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By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, aburns@politico.com )


FIRST IN SCORE - WILLIAMS ON THE AIR: Kentucky Senate President David Williams, the frontrunner for the GOP's nomination for governor, has launched his first ads of the 2011 election with a statewide radio buy highlighting his "proven record of cutting taxes and fighting out-of-control spending." Williams and his running mate, Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer, are the strong favorites to win the Republican primary on May 17 over challengers aligned with the tea party. The message of the ad campaign appeals both to conservative primary voters - calling Williams-Farmer the "bold conservative ticket for governor" - and other Kentuckians uneasy about the economy. "Kentucky is adrift. Unemployment is over 10 percent," the commercial begins. "Tough times call for real leadership: a ticket for governor with a real plan to create jobs and deliver prosperity for our people." The ad was created by Jon Downs of FP1 Strategies, the newly founded media firm working for Williams and Farmer. The winner of the Republican primary will face Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear in November. Listen to it here: http://bit.ly/fXWULE


LAST NIGHT IN WASHINGTON - DEMS BUY IN - Two top leaders of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced at a members' dinner that they are paying their DCCC dues before the end of the year's first fundraising quarter on Thursday. DCCC Chairman Steve Israel is anteing up $450,000 for his committee and DCCC recruitment chief Allyson Schwartz is giving $300,000. Both Israel and Schwartz - along with Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Whip Steny Hoyer - urged other Democrats to do the same in the DCCC's end-of-March fundraising push. Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar and Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger have also fulfilled their obligations to the DCCC, giving $300,000 and $250,000, respectively.


AND COMING THIS EVENING - "Christie headlines $10M fundraiser" - POLITICO's Bresnahan and Haberman: "With New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie as the star attraction, the National Republican Congressional Committee will rake in $10 million on Wednesday night at its annual fundraising dinner, according to committee officials. The $10 million total is a dramatic increase from the last few years, when House Republicans - then in the minority - raised between $6 million to $7 million at the annual soiree... The $10 million total includes pledges by donors to the NRCC, some of which will be reflected in the NRCC's second-quarter fundraising report, said NRCC officials." http://politi.co/dQBtnW


As Jerry Brown gets exasperated, Charlie Crist gets another look and Sean Duffy feels the pain of the federal employee, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.


CENSUS SIREN - "Troop deployments cost NC extra seat in Congress" - AP's Mike Baker: "North Carolina is losing out on a congressional seat and future tax dollars because so many of its military personnel were deployed during the U.S. Census and counted in population totals for other states, according to an Associated Press review. The Census counts most troops at the base where they live and work. But for personnel who are deployed overseas, the government tallies them for their home state ... North Carolina officials estimate more than 40,000 troops were deployed from the state's military bases around the time of the Census one year ago, but only 12,200 of the nation's overseas military personnel listed North Carolina as their home state ... The gap of some 28,000 troops was costly: The state was about 15,000 people shy of getting an extra congressional seat from Minnesota." http://apne.ws/gdKBpN


KAINE WATCH - OBAMA PLAYS IT UP: At a Manhattan fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee last night, President Barack Obama noted to an audience of about 50 people that "there has been some speculation about our DNC chair plunging back into the hurly-burly of electoral politics." With Tim Kaine in attendance, Obama offered a big, enthusiastic plug for the former Virginia governor's potential Senate run: "Since he happened to be a really great governor for the Commonwealth of Virginia, I suspect that, should he choose to do so, he would also be an outstanding senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. But whatever decisions he makes, I just want everybody here to know that he has done an outstanding job for me and an outstanding job for the country."


THIS JUST IN - POLLING THE TEA PARTY - Americans are less friendly to the tea party by a 9-point margin than they were in December, according to a new CNN poll released this morning. And going back to January of 2010, the slippage has been even greater, reports Paul Steinhauser: "Forty-seven percent of people questioned say they have an unfavorable view of the tea party ... an increase of 21 points from January 2010. That 47 percent is virtually identical to the 48 percent unfavorable ratings for both the Democratic party and the Republican party in the same poll. 'This is the first time that a CNN poll has shown the tea party's unfavorable ratings as high as those of the two major parties,' says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. 'It looks like the rise in the movement's unfavorable rating has come mostly among people who make less than $50,000.'" http://bit.ly/dRiYVw


IN THE EARLY STATES - N.H. KREMLINOLOGY - There are few individuals with more swat in the Granite State primary than John H. Sununu, the former governor and White House chief of staff, and Joseph W. McQuaid, the publisher of the Union Leader newspaper. And the website NH Journal reports that both men recently met with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in a rendezvous arranged by Sununu: "According to more than one source, Sununu arranged a dinner meeting at the Bedford Village Inn earlier this month between Sununu, Romney, Romney's wife and Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid in hopes of securing support for Romney when he decides to enter the Republican primary. McQuaid was harsh on Romney during the 2008 New Hampshire primary. His paper endorsed Sen. John McCain and criticized Romney repeatedly." http://bit.ly/hphZW2


POPPING ON 2012 LIVE - "Pawlenty eyes N.H. money man" - Kasie Hunt reports from Concord: "Tim Pawlenty is aggressively courting New Hampshire fundraiser Gregory Slayton to help finance a presidential bid - and Slayton says he's leaning toward supporting the former Minnesota governor. 'He's just been very straightforward, just one step at a time,' Slayton said of Pawlenty at a New Hampshire GOP fundraiser Tuesday night - a dinner that featured Slayton's name near the top of the program as a $2,500 sponsor ... Getting Slayton's support would be a coup for Pawlenty. A former ambassador in the Bush administration, Slayton brought in more than $200,000 for Bush's 2004 reelection campaign .... He was with South Dakota Sen. John Thune, but when Thune decided to stay out of the presidential race Slayton started shopping for a new candidate." http://politi.co/eNSwze


