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


BREAKING - ALLEN'S CASH LEAD - Former Virginia Sen. George Allen raised $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2011, bringing in an average of more than $150,000 each week since he launched his campaign in late January. The Republican now has an almost three-month head start over his likely general election opponent, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, and Allen ended March with approximately $1.25 million in the bank. A source familiar with Allen's fundraising said it showed broad geographic support and included donations from every county in Virginia. Allen's Republican primary challenger, tea party leader Jamie Radtke, has not announced her fundraising numbers.


IN THE HOUSE - SNEAK PEEK - South Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem will report later today that she took in $396,000 during the first three months of the months of the year. That's a record-setting sum for a House member from South Dakota in a non-election year, according to a GOP source. For comparison: Two years ago, then-Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin reported raising just under $60,000 in the first quarter of 2009. Noem is one of two first-term Republicans who have been brought into leadership as liaisons to the freshman class.


POPPING IN N.H. - "Top New Hampshire GOPer offers Romney praise" - CNN's Gabriella Schwartz: "The chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party spoke kindly of likely presidential contender Mitt Romney Monday, defending the passage of the health care plan he signed while governor of Massachusetts. 'It really was an innovative experiment ... [I]t was never meant to be some model for a national health care program,' Jack Kimball said on CNN's 'John King, USA' ... Romney, who announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee Monday, passed the health care law - which has similarities to President Barack Obama's health care plan - five years ago ... Kimball, who mentioned former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, said there are 'very good' candidates in the current field." http://bit.ly/gmmF65


CABLE BAIT - TRUMP CROWDS THE SPOTLIGHT - Donald Trump will "probably" run for president as an independent if the GOP decides to go with a candidate other than the host of "The Apprentice," the Wall Street Journal reports. From the paper: "Mr. Trump's candidacy would complicate matters for the GOP as it looks to front someone who can unite the fractious party and mount a serious challenge to President Obama's reelection bid ... His support is highest among the conservative wing of the party, not least because he is among the so-called 'birthers' who doubt that President Obama in fact was born in the U.S. ... 'I am very conservative,' said Mr. Trump. 'The concern is if I don't win [the GOP primary] will I run as an independent, and I think the answer is probably yes.'" http://on.wsj.com/dFV9Vm


As Joseph Cao resurfaces, the spotlight finds Brian Sandoval and the New Hampshire debate gains steam, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.


THE ROMNEY ANNOUNCEMENT - SPEED READ - The sun rises this morning with Mitt Romney as the third major Republican candidate to move into the exploratory phase, after Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich. Here's some of the key analysis you should read:


- The Boston Globe's Glen Johnson dissects Romney's "cold" launch: "In a calm and collected way, with no defensiveness he may have portrayed on health care, Romney zeroed in on the economy ... Romney rolled out his plan in a businesslike fashion reminiscent of the highly efficient and disciplined 2000 Bush campaign ... Romney has spent the past two-plus years picking his spots - and his venues - to make news ... The common denominator: No follow-up questions, no deviation from the campaign's chosen message." http://bo.st/ecFULZ


- More on that from the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "[From] the tone of Romney's announcement video - serious comes to mind ... It's clear that Romney will do everything he can to run as the adult in the GOP contest, avoiding some of the early political scrums in hopes of portraying himself as the sort of 'big' figure who not only can take on President Obama but can step into the office ready to lead on day one." http://wapo.st/dRHEgS


- The Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman reports that donors were caught off guard: "The announcement came as something of a surprise. Romney donors and fund-raisers said the former governor's political-action committee had notified them of a finance call Wednesday morning, which they expected to precede an exploratory-committee announcement in the afternoon ... Overall, Mr. Romney's video announcement was subdued, especially compared to Mr. Pawlenty's." http://on.wsj.com/fV21mV


- POLITICO's Jonathan Martin and your Morning Score correspondent run down of Romney's biggest obstacles: "Romney is the rare national politician defined largely by his shortcomings. The most prominent among them- his role in enacting a sweeping Massachusetts health care law exactly five years ago-was already being dissected by his Republican and Democratic opponents on Monday ... For all the talk about Mormonism and flip-flops, Romney faced a more fundamental problem in 2008: he couldn't relate to voters." More here: http://politi.co/ej7PMV


COMING TODAY FROM DGA - "Republicans overreach, voters boo" - On the YouTube: The video is what it sounds like, featuring Govs. Rick Scott of Florida, Rick Snyder of Michigan, Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio and Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania. The message, as the Democratic Governors Association puts it: "Americans are rejecting the extreme, job-killing policies of Republican governors." Watch: http://bit.ly/h65bLl


2012 TALKER - GALLUP SORTS THE WISH-LIST CANDIDATES: Gen. David Petraeus, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie aren't running for president. But all three men have strongly ratings with Republican primary voters, according to Gallup. Petraeus has a net favorability of 54 points in the positive direction, while that number is 29 percent for Christie and 27 percent for Bush. Jeb Bush is the best known of the three. Seventy-nine percent say they have an impression of him, versus 68 percent for Bush and 53 percent for Christie. Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones translates: "Americans' slightly more positive than negative ratings of Christie put him in a somewhat better positioning than ... Bush ... Petraeus has the most positive image of the four long-shot candidates, likely because of his status as a military general ... and because he may not be viewed as a political figure." http://bit.ly/i1zLZm


TODAY - BARBOUR ON THE HILL - Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is in Washington to address the Congressional Health Care Caucus at noon. He's the latest speaker in the Health Caucus's Thought Leaders series, hosted by Texas Rep. Michael Burgess, a Republican physician. An announcement said Barbour will "discuss his perspective on health care and share how he initiated successful Medicaid reform in his home state of Mississippi."


