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By Theodoric Meyer | 09/10/2015 10:09AM EDT


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)

With Elena Schneider

STAYING OUT - Democrat rules out Senate run in Illinois: Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin won't run for Senate in Illinois after all, he said on Wednesday, leaving Rep. Tammy Duckworth and Andrea Zopp, a businesswoman and former nonprofit executive, to battle it out in the Democratic primary. "There is a season for everybody, and this is not my season for the Senate," Boykin told Campaign Pro. The decision is sharp reversal for Boykin, who seemed to be moving toward a run just last week. He pointedly criticized Duckworth and Zopp in an interview with Campaign Pro last week, saying that Zopp would be "totally disqualified from being able to run" once voters understood her record.

- Instead, Boykin said, he's planning on setting up a "progressive organization" that will advocate for the issues he would have campaigned on - combatting gun violence in Chicago, encouraging economic development and better mental health services. Deno Andrews, an Oak Park, Ill., businessman who chaired Boykin's exploratory committee, has agreed to head up the new group. "We're going to be putting the meat on the bones this weekend," Boykin said. He expects the new group to back one of the candidates in the race, and he said he'd endorse whomever the group chose.

LOOKING AHEAD TO '18 - "Heitkamp's decision boosts Senate Democrats," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard:http://politico.pro/1Nqd6kD

Days until the 2015 election: 54. Days until the 2016 election: 425.

Thanks for joining us. Email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at sshepard@politico.com, kcheney@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com and tmeyer@politico.com.

BERNIE SANDERS NAMED TO POLITICO 50: With some Americans lamenting the predictability of a Clinton-Bush race, Sanders has won the backing of much of the Dems' left wing and rattled the entire campaign. Read more about how the oddball VT congressman from Brooklyn is working to keep socialism alive in the POLITICO 50 issue of POLITICO Magazine: http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=d468e8dea7cef2ec7e59e4ab883da1843f4c4b37f314e44d6c89357a78edeced

A WORD OF WELCOME - Shane Goldmacher started at POLITICO on Tuesday. He comes from National Journal, where he was a senior political correspondent covering campaign finance, and his first story ran today (see below). He's worth following on Twitter: @shanegoldmacher. While you're at it, follow Kristen Roberts, POLITICO's new national editor and another National Journal veteran: @kristinpolitico.

- Follow POLITICO's entire politics and campaigns team here: http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=d468e8dea7cef2ec902509bef2cf4080c38fce8726b8dedece5ec9db05103767

IF IT'S THURSDAY - Voters in IL-18, Nashville go to the polls: Central Illinois voters will pick a replacement for former Rep. Aaron Schock today, the Peoria Journal Star's Chris Kaergard wrote earlier this week. GOP state Sen. Darin LaHood is favored over Democrat Rob Mellon. http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=d468e8dea7cef2ec1ebf83d4144211f4f67f67659c54a803cb4fbd42fbdcb02f

- A barn-burner of a contest to be Nashville's next mayor also concludes on Thursday. The Tennessean's Joey Garrison and Dave Boucher preview the nonpartisan runoff between Megan Barry and David Fox: "one dominated by debates over negative advertising, the fiscal direction of the city and the intersection of God, religion and family with politics." http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=d468e8dea7cef2ecc080113836779d2514d161bcded6a5ca4c677247cdf1002c

DECISION DAY - Democratic candidates back Iran deal: The last four Democratic Senate candidates who hadn't taken a position on the Iranian nuclear deal all came out in favor of it on Wednesday.

- Florida: Rep. Alan Grayson , who's locked in a contentious Senate primary with fellow Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, announced Wednesday evening in an email to supporters that he will vote to back the deal. "On the evidence I see, it's more dangerous to have no agreement," Grayson said in the email. "So I will be voting in favor of the Iran nuclear agreement." The deal had put Grayson in a tricky spot. The outspoken congressman is running as a more liberal option in the race to replace GOP Sen. Marco Rubio. Murphy backs the agreement, while Grayson had been critical in previous statements. But many of Grayson's progressive supporters have been critical of Democrats who oppose the
agreement.

- Pennsylvania: Democrat Katie McGinty, a former chief of staff to Gov. Tom Wolf also said she'd back the deal on Wednesday. "In my view, this agreement, aggressively enforced, offers a critical opportunity to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon," Katie McGinty said in a statement. Republicans - and McGinty's primary opponent, Rep. Joe Sestak, who also supports the agreement - had pressured her to take a stance. Sestak and McGinty are competing to face GOP Sen. Pat Toomey next year.

