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By Maggie Severns | 10/12/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Daniel Strauss, Zach Montellaro 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)

SHADOW BOXING - "Ohio shadow campaigns focused on Cordray," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "Richard Cordray isn't a candidate for anything - yet. But both Democrats and Republicans in Ohio are already acting like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director is running for governor.

"Republicans are already making campaign-style attacks against Cordray's CFPB tenure, while trying to find evidence that he conducted political business at his agency. ... Chris Glaros, a former top aide to Cordray, has been urging fellow Democrats who could work on a possible Cordray campaign to keep their options open in case he decides to run, according to multiple Democratic officials in Ohio." Full story.

TAX POLLS - PPP polls: GOP tax plan, Trump, Ryan unpopular in swing seats, via Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: "Congressional Republicans hope passing tax reform legislation will give them something to take home to voters looking for new accomplishments in Washington. But polling conducted for a Democratic group shows the still-in-the-works GOP tax proposal to be unpopular in a dozen Republican districts around the country. The automated surveys for Patriot Majority USA, conducted by Public Policy Polling, show competitive races developing in the swing seats and more voters disapproving than approving of President Donald Trump in 11 districts, including five he carried last November. House
Speaker Paul Ryan is even more unpopular in every district, with disapproval ratings over 60 percent in each one. That's worse than Ryan's ratings in recent national polls, while Trump's ratings track approximately with DCCC polling released in June, as well as his national polling average. Between 26 and 33 percent of voters in each district say they support 'the Republicans' in Congress' tax proposal,' but 46 to 52 percent of those polled said they did not support the plan, which Trump has been selling in rallies around the country. American Action Network, the nonprofit with ties to Ryan, has also been running ads touting the GOP tax plan. The tax plan polled less well in the PPP
surveys when it was described as raising the deficit or cutting taxes for the rich." Full story.

CASH DASH - "Democrats dogged by Weinstein cash," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "It took nearly a week, but leading Democrats hope they've done enough to wash their hands of politically uncomfortable ties to Harvey Weinstein. ... But even as top Democratic lawmakers pledged to donate the cash they'd gotten from Weinstein, the Democratic National Committee itself stopped short of promising a full giveaway. The committee pledged 'over $30,000' of Weinstein donations to political groups that work to elect women. The only problem? The DNC had raised over $300,000 from Weinstein, a fact Republicans have been quick to exploit." Full story.

- The Bannon angle: "Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist and current head of Breitbart News, is the latest politico touched by the scandal," the Associated Press reports. "Bannon, whose website has hammered Democrats for accepting Weinstein's political donations, himself profited off a relationship with the movie mogul, in an ill-fated joint venture more than a decade ago." Full story.

RUSSIA WATCH - "House Intelligence Committee will release Facebook's Russia ads," by POLITICO's Heather Caygle, Kyle Cheney and Angela Greiling Keane: "House Intelligence Committee leaders announced Wednesday that they will release Facebook ads linked to Russian efforts to influence U.S. politics in 2016. The lawmakers said they'd release the ads sometime after tech companies testify on Capitol Hill about foreign meddling in the presidential election. ... Schiff said that they had asked Facebook for help to 'scrub any personally identifiable information' from the ads." Full story.

- "FEC publishes notice on internet ad disclaimers," by yours truly: "The FEC has published a Federal Register notice asking for comments on whether the commission should remake rules on digital ad disclaimers. ... Comments are due Nov. 9." Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 26.

Days until the 2018 election: 390

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

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

Q3 FUNDRAISING - Arizona: Republican Kelli Ward raised $690,000 during the third quarter. Ward ended the quarter with more than $250,000 cash on hand, The Hill reports.

- Montana: Montana state Auditor Matt Rosendale raised $410,000 in the first two months of his Senate campaign, POLITICO's Kevin Robillard reports. Full story.

- Texas: Sen. Ted Cruz announced that he raised $2 million in the third quarter, finishing with $6.3 million in cash on hand.

- Connecticut: Republican David Stemerman put $1.8 million of his own money into the race so far, the CT Mirror reports.

FIRST IN SCORE - Wisconsin: Democrat Tammy Baldwin raised $2.4 million during the third quarter and ended the quarter with more than $5.3 million cash on hand.

FIRST IN SCORE - AZ-02: GOP Rep. Martha McSally raised $930,000 in the third quarter, finishing with $1.5 million in cash on hand.

- CA-49: Democrat Paul Kerr announced raising over $500,000 last quarter in the race against Republican Rep. Darrell Issa.

- IA-01: Democrat Abby Finkenauer raised $150,000 in the third quarter, per a statement from her campaign.

- NY-22: Democrat Anthony Brindisi raised more than $410,000, per Syracuse.com

- TX-07: Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher announced that she raised $184,000 in the third quarter.

- TX-32: Democrat Lillian Salerno raised $150,000 in eighteen days in the race for GOP Rep. Pete Sessions' seat, her campaign announced.

