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By Scott Bland | 03/16/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Daniel Strauss 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)

HEALTH PUSH - "House conservatives face robocalls urging support for Obamacare replacement," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney: "American Action Network, the nonprofit aligned with House GOP leadership, is launching a pressure campaign aimed at conservative House members lawmakers who have been reluctant to support the leadership-backed plan to replace Obamacare. AAN will run 1 million robocalls in 30 congressional districts held predominantly by members of the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus. ... 'Please contact your Congressman ... and tell him to join you in supporting President Trump and Speaker Ryan's plan to repeal Obamacare and replace it with the American Health Care Act,' the call
script reads." Full story.

- "Ryan: Health care plan must change to pass the House," by The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Wednesday that his health-care proposal must change to pass the House, marking a significant retreat from his earlier position that the carefully crafted legislation would fail if substantially altered. ... Speaking after a private meeting of GOP lawmakers, Ryan said leaders would "incorporate feedback" from the rank-and-file in response to the CBO findings. ... Ryan did not detail what changes are under consideration to his plan. Vice President Pence also spoke to House Republicans in the meeting, acknowledging that the White House was open to changes in the
legislation, which heads to the House Budget Committee for approval Thursday." Full story.

2017 POLL - Murphy, Guadagno hold big leads in N.J. governor primaries: "Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno are so far dominating their respective primaries, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday. Still, many voters are undecided this early in the process, and the vast majority know little or nothing about even the leading candidates. The Quinnipiac University poll shows Murphy with 23 percent Democratic support, followed by 6 percent for Assemblyman John Wisniewski, 4 percent for Montclair attorney Jim Johnson and state Sen. Raymond Lesniak and 2 percent for activist Bill Brennan. A majority - 57 percent - are undecided." Meanwhile, GOP Gov. Chris
Christie's disapproval rating stands at 76 percent. Full story.

- AND 2018 - Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner disapproval at 58 percent in Simon Poll: Illinois voters dislike their leaders in Springfield - but Rauner, a Republican, is the only one who has to face all those voters at once next year. Thirty-six percent of registered voters surveyed approved of Rauner's job performance, according to the poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU Carbondale.. Democratic state House Speaker Michael Madigan's ratings are slightly worse: 61 percent disapprove of him, while 26 percent approve. See the full poll here.

- While Rauner won't be running against Madigan next year, the governor, state party and GOP outside groups have all tried using him as a bogeyman in recent ad campaigns - and potentially future ones.

SEQUEL SLUMP? - "McDaniel lacks element of surprise as he mulls 2018 run," by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "Chris McDaniel is considering another Senate run in 2018, four years after he almost beat Sen. Thad Cochran in a GOP primary. But this time, the firebrand Mississippi state senator's enemies - and McDaniel now has many of them - are ready for him, and they sound almost as eager to fight as he does." Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 236.

Days until the 2018 election: 600.

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

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

THE BUDGET - "Trump's budget ripped from Bannon's nationalistic playbook," by POLITICO's Shane Goldmacher: "The "deconstruction of the administrative state" now comes with line items. President Donald Trump will release his blueprint for reshaping the American government on Thursday, a budget plan that slashes deeply into the State Department, redirects funds toward the military, guts environmental and housing programs-and continues to run a nearly half-trillion-dollar deficit. Every dollar of proposed cutbacks to domestic, diplomatic and international aid programs that Trump makes in the spending plan will go to boost defense and law enforcement funding. 'There's no question this is a
hard-power budget,' said Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. 'It is not a soft-power budget.'" Full story.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU - "Centrist Democrats struggle to draft a survival strategy," by McClatchy's Alex Roarty: "Gathered behind closed doors in a Denver hotel, 30 conservative Democrats plotted a potential path forward for their party - an effort to devise a strategy that might help them avoid total annihilation in red states across America. These political moderates had been called together by former Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, and they showed up out of fear that their party is growing more liberal by the day, and less interested in their centrist positions. ... 'You can't get the majorities back without independent and centrist Democrats. You just can't,' Begich told McClatchy. 'It's
important that we come together and figure that out without conflicting with other groups.' ... The forum's guest list was ... a who's-who of current officeholders and former candidates from red states, including Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., Stacey Abrams, the minority leader for the Georgia General Assembly, and Greg Fischer, the mayor of Louisville. Begich would not name all the participants, saying some of them preferred to keep their involvement private. But Conner Eldridge, a former U.S. attorney who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in Arkansas, said in an interview that he'd brought six former U.S. attorneys. (He declined to name them.) Ken Salazar, who served as President Barack
Obama's secretary of the interior, was also there, his office confirmed." Full story.