- Arizona: Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick is also backing the deal."No approach to Iran is without risk, and the deal is not perfect, but the United States has an opportunity to lead the world on a historic and critical diplomatic course against danger and chaos," Kirkpatrick said in a statement. Her support for the deal places her squarely at odds with her Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, who called her position "dangerous and wrong" in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

- Illinois: Rep. Tammy Duckworth, who's challenging GOP Sen. Mark Kirk, announced her support in a joint Chicago Tribune op-ed with fellow Chicago-area Democratic Reps. Bill Foster and Mike Quigley. The op-ed notes each brings a different perspective to the deal: Duckworth is a war veteran, Foster has a doctorate in physics and Quigley sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Andrea Zopp, who's running against Duckworth in the primary, had been pressuring Duckworth to take a position. Zopp also backs the deal. Her position also sets up an instant contrast with Kirk, who has vehemently opposed the agreement.

KLINE TALKS RETIREMENT - Minnesota's Rep. John Kline, who announced his retirement from a suburban swing district last week, said he has spoken with possible Republican candidates, but "that's as much as I'm going to say about it ... A candidate may emerge who is head and shoulders above the other and it just makes sense, but as of now I'm not going to endorse anybody." Several names are already floated as possible recruits, including state Sen. Dave Thompson, state Rep. Steve Drazkowski, state Rep. Tony Albright and former state Sen. Ted Daley. David Gerson, a Tea Party favorite who twice challenged Kline, jumped into the race last week.

- On the Democratic side, Angie Craig, a health care executive, and Mary Lawrence, a Minneapolis doctor, both got into the race before Kline's retirement news. "I'm delighted they have a primary on their side," Kline said.

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Hillary Clinton lectured. Donald Trump hectored," by POLITICO's Shane Goldmacher: "Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton converged in the same city on the same day to talk about the same topic: the deal with Iran. But they arrived in Washington with opposite trajectories - Clinton slipping in a Democratic primary she was supposed to run away with while Trump surges to the front of a crowded Republican pack. Their dueling events, separated by only three hours and three miles, offered a remarkable split-screen 2016 moment just as top party strategists are asking themselves two questions that were unthinkable only months ago: Could she actually lose? And could he actually
win?" http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=b13c49563e20068d2ebae3cc14abfdf85c5e878a088a04e5f7b91e9787a472b7

- If you can stomach more Trump: Paul Solotaroff profiles him for Rolling Stone. http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=d468e8dea7cef2ec26cde357af538bcaee2d8e337a7861845876a30bf98b19d5

- "Two DNC vice chairs call for more Democratic presidential debates," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: More debates, more problems? "A pair of Democratic National Committee vice chairs echoed presidential candidate Martin O'Malley's call to increase the number of primary debates on Wednesday, asking the party committee to add new events and to drop the existing threat of punishment for candidates who participate in unsanctioned debates. 'We are the party that represents democratic principles, openness and transparency, and ensuring that all people, regardless of who they are or where they are from, have a level playing field and equal opportunity,' wrote Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and
former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak in a Facebook post." http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=d468e8dea7cef2ec917dd99751c6fb23e0cd334a045c6dd79673784346bd0b89

- "Can Scott Walker save himself?" by The Atlantic's Molly Ball in Racine, Wis.: Scott "Walker's gaffes, opponents argue, haven't just been the errant flubs of a frustrated candidate-they've been revealing of a politician who's never bothered to learn about issues past his own doorstep. On subjects like immigration and foreign policy, it seems clear Walker is less a lifelong student of world affairs and more a kid who's just realized he'll flunk out if he doesn't start cramming. For Wisconsinites accustomed to Walker's dominance, his fall from glory nationally has been disorienting and out of character. Back home, he has always been focused, disciplined, on-message to a fault."
http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=d468e8dea7cef2ec2783f5f09ff86481c5216b58b63b49b1bd132f21acc26c7c

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Look, he's the governor of Wisconsin. He knows about cheese and cutting pensions." - Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, doesn't think much of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's foreign policy chops. http://cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=e06eb17e4e57186956fe98a866a34a56f00d111c9705a0c9938d59b0131ff3d4


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