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


SCORE EXCLUSIVE - THE BEST OFFENSE - The NRCC is prepared to announce its full political team for the 2012 cycle, assembling a group of veteran operatives to protect the GOP's 25-seat House majority. Working under the leadership of Mike Shields, who was previously named political director, the team includes a deputy political director and four regional political directors. The committee's new deputy political director is Brock McCleary, a Revolution Media consultant and Patrick McHenry aide who served as the NRCC's Northeast political director in 2010. On the team of regionals are Midwest political director David Watts, who has worked for Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison in his 13 years of campaign experience; Central West political director Lee Padilla, another alum of the Cornyn operation and a 13-year Texas political hand, who's also worked for NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions; Northeast political director John Rogers, a former staffer in New York Gov. George Pataki's administration and 11-year campaign veteran; and West and Southeast regional political director Chris Carr, an operative of 19 years with stints at the NRCC, NRSC and RNC.


MORE - FROM THE CHAIRMAN - Pete Sessions touts the team in a statement: "These experienced and dedicated political professionals will play critical roles in Republican efforts to strengthen our majority in 2012. With the skills to stay on offense, they bring a powerful dynamic to the NRCC team this cycle, and I look forward to working with each of them to build more Republican victories."


POLITICO SNEAK PEEK - CHOICE, NOT A REFERENDUM: Democrats are hoping to make five House Republicans pay a price for voting to defund Planned Parenthood. As part of a large-scale messaging campaign on the federal budget, the DCCC will be deploying automated and live phone calls, web ads and e-mails to criticize a group of first-termers for taking sides against spending that supports abortion rights. The DCCC has announced plans to target 50 districts with messaging on the budget - here are the members who will take hits on the Planned Parenthood issue: New York Reps. Ann Marie Buerkle and Nan Hayworth, Illinois Rep. Robert Dold Dold, New Jersey Rep. Jon Runyan and Ohio Rep. Steve Stivers.


COMING SOON TO A PHONE NEAR YOU - Here's a look at one robo-call script: "Representative Jon Runyan ... voted to block access to vital healthcare services for millions of women, like breast exams and vaccines. That's right, Runyan did nothing to stop sending our tax dollars to Big Oil and instead chose to side with extremists who want to restrict women's access to legal and lifesaving health care services."


As Rob Portman gets a big shout-out, David Wu faces pressure at home and BLT hosts a very 2012 dinner crowd, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.


THE LATEST FROM WISCONSIN - The AFL-CIO has bought print ads in Wisconsin's statewide papers thanking Democratic senators for opposing Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to end collective bargaining. The labor giant has taken out space for ads directed at Walker, too. "Dear Governor Walker: We've come halfway. Will you meet us?" the AFL-CIO ad asks. "Public employees have agreed to pay more for healthcare and retirement as you have asked. There's no reason they should also lose their collective bargaining rights." The ads coincide with a wave of demonstrations organized for Thursday, urging Walker and the legislature to agree on a compromise. See the Walker ad here: http://politi.co/huyo5U and the message thanking Democrats here: http://politi.co/fUaUV7


IN THE CAPITOL - The Journal Sentinel says the staring contest is still on: "With 14 Democrats remaining in Illinois and continuing to boycott the Senate, Republicans easily passed a bill repealing a requirement that law enforcement collect data on the race of all drivers they stop. Republican leaders also scheduled a vote for Thursday on a bill to require people to show photo ID to vote. ... Democrats said they were digging in for a long fight. ... And Republicans weren't backing down, either. Republicans remained adamant in their support for Walker's budget-repair bill, which requires increased pension and health contributions and removes most collective bargaining rights for many public employees." http://bit.ly/eLgsF9


BACK IN WASHINGTON - From the White House guidance: "At 10:45 AM, the Vice President and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis will meet with President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka and presidents of AFL-CIO labor organizations. This meeting is closed press."


THE 2012 SCORE - PASSAGE TO INDIA: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will travel to India next month to address the Indiana Today Conclave in New Delhi. The conference announced that Palin would deliver a speech on March 19 titled, "My Vision of America." Fox News: "Her visit will give her a chance to burnish her foreign-policy credentials in a country that boasts one of the world's fastest-growing economies - and will spark further talk about whether she will run for president next year." Also appearing at the conference: Manmohan Singh, Mohamed ElBaradei, Germaine Greer, Niall Ferguson, Tim Berners Lee. http://bit.ly/gpyj87


N.H. BRISTLES - Union Leader editorial page editor Andrew Cline reacts to the announcement Palin's attending the summit: "I find it hard to believe that, presumably less than a year from the primary, someone who makes a trip to India a higher priority than a trip to New Hampshire is a serious presidential candidate. Chalk this up as one more bit of evidence that she's probably not running." http://bit.ly/hhfigy