THEY CALL THIS THE 'EXPECTATIONS GAME' - Iowa Republicans shouldn't expect to see much of Ambassador Jon Huntsman in the run-up to next year's caucuses. An anonymous Huntsman strategist told The Daily Caller that the state doesn't look like a great fit for the former Utah governor: "[T]he initial strategy for Huntsman's campaign-in-waiting at Horizon PAC is to avoid focusing resources to campaign in the nation's first caucus and socially-conservative state of Iowa. 'We haven't ruled out playing in Iowa, but we have a huge disadvantage when it comes to the infrastructure, money, and time other candidates have spent in Iowa,' a Republican strategist aligned with the Huntsman campaign, told TheDC." http://bit.ly/fyK1xe


SAVE THE (CORRECTED) DATE: Score reported yesterday that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum would give a foreign policy speech this Thursday (as in, tomorrow.) The actual date for the speech is April 28 at the National Press Club.


STALEMATE IN CALIFORNIA - BROWN BLOCKED - Budget negotiations in the nation's largest state are over with no deal to show for it, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown announced last night. That means Republicans have successfully stopped Brown from putting forward a referendum on higher taxes, at least for now. The Sacramento Bee: "Brown's announcement, along with a decision by Senate Democrats to avoid a majority-vote route in the Legislature for now, scuttles the possibility of a June election. It also casts doubt on whether lawmakers will be able to bridge a remaining $15.4 billion deficit before the next fiscal year begins in July. The governor gave no indication of how he might proceed. He has thought about gathering signatures for a November ballot initiative, but time has begun to run short on that route." http://bit.ly/eFMjvs


POLLING TALKER - THE COMEBACK CRIST? Florida's Republican-turned-independent former governor looks like he could be a viable candidate for public office again - just not in the GOP. Public Policy Polling found that Charlie Crist still has above-water favorability ratings, with 46 percent of Floridians saying they have a positive impression of him and 42 percent saying the opposite. The major catch is with conservative voters, Tom Jensen writes: "[O]nly 19% of GOP voters say they would want him to run as one of their own ... Voters describing themselves as 'very liberal' think Crist should be a Democrat, as do voters describing themselves as 'very conservative' ... Moderates and voters identifying just as 'somewhat' liberal or conservative think Crist should stay in the independent ranks. It's pretty unusual for us to find the far left and the far right in." Also in the poll: Gov. Rick Scott's net approval is -23 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio's is +12 percent and Sen. Bill Nelson's is +4 percent. http://bit.ly/hh5vsl


CATANESE SCOOPS - FRANKS IS IN: Arizona Republicans are about to have a Senate primary on their hands, as Rep. Trent Franks prepares to jump into the race this weekend. David Catanese raises the curtain: "An adviser to Franks would only confirm that the congressman will hold an event to outline his 2012 plans following a fundraiser for the Arizona Republican Party in Scottsdale Saturday. But two other GOPers with ties to state party politics indicated Franks is poised to launch a campaign to the right of Rep. Jeff Flake, who is managing the blowback from his recent decision to abandon his support for immigration legislation that included an amnesty provision ... Franks' Senate announcement will come after a $250 morning fundraiser hosted by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Sheriff Joe Arpaio." http://politi.co/fYTO9A


ROUND TWO - KUSTER VS. BASS: New Hampshire attorney Ann McLane Kuster, who drew enthusiastic support from national liberal groups in her unsuccessful 2010 House campaign, announced that she will run again against GOP Rep. Charlie Bass in 2012. The Huffington Post explains why this is a race to watch: "Democrats have high hopes for Kuster's district in 2012. The district has gone for both John Kerry and Barack Obama in the past two presidential elections ... The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) made Kuster's election a top priority in 2010 and raised over $150,000 for the race." http://huff.to/gCNdrv


PLUS - DUFFY FUMBLES - It's not the first time Sean Duffy has done something on camera and lived to regret it. But Democrats are exulting after the first-term Wisconsin congressman told a constituent at a town hall meeting that it's a "struggle to meet my bills" on a congressional salary. The Journal Sentinel: "Duffy was asked about his pay by a constituent who said he had taken a job as a bus driver when his work as a builder dried up, and that his wife - a schoolteacher - would be taking a pay cut under the state's new budget plan ... 'The benefits that were offered to me as a congressman don't even compare to the benefits that you get as a state employee. I just experienced that myself. They're not nearly as good,' said Duffy. 'But $174,000 -- that's ... three times what I make,' said the constituent." http://bit.ly/gxSd4d


NEXT ACTS - WHITMAN RELOADS: Former eBay CEO and California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has signed on as a strategic adviser to Kleiner Perkins. Fortune broke the news Tuesday afternoon: "By joining the same VC firm that lured Al Gore and Colin Powell in their respective political twilights, she's making a pretty safe move image-wise ... One good sign for her new calling at Kleiner: A source close to Whitman says that by investing wisely in a rising stock market since last November, she has earned back that $145 million she lost." http://bit.ly/f8BcW2


CODA - TWEET OF THE DAY: "Fact: Trump fails his own birth cert challenge ... Question: Why is media covering this blowhard's absurd charges?" - Former vice presidential chief of staff @RonaldKlain on Donald Trump's newfound birtherism. After releasing a document he falsely claimed was his birth certificate on Monday, Trump released his actual birth certificate yesterday. http://bit.ly/ijbxCd

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