executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission to appear Wednesday in Topeka and to provide documents pertaining to loans Brownback's campaign received in 2013 and 2014. The Dec. 2 subpoena doesn't say which specific loans are being investigated, but the only loans listed on campaign disclosure reports for those years are one from Brownback himself
and others from Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer. Colyer loaned Brownback's campaign $500,000 in August, the third such loan Brownback's running mate made to the governor's re-election bid."
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- The Wichita Eagle's Bran Lowry highlighted the questionable loans - and some contradictory statements by the governor - in reporting just before the election:
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"Grand jury recommends criminal charges against Attorney General Kathleen Kane," by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Craig R. McCoy and Angela Couloumbis: "The special prosecutor and grand jury investigating allegations that Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane leaked secret information to a newspaper have found evidence of wrongdoing and recommended that she be criminally charged, according to numerous people familiar with the decision. The panel concluded that Kane violated grand-jury secrecy rules by leaking investigative material in a bid to embarrass political enemies, sources said. Some of those familiar with the grand jury presentment say it recommended charges that included perjury and
contempt of court."
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Score analysis: Strategists and experts in Pennsylvania once considered Kane the party's top prospect in the presidential swing state. But she's been enmeshed in controversy for months now. Pollster Terry Madonna wondered in December whether Kane could "survive her first term in office." Observers on both sides of the aisle have mentioned the same prospect and suggested that if she can't, the office could become a landing spot for another of the state's up-and-coming political stars, like Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro.

While Rahm nears the magic number and a Congressman considers his self-imposed term limit, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: daily news, notes and essential information for the 2015 and 2016 election cycles.

Days until the 2015 election: 297; Days until the 2016 election: 669

Thanks for joining us. We're eager for your news and feedback. Email us at
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kcheney@politico.com or find us on Twitter at @
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kyledcheney .

TODAY ON POLITICO - "Bush blasts off," by Todd S. Purdum: "[A]lmost overnight, the former Florida governor's pre-Christmas announcement that he's seriously considering a presidential campaign has electrified the political world ... This week alone, Bush has established a leadership PAC that raised more than $100,000 in a matter of hours, suggested that Americans should accept court rulings in favor of gay marriage and "show respect" for gay couples in committed relationships, taken a veiled swipe at Hillary Clinton and begun the process of racking up frequent flyer miles to meet with donors and supporters who might transform the nascent 2016 Republican field by signing on to his potential
bid." ... Jeb Bush does not possess the power to effectively clear the field and lock up the GOP establishment that his brother, former President George W. Bush, did in the runup to his 2000 campaign. But Jeb Bush does have the immediate ability to tap the resources."
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CHICAGO MAYOR - "Emanuel hits 50 percent mark in latest poll," by the Chicago Business's Greg Hinz: "Rahm Emanuel has strengthened his political backing as his television ads flood the airwaves, and the mayor now has about what he needs to win in February without facing a runoff election, according to his latest poll. The survey released this evening by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows Emanuel getting support from 50 percent of likely voters. That's the magic number he needs to win outright on Feb. 24, and the percentage could rise because the poll found 9 percent of voters still undecided.
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FIELDING - "Congressman says wife nixed Senate run," by Roll Call's Alexis Levinson: "Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., does not plan to run for Senate, he told CQ Roll Call Wednesday. 'Nope. My wife's pretty clear on that,' he said just outside the House chamber, when asked if he was still thinking about running for Senate."
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- State rep announces bid for Congress in PA-08: Pennsylvania state Rep. Steve Santarsiero announced Thursday that he intends to run for Congress in the district of retiring Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. Santarsiero, who filed a formal statement of candidacy, gives Democrats a top recruit in the swing district heading into a presidential election cycle. His announcement was accompanied by statements of support from former Rep. Allyson Schwartz and John Cordisco, chairman of the Bucks County Democratic Party. Prior to joining the state legislature in 2009 - when he turned a long-held Republican seat blue - Santarsiero spent a career as an attorney and high school teacher.
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- "Local GOP urging Fitzpatrick to break his term limit pledge," by Hotline's Jack Fitzpatrick: "Fitzpatrick is learning firsthand the paradox of self-imposed term limits: If he really is so principled that he'll retire even when he's favored to win, it might only make voters like him more. Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Bucks County, outside Philadelphia, promised in 2004 to serve no more than four terms in the House ... [F]our ... Republican elected officials told National Journal they've brought it up with Fitzpatrick in one-on-one conversations, and some plan on making a more formal push in the future.
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- Per Roll Call: "Chemist Shaughnessy Naughton, who came within a couple points of the Democratic nomination in 2014, confirmed she might run a second time for the seat."
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IT'S SHUMLIN - State legislature gives Vermont gov. another two years: "Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin was elected to a third two-year term by the state Legislature Thursday morning, the end of a longer-than-expected 2014 campaign for the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. The tally of secret paper ballots gave Shumlin 110 votes, compared to 69 for Republican Scott Milne. Shumlin had won a narrow plurality of the vote on Nov. 4, 46.4 percent to 45.1 percent. But because neither Shumlin nor Milne won a majority, the race was kicked to the state Legislature, where Democrats control both houses."

- Inaugural theatrics: The fury at Shumlin on the left was on display in the Vermont House chamber, where pro-single payer health care advocates repeatedly disrupted Shumlin's inaugural proceedings, shouting over the attempts by speakers to continue with the afternoon program. Shumlin infuriated advocates last month when he shelved his long-touted plan to implement single payer in Vermont, citing unworkable fiscal dynamics. The most boisterous interruptions came immediately before and immediately after Shumlin's address during the closing benediction.

POLL POSITION - "RNC gives Iowa GOP a green light for straw poll," by POLITICO's James Hohmann: "The Republican National Committee has given the Iowa GOP permission to conduct its quadrennial straw poll this August, a decision eagerly awaited by state party officials ahead of a vote this weekend on the popular but controversial event's future ... RNC general counsel John Ryder concluded that, if promoted properly, the straw poll is kosher. The Iowa GOP's central committee is meeting in Des Moines on Saturday to vote on whether to go ahead with the straw poll, which is usually held in Ames, Iowa. Ryder's decision virtually guarantees there will be enough votes on the committee to keep the
event, three central committee members said."
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "There's only one very, very large item that me and Bill de Blasio disagree on: I'm a New York Yankee fan and I think he's still a Boston Red Sox fan." - Republican billionaire John Catsimatidis, a former New York City mayoral candidate, to the New York Observer:
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