FOUR'S A CROWD IN N.H. - At least four candidates have committed to the June 7 New Hampshire primary debate, according to the Union Leader, but only one Republican is willing to put his name to it so far. From the paper: "Rick Santorum on Monday became the first Republican to announce he will participate in New Hampshire's first scheduled presidential debate. A source close to the debate said three other major likely candidates have told organizers that they will be there ... [Santorum] is scheduled to return to the state later this week for his 14th visit, more than any other potential candidate so far during the 2012 first-in-the-nation primary cycle." http://bit.ly/hRI6TY


THE OTHER EARLY STATE - "GOP presidential hopefuls visit Sandoval, Nevada" - The Review-Journal's Laura Myers: "GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval has been interviewing a lot of potential job-seekers lately. You know, folks like Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour and Tim Pawlenty ... Just three months in office, Sandoval also is working with other Republican leaders to use the run-up to the GOP presidential caucus on Feb. 18, 2012, to rebuild what for years has been the Nevada Rudderless Party, broke and beleaguered by infighting. 'This is a great opportunity,' Sandoval said last week. 'There's no doubt in my mind' ... Heidi Smith, GOP national committeewoman in Nevada, said an April 1-2 state Republican Central Committee meeting in Carson City was the biggest the party ever had, with 311 participants, double its last meeting. 'Jim Gibbons never liked the party,' Smith said, adding [Nevada's GOP] senator fell off the map. 'Ensign? Ensign who?'" http://bit.ly/ehFJzQ


POLLING THE BUDGET DEAL: A strong majority of voters back the deal Congress struck last Friday to avoid shutting down the government, according to a CNN/Opinion Research survey. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they supported the agreement, versus 38 percent who opposed it. More details from CNN's Paul Steinhauser: "[T]here's a partisan divide, with two-thirds of Democrats and a majority of independent voters backing the deal, and Republicans divided. By a 48 to 35 percent margin, the public thinks Democrats are more responsible than the GOP for the late Friday night agreement, which prevented a shutdown of some government services and offices. And according to the survey, which was conducted Saturday and Sunday, 54 percent say they approve of how the president handled the budget negotiations, compared to only 44 percent who approve of how the Republican leaders in Congress handled themselves." http://bit.ly/gSSNtT


PLUS - RUSH PANS IT: Mainstream media praise for the budget deal is just a "ruse designed to reignite the fire under the Democratic base," America's No.1 radio talker said on his show Monday. Limbaugh: "It's certainly in their interests, the Democrats and the media, to pretend that we have just experienced Draconian cuts ... Last campaign, Republicans promised $100 billion in cuts if they were elected to run Congress. Then the $100 billion became $61 billion ... Now $38.5 billion dollars is a big win? [Boehner] snookered Obama? Wait a minute here. This doesn't add up ... If they think Boehner has marginalized the Tea Party -- if they think the Tea Party has been neutered within the Republican caucus -- then, yeah, it makes all the sense in the world to praise Boehner." http://bit.ly/fAM0Aa


BRACING FOR IMPACT - LUGAR & SNOWE ENGAGE - Two Republican senators who look vulnerable to primary challenges are off to a fast fundraising start this year. Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar brought in $974,000 in the first quarter of the year and had over $3 million on hand, according to his campaign. Moderate Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe took in $877,000 and finished last month with more than $2 million in the bank. Unlike Snowe, Lugar already has a formidable opponent challenging him from the right - state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who has said he's raised a more modest $125,000 so far. AP has more from the Hoosier State: "Lugar, who recently turned 79, has stated repeatedly that he plans to run for re-election. His first quarter fundraising is the clearest sign yet of his intentions ... The campaign had 7,984 individual gifts during the first quarter and, according to the campaign, 88 percent of the donors are Indiana residents." http://bit.ly/fodh8B and http://bit.ly/haYAsV


ELSEWHERE IN INDIANA - SQUEEZING DONNELLY: Indiana Rep. Joe Donnelly may have an easier time running for statewide office than winning reelection to his House seat, thanks to a new map of congressional districts released Monday. The Courier & Press reports that Donnelly's "district looks to lose the left-leaning cities of Kokomo and Michigan City, while adding heavily Republican areas including all of Elkhart County and parts of Kosciusko County - changes that dramatically reduce a Democrat's chances of winning there ... As a result, Donnelly, who has anticipated the changes, will likely run for the U.S. Senate or governor in 2012, instead of the fourth term he preferred to seek in the U.S. House." http://bit.ly/evJtZ3


NEXT ACTS - CAO FOR AG - Former one-term Louisiana Rep. Joseph Cao has lost his job with BP's oil spill compensation fund and now plans to run for state attorney general, Fox 8 reports: "Cao, a Republican, plans to challenge incumbent Buddy Caldwell, who recently switched to the Republican Party. Cao says as attorney general, he will focus heavily on issues with the BP oil spill, including the moratorium's impact on Louisiana. 'The attorney general needs to aggressively address issues of claims,' Cao said." http://bit.ly/hmP59y


CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "As a matter of fact I brought it with me the last time I went to Iowa in case anyone asked." - Michele Bachmann, assuring the Des Moines Register that they're welcome to see her birth certificate http://bit.ly/hGMsoc

Go to Morning Score Now >> http://www.politico.com/morningscore


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