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By Theodoric Meyer | 09/14/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard and Maggie Severns

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)

PRIMARY NIGHT - Ashooh concedes to embattled Guinta in NH-01 primary: GOP Rep. Frank Guinta had a narrow lead over his primary challenger early Wednesday morning, who conceded before the AP called the race. Rich Ashooh conceded to Guinta with 97 percent of precincts reporting and a deficit of 661 votes (46.5 percent to 45.3 percent). Guinta defied Sen. Kelly Ayotte and other top New Hampshire Republicans who had called for him to resign last year after he was caught in a campaign finance scandal and ran for reelection, anyway. If he prevails in the primary, he'll face another tough election in less than eight weeks for the swing seat against former Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, whom
he's squared off with three times before. Full results here.

- Van Ostern wins Democratic primary in New Hampshire governor's race, GOP primary uncalled: Democratic Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern will face off against either state Rep. Frank Edelblut or his fellow Executive Councilor Chris Sununu this fall in the New Hampshire governor's race. Van Ostern easily won the Democratic primary with 52 percent of the vote. But the GOP primary remained too close to call with 93 percent of precincts reporting, with Sununu holding onto a slim lead over Edelblut, 30.7 percent to 29.7 percent. Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas trailed with 20.7 percent of the vote. Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan is running for Senate. Full results here.

- Rochester wins DE-AL Democratic primary: Former Delaware Labor Secretary Lisa Blunt Rochester won the state's Democratic at-large House primary on Tuesday, paving the way for her to become the first woman and first African-American to represent the state in Congress next year. Rochester had 43 percent of the vote to state Sen. Bryan Townsend's 25 percent when The Associated Press called the race with 85 percent of precincts reporting. Marine veteran Sean Barney had 20 percent. Rochester emphasized her work for Sen. Tom Carper when he was in the House, as well as her service in Gov. Jack Markell's cabinet, during the race. She outraised her opponents and benefited from $200,000 in outside
spending from EMILY's List. Delaware is heavily Democratic, and Rochester will be expected to easily defeat Republican nominee Hans Reigle in November. Current Democratic Rep. John Carney is running for governor. Full results here.

NO SURE THING - "Republicans pounce on vulnerable Bayh in Indiana," by Campaign Pro's Maggie Severns: "When Evan Bayh made his late leap into Indiana's Senate race in July, he looked like a lock to take back his old seat. Now, no one is so sure. Democrats hoped to scare Republicans out of competing for Indiana altogether with an early show of force this summer, essentially locking up a third Senate pick-up from Republicans' 54-seat majority before the fall campaign even got started. But the GOP has instead poured millions into bashing Bayh and is now redoubling its efforts, as multiple independent surveys now show a much closer campaign than Democratic polls released this summer - and with
that, less margin for error in Democrats' drive to retake the majority, which recently expanded into new vulnerable GOP-held states but has also been set back by developments in Florida and Ohio."

- "Republican groups have already spent $5 million in Indiana on television and canvassing efforts, Federal Election Commission records show. Senate Leadership Fund, the biggest Republican Senate super PAC, began pouring another $4 million in TV advertising into the state on Tuesday ... Democrats' Senate Majority PAC announced on Tuesday that it will begin airing ads in Indiana later this week, as first reported by Roll Call, but did not specify how much it planned to spend or how long the ads would run for. 'We're taking nothing for granted as we work to win back the Senate this November,' said Senate Majority PAC spokesman Shripal Shah. 'Republicans have spent millions - including nearly
$5 million in just the last month - on misleading attacks to prop up Todd Young's struggling campaign. We're not going to let those attacks go unanswered.' ... But right now, Republicans have $7 million reserved in television airtime, less than Bayh and Democrats have reserved. And more pro-Young funds are likely to come from groups like the Chamber of Commerce, which hasn't reserved television airtime in advance." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c284bdc459844441fcbba92f0d2489f7df893a52079d5a12ee5d02457c4b95dc

Days until the 2016 election: 55.

Days until the first presidential debate: 12.

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 tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about girls named Cleo: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

FIRST IN SCORE - Kander goes up with emotional 60-second ad: Democrat Jason Kander will begin airing a TV ad today across Missouri in which he discusses his time in Afghanistan and calls for a "new generation of leaders" in who will do what's right. "There are a lot of men and women serving our country overseas who never ask what's in it for them. They do their jobs in the toughest, hardest, most dangerous places on earth," Kander says in the ad. "I know because I was there alongside many of them." Kander doesn't mention his Republican opponent, Sen. Roy Blunt, by name. But he says that in Washington there are people who put "their party, their pay raises, and their political careers ahead
of doing what's right for our country. We don't change Washington until we change the people we send there." Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7d5f0a8853d967bf36f2ab4f2a2adbb258a3687a1d20e81968

- End Citizens United PAC also went up with a TV ad in the race today. Here's the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7d047fc4d02f0588905a683e0206b8ff0588ae6b3ec729267c

GIMME THAT POLL-TIME RELIGION - Poll: Poliquin 50, Cain 45 in ME-02: GOP Rep. Bruce Poliquin has a narrow lead over Democrat Emily Cain, according to a new poll conducted for Colby College and The Boston Globe. Among likely voters, 50 percent back Poliquin and 45 percent back Cain. At the presidential level, Donald Trump is leading Hillary Clinton, 47 percent to 37 percent. The poll was conducted by SurveyUSA between Sept. 4 and Sept. 10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. Full results: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7d07e5414313792a1d3742695f37468c7591b686332e325978

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HOUSE BATTLEGROUND - Garrett getting super PAC help in NJ-05: GOP Rep. Scott Garrett, who's been under attack by House Majority PAC for months, looks like he's finally getting some help of his own. A super PAC called Campaign for American Principles has booked $145,000 in cable airtime in the race, according to an ad-tracking source. The super PAC was started by Robert George, a Princeton professor who said in an interview last year that the group planned to pressure candidates "to come down on the right side of religious liberty, of the sanctity of human life, of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife." Garrett is a staunch social conservative who's drawn criticism for his
views on gays - but a clip that appears to be the ad trumpets Garrett's work "fighting for small businesses" and "cutting wasteful spending" rather than on social issues.