WATCH THIS SPACE - GA-06 Republican web ad hits Ossoff for working with Al Jazeera: Until now, the Republican attacks on Democratic special election candidate Jon Ossoff have focused on his youth and criticized him for inexperience. Now, alongside the footage of Ossoff playing Han Solo in a college parody video, Republican Bob Gray's latest web video includes "in white text, the words 'HE EVEN WORKED FOR AL JAZEERA' ... across the screen," per the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Greg Bluestein. More: "Ossoff's campaign said in a statement the investigative film company he has led since 2013 has produced films for Al Jazeera and other clients around the world. It added that Ossoff 'condemns
partisan attacks that appeal to fear and stands by his work as a journalist and businessman.'" Full story.

- Meanwhile, the DCCC is conducting three focus groups in the district, studying older Romney-Clinton voters, young voters, and African- Americans, according to NPR. Full story.

- Also: Former state Sen. Ron Slotin released a TV ad asking voters to "send an adult to Washington to get results for you."

DIGITAL BUY - American Bridge targets House GOP on Russia: "American Bridge 21st Century is targeting 27 Republican House members - including some in districts Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 and others who are considering statewide bids - with a six-figure digital ad campaign, criticizing them for not backing an independent investigator to probe ties between Russia and President Donald Trump. '[MEMBER]'s silence empowers Putin,' the ad reads, showing an image of Putin flashing a thumbs up and Trump yelling. "[MEMBER], investigate Trump." Full list of targeted GOP members.

STAFFING UP - Montana Democrats add 2018 communications adviser: Chris Meagher, who most recently served as the Colorado Democratic Party's communications director, will now serve as senior communications adviser for the Montana Democratic Party, focusing on the 2018 Senate race, per a party statement..

POST-MORTEM - U.S. Election Project and Nonprofit Vote release report on 2016 turnout: From the executive summary: "139 million or 60.2% of the nation's 231 million eligible voters cast ballots, according to results counted and certified by state election boards. ... The six highest-ranking states [in turnout] offered same day voter registration (SDR), which allows voters to register or fix a registration problem when they vote (In order - Minnesota, Maine, New Hampshire, Colorado, Wisconsin and Iowa). ... Five of the six highest-turnout states, and 12 of the top 20, were battleground states. The campaigns dedicated 95% of their ad spending and 99% of campaign visits to the 14 battleground
states - well over half going just four states - FL, NC, OH and PA." Read the full report here.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Trump: Latest court setback 'makes us look weak,'" by POLITICO's Annie Karni and Josh Dawsey: "It was a rare moment of vulnerability: President Donald Trump, onstage in front of an adoring Nashville crowd, admitted Wednesday night that the latest restraining order blocking his travel ban was a major political setback. 'The ruling makes us look weak,' Trump said, while the packed arena loudly booed the Hawaii federal judge who halted, nationwide, the president's ban on refugees from some majority-Muslim countries, hours before it was set to go into effect." Full story.

- "Trump, Easing Emissions Rule, Vows to Expand Auto Jobs," by The New York Times' Bill Vlasic: "President Trump came to the heart of the auto industry on Wednesday with a manifesto for American manufacturing: to remove the shackles of regulation and restore an age of industrial glory. Granting the automakers their top wish, Mr. Trump halted an initiative by the Obama administration to impose stringent fuel-economy standards by 2025 - rules meant to cut carbon emissions and meet international commitments to address climate change. Instead, Mr. Trump vowed to keep cutting regulations as a means to accelerate economic growth and add new jobs." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I have no comment other than, look a lot of people have asked me to run." - Former GOP Rep. Michael Grimm, "who served seven months in federal prison for tax fraud" and "may be considering a run for [Staten] Island's borough president," the Staten Island Advance reported.

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