IN OTHER STAR-STUDDED GATHERINGS - SPOTTED: Former RGA executive director and 2012 free agent Nick Ayers dining at BLT on Eye Street with Fred Davis and Brian Nick, the Strategic Vision duo affiliated with the pro-Huntsman Horizon PAC. (h/t Haberman)DANIELS IN OHIO: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who's taken some heat from the right this week for allowing an anti-collective bargaining bill to stumble in his state legislature, took a hard line on public employee unions last night in a speech to Cincinnati Republicans. "There may have been a time when government employees needed protection and needed reform, but that was a long time ago," Daniels said. "Public jobs grew while private jobs were lost, public salaries went up, while private sector salaries are shrinking ... It's time to interrupt that loop in the public interest."Also notable: Ohio GOP political director @JonathanGormley tweets that Daniels made a "bold prediction" that Sen. Rob Portman will end up in a Republican Cabinet. http://bit.ly/eKe8WR and http://bit.ly/eOqplP


SAVE THE DATE - BARBOUR TO THE CHAMBER: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will attend an event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce next Wednesday. He'll participate in a breakfast gathering timed to the release of a report on state labor laws. The event's title: "The Impact of State Employment Policies on Job Growth: A 50-State Review."


POPPING IN THE EARLY STATES - LEADER AYOTTE: Her seat doesn't come up for election for another three cycles, but New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte has set up a federal leadership PAC that will keep her active on the campaign trail. The Union Leader's John DiStaso: "Ayotte last week filed 'KellyPAC' with the Federal Election Commission. It's a vehicle for Ayotte to raise money and then spend it to help elect Republicans in New Hampshire and across the country. It's similar to Democrat Jeanne Shaheen's A New Direction PAC." http://bit.ly/fq60VD


AND THEN THERE'S THIS GUY: Self-styled GOP presidential candidate and Obama birth certificate enthusiast Andy Martin is going on the air in New Hampshire with an ad he describes as a "game changer." The message: "One hundred million Americans have doubts about Obama's origins." NH Journal has the ad: http://bit.ly/g2ncBg


SENATE SIREN - LEPPERT ADVANCES IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION: Republican Tom Leppert announced his resignation as mayor of Dallas yesterday, declaring to the city council that he would leave office by the end of the week ahead of a now-all-but-certain Senate campaign. The Dallas Morning News reports Leppert "also promised that 'in the next several days' he will announce plans for his political future ... Even as Leppert praised the city council as dedicated and passionate, he spent much of the speech recalling episodes on which he was sharply divided with many of its members and that he likely will revisit in a future political campaign. Leppert expressed regret for the council's narrow vote in September to steeply raise the city's tax rate, calling it a mistake ... He also recalled a fight he led against two politically-connected no-bid contracts at Love Field that split the council along racial lines." http://bit.ly/eUHNdB


POLL OF THE DAY - BUDDY FLICK: Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is just below the 50-percent approval mark, according to a Public Policy Polling survey. Whitehouse leads a list of Republican candidates, but WPRI's Ted Nesi has the real headline: "And then there's Buddy. The one-time Republican served six terms as mayor of Providence - and four and a half years as a federal inmate - before embarking on his new career as a talk-radio host.... Cianci's favorability rating of 44% is higher than those of any of the Republicans tested in the poll ... In three-way matchups that tested Whitehouse and Cianci against Republicans Carcieri and Robitaille, Buddy has the backing of 22% and 24% in the poll, respectively, cutting into both major-party candidates' bases." http://bit.ly/gEDDV2 and http://bit.ly/gqbT6W


CENSUS MUST-CLICK: The Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College has rolled out an essential site for the upcoming fight over the congressional map. "Redistricting in America" includes an interactive map with information on reapportionment, state-by-state pages that explain how seats will be drawn, fresh demographic information on districts and more. Bookmark it here: http://www.redistrictinginamerica.org/


MORE FROM THE CENSUS - The Oregonian captures the changing face of the Pacific Northwest: "Oregon's Latino population surged 63 percent in 10 years, largely fueling the state's 12 percent growth since 2000, according to U.S. Census figures released Wednesday. The robust gains of Oregon's Latino population is a story repeated across the country. Joined by a 41 percent increase in the state's Asian population, the trend is helping turn what was once a starkly white state into an increasingly diverse one. ... Washington, like Oregon, also saw huge gains in its Latino population, with 71 percent growth since 2000, according to results released Wednesday. Clark County had the second-highest population growth rate among Washington counties." http://bit.ly/gKLbYk


ELSEWHERE IN OREGON - WU TEETERS: The Democratic congressman is facing calls to resign after disclosures this week that he has struggled with mental health issues and erratic personal behavior. The AP's Jonathan J. Cooper: "The state Republican chair and one of Oregon's largest newspapers said Wu should resign, but Wu says he has no intention of quitting. ... Wu was unavailable Wednesday to comment, said his spokesman, Erik Dorey. The congressman will be in Portland this weekend and plans to speak with reporters then, Dorey said. The Eugene Register Guard, Oregon's second-largest newspaper by circulation, published an editorial Wednesday calling for Wu's resignation 'for lack of candor, not because of treatment.'" http://bit.ly/e7bpvK


CODA - TWEET OF THE DAY: "People are looking for leadership and change ... I think people have good memories of the time when I was mayor." - Buddy Cianci, on the possibility of running for office again http://bit.ly/dL18dx

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