FIRST IN SCORE - ECU endorses Sinema for Senate: End Citizens United is endorsing Rep. Kyrsten Sinema in her Arizona Senate bid. "Arizonans are sick and tired of a broken Washington selling them out to special interests donors, which is why I have consistently worked to increase transparency in our democracy, and to reduce the influence of money on our electoral system," Sinema said in a statement. ECU also endorsed Sinema during her 2016 reelection campaign.

OUTSIDER MONEY - "Great America Alliance endorses Rosendale, Blackburn, Morrisey," by Robillard: "The Great America Alliance, an outside group controlled by allies of former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, is endorsing its first three Senate candidates of 2018. The group, a 501(c)4 nonprofit, is backing state auditor Matt Rosendale in Montana, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in West Virginia and Rep. Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee. All three candidates are running in competitive GOP primaries - Blackburn in an open seat and Morrisey and Rosendale for the right to challenge incumbent Democrats." Full story.

- "Trump postpones Las Vegas fundraiser," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "President Donald Trump has postponed a planned Las Vegas fundraiser following this month's mass shooting on the Strip, according to three people familiar with the planning for the event. The Oct. 21 event was intended to benefit Trump's reelection campaign and the RNC. The president was expected to attend as a special guest." Full story.

DAILY ROLL TIDE - "Undisclosed deal guaranteed Roy Moore $180,000 a year for part-time work at charity," by The Washington Post's Shawn Boburg and Robert O'Harrow Jr.: "Former Alabama judge Roy Moore, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, once said publicly that he did not take a 'regular salary' from the small charity he founded to promote Christian values because he did not want to be a financial burden. But privately, Moore had arranged to receive a salary of $180,000 a year for part-time work at the Foundation for Moral Law, internal charity documents show. He collected more than $1 million as president from 2007 to 2012, compensation that far surpassed what the group disclosed in its
public tax filings most of those years." Full story.

HE'S BACK - "Obama to campaign for Northam next week," by Robillard: "Former President Barack Obama will campaign for Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam in the state's governor's race next week in Richmond. The two men will host a rally together on Thursday evening. Obama's long-planned entrance into the contest comes as the race is drawing more national attention." Full story.

- The National Democratic Redistricting Committee is partnering with MobilizeAmerica to support this year's Virginia elections. Volunteers coordinated by MobilizeAmerica will help canvass and phone bank for Northam and select other candidates down the ballot.

HOOSIER NEWS - Brand joins Rokita campaign, via Politico Playbook: Nathan Brand is joining Todd Rokita's Senate campaign in Indiana as communications director. He comes from America Rising Squared and is an alum of the Kelly Ayotte and Marco Rubio campaigns.

COURT REPORT - "Prosecution rests in Menendez trial," by POLITICO's Matt Friedman in Newark, NJ: "The prosecution on Wednesday rested its case against Sen. Robert Menendez and his co-defendant, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, after more than a month of testimony." Full story.

- However ... "Hours after the prosecution rested in its federal corruption case against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and co-defendant Salomon Melgen, Judge William Walls cast doubt Wednesday on a theory that's central to its case. At the same time, Walls said he will allow the jury to decide whether Menendez filed false reports with the U.S. Senate, a charge seen by many as the toughest to beat." Full story.

ANOTHER 900K - The Republican Attorneys General Association announced Wednesday that it was putting another $900,000 into the Virginia attorney general race in support of Republican nominee John Adams. According to a press release: Seeing a clear surge in support for John Adams - the Republican candidate for Attorney General of Virginia - the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) has sent another six-figure transfer to his campaign. This brings RAGA's total investment in Virginia to $2.75 million. "RAGA gets involved in races we can win. Period. John Adams campaign is growing in strength because voters are beginning to see he will be an impartial advocate for the rule of law,"
said RAGA Executive Director, Scott Will.

TO THE RIGHT - Conservatives are demanding McConnell's ouster, POLITICO's Seung Min Kim reports: "Several leaders of key activist groups held a news conference Wednesday to denounce Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team, accusing them of ignoring grass-roots conservatives and hitting them for the GOP's failure to repeal Obamacare. ... Aides to McConnell had no immediate comment on the letter, nor did aides for others in leadership." Full story.

POLITICAL ADVISERS: NOT JUST FOR MEGADONORS ANYMORE - A group of progressive developers have launched "Hope," a chat-bot that can serve as a "personal political adviser" for people looking to take "resistance"-themed action to counter President Donald Trump. "Too often these days, when people see something outrageous on the news or in their news feed, they want to take action but they are overwhelmed, they don't know what will actually make a difference. Hope's motto is 'don't freak out, act smart,'" product lead Josh Hendler said in a release announcing the launch.

CODA - Quote of the Day: "At first it's cool, and then you realize, I'm filling some drugs that are for some pretty serious health problems as well. And these are the people that are running the country," pharmacist Mike Kim told STAT news regarding his status as the go-to pharmacist for lawmakers.

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