NEW THIS MORNING - Democratic groups go after Rubio on Social Security: Senate Majority PAC and AFSCME People are out with a new ad attacking GOP Sen. Marco Rubio for saying Social Security "weakened us as a people" in 2011 and linking his stance to $1 million in donations from the insurance industry. "It's not the programs that have weakened us," a narrator says. "It's the politicians that have put profits ahead of us." Watch the ad here.

- Johnson goes positive in new Wisconsin ad: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is airing a new TV ad highlighting his work to help families bring home children they had adopted from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Twenty-five children had died while waiting to leave for the United States. The ad features a testimonial from the mother of one of the children. Johnson "was going to do whatever he could to get these kids home," she says. (An interesting nugget: Johnson's opponent, Democrat Russ Feingold, was the State Department's envoy to the African Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2013 to 2015.) Watch the 30-second version here and the minute-long version here.

MORE ADS - Kirk cuts ad en Español: GOP Sen. Mark Kirk talks about not supporting Donald Trump in a new Spanish-language ad the campaign is airing on Univision and Telemundo. The ad features Kirk saying in Spanish that "when Donald Trump says bad things about immigrants, I have spoken out against him." Kirk also says he supports "immigration reform so families can stay together." Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7dd38f329a902057aab941348146a00427500c11d4ef82acbc

- But it's possible not very many viewers will see Kirk flex his Spanish language skills. The campaign has taken out only $4,900 thus far to air the ad, according to an Illinois ad buying source.

- TRUMP WATCH - DCCC airing Trump-themed Spanish-language ads in TX-23 and FL-26: The DCCC is out with new Spanish-language ads attacking two of the most vulnerable House Republicans who represent districts with large Hispanic populations. A TV ad goes after GOP Rep. Will Hurd in Texas for failing to denounce Donald Trump's words and urges voters to back former Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego instead. And a radio ad in Florida links GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo to Trump. As we've written in recent days, House Democrats are also running ads linking GOP Reps. Erik Paulsen (MN-03) and David Young (IA-03) to Trump. Watch the Hurd ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7ddaf0db8e632053a1597bdcee648b92c08f39a77c37d71a75 Watch the Curbelo ad:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7dc9e2523b246d4106b226258737240fd9375b456da4c08722

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "The return of Corey Lewandowski," by POLITICO's Ben Schreckinger and Kenneth P. Vogel: "Among the Trump campaign staffers and VIPs mingling in a back room at the Manchester Radisson on the last Thursday in August was one blast from the past who is reasserting himself inside Trump world: former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Just six days later, on his home turf in New Hampshire, Lewandowski was back offering advice to Trump insiders behind the scenes at an afternoon campaign rally. Lewandowski and Mike Biundo, Donald Trump's New Hampshire-based senior national adviser, stepped aside to confer about the campaign, according to four people with knowledge of the
meeting. Later, they were joined by the campaign's New Hampshire state director, Matt Ciepielowski, and its state political director, Mark Sanborn. Lewandowski wanted a briefing on the current state of the New Hampshire operation. Two months into the job, Biundo wanted help navigating a campaign organization that remained chaotic." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7d4f0aa9061cf876f4a9ee18f920a5e21a432bf0aecab369a5

- "Clinton's GOP supporters expect something in return," by POLITICO's Darren Samuelsohn: "Republicans backing Hillary Clinton want history to reflect they didn't help Donald Trump win the White House. But that's not the only reason they're bucking their party's line. Access, appointments and influence over a Clinton administration's policies is the just dessert that a growing slate of conservative policy wonks, Capitol Hill veterans and former GOP administration officials say they expect for endorsing and in some cases raising money for the Democratic presidential nominee. And they're already getting it. From messaging help delivered by Clinton's communications team to direct and regular
access to senior staffers and in-person meetings to discuss policy and strategy, Republicans who have abandoned Trump say the Democrat has given every indication that the GOP view will be reflected in her administration." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7d32e22ed94a5835fcb4a33f8355212f81fb7a9141a99a72ae

- "Three of the mysteries in the files of the Donald J. Trump Foundation have been solved. Here's what we know," by The Washington Post's David A. Fahrenthold: "Earlier this week, The Washington Post wrote about five instances where the Donald J. Trump Foundation told the IRS it had given a gift to a charity - but the charity said it had never received the money. On Tuesday, three of those mysteries were solved. Two of the charities said that, on Tuesday - after getting inquiries from CNN - they rechecked their files, and found donations they had not located before. In a third case, CNN said it had determined that the Trump Foundation's tax records had been incorrect: It had sent a donation
to a group in Florida but told the IRS that the money had gone to another group, with the same name, in Vermont." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7d686d8be02ede0aba51cf0550dbc6bf07f510ea53dd85ed53

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "There are people watching this race as if there's another option that's going to win on Nov. 8. It's Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton, not Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton versus Ronald Reagan arriving as a white knight and becoming a substitute and winning." - Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), who's facing a tough race of his own this fall. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc67943edeec5d7d73ac4a27b96d0fb23a233ff0b82db61aa96a93c9db7c476b

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