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By Elena Schneider | 05/11/2016 10:03 AM EDT


With Scott Bland, Theodoric Meyer, Maggie Severns and Kevin Robillard

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)

SANDERS WON'T LET GO, JACK - "Hillary Clinton's primary quagmire," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "Hours before the West Virginia polls closed Tuesday, Hillary Clinton's top fundraisers got a memo from campaign manager Robby Mook. The message: Even if Bernie Sanders runs the table in the remaining states, he still can't win. It's a well-known point by now, but it's still one Mook needed to make as Clinton sputters toward the finish line, loaded down with the baggage of recent losses in Indiana and West Virginia ... Clinton may have turned her focus to presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, but at the same time her campaign is forced to continue fighting a rear-guard action against
Sanders, who shows no sign of surrender. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb51eaf05198084a7aceb57c25df34e344a0a85d4be302ec725

YUGE - Trump won the Nebraska primary: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb561b4736cfb3695807b9e3876513f6c46b43b95a17bed2662 And the West Virginia primary: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb515c7bd946c563340aa49b369b0c9a49f0eb2ce724dd8846e

MONEY TALKS IN WEST VIRGINIA - Billionaire Jim Justice has won West Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial primary, matching him up against Republican Bill Cole in what's expected to be one of the tightest governor's races of 2016. Justice had 50 percent of the vote to former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin's 26 percent ... Justice ... poured millions of dollars into his primary campaign to replace Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who is term-limited. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5c031bebc2674378454dad6eecd7338c39b0a4ed70f95d0b1

- Other down-ballot results ... Bacon wins GOP primary to take on Ashford in NE-02: "Don Bacon won the Republican primary to challenge Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford in Nebraska's 2nd District, one of Republicans' few top pickup opportunities in the House this year. Bacon, a retired Air Force general, took 66 percent of the vote ... Former state Sen. Chip Maxwell had 34 percent. ... Both parties in Washington were heavily involved in the Nebraska primary fight. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paid over $400,000 for TV ads casting Maxwell as a 'tea party conservative' outsider and calling Bacon a member of the 'Washington political establishment' leading up to the vote.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb505f992f65a3ad6d7fc14239c9b39b5663b1b8fc6b0ca2948

- DCCC "Emerging Races" candidate loses in WV-02: Former state Del. Mark Hunt narrowly beat veteran Cory Simpson, 29 percent to 27 percent, with the rest of the vote split between three other candidates. Simpson had been tapped by the DCCC for the "Emerging Races" stage of its candidate recruitment program with an eye toward defeating freshman GOP Rep. Alex Mooney. The seat is the most competitive in the state, but the big caveat is that it leans heavily Republican and West Virginia has grown less friendly to Democrats, though Mooney barely won his first term.

See Tuesday's primary results here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5a8f333bd395e04e6e2088333bf9795f59fa0667d6b00598b

Days until the Oregon, Kentucky and Idaho primaries: 6. Days until the 2016 election: 181.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about the Pirates: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

BATTLEGROUND POLLS - Quinnipiac polls: Ohio, Pennsylvania Senate races tied: New Quinnipiac University polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania show tied battleground Senate races developing in those states, while Florida's Senate picture is still muddled as largely undefined candidates prepare for a late primary. In Ohio, former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland earned 43 percent support to 42 percent for GOP Sen. Rob Portman. ... In the Pennsylvania poll, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey took 45 percent to Democrat Katie McGinty's 44 percent ... The Florida survey is more complicated ... none of the candidates get more than 40 percent of the vote." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb55d60756ac61617de5d6854b54413e7aff5ccdfd51b758d13

- GOP super PAC poll shows Ayotte leading in New Hampshire: A Senate Leadership Fund internal poll conducted by GS Strategy Group showed GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte with the advantage over Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, 47 percent to 43 percent, WMUR reported. The super PAC surveyed 600 likely voters from April 25-28. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb53edc356338aa36cdc88833295f4b78eafc5932ec30d71930

- NEW THIS MORNING - Susie Lee draws within margin of error of Lucy Flores in NV-04 internal, but most still undecided: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb58e70e6bd0e8e9e2b1877310380a5daf1f0be6583d2b308c3

AIR SUPPORT - In Nevada ... Senate Majority PAC has started reserving fall TV time in the race to replace Harry Reid. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5f861618a54b894b797b2a13e7eabb8fd626baa7c465e7e7d

- In Ohio ... The single-candidate super PAC backing GOP Sen. Rob Portman is airing a new TV ad, painting Democratic nominee Ted Strickland as a Washington insider who has worked against the best interests of his home state. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb52296a28de47803e05d0b7d15b6ac970334927a896ee3e38b

- And in House Dem primaries ... Democratic senators cut ads for New York, Nevada House candidates: Two Democratic senators have cut TV ads for their preferred candidates in major House primaries next month. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand stars in a new TV ad for Anna Throne-Holst, an EMILY's List-backed candidate facing Dave Calone in the New York's 1st District, a battleground seat represented by GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin. And Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid appears in a new spot for Ruben Kihuen, who's running in a three-way primary in Nevada's 4th District, a vulnerable seat represented by GOP Rep. Cresent Hardy. Watch the Throne-Holst ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5e95023935a832635cbd3b65de4fbdcc3f78e966721cea31b Watch the
Kihuen ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb59316d3be08773b01f59355e674bb14d0ce1a6aa32c9a654a

FORGERY ACCUSATIONS - Denver7 reported that it found 10 forged signatures in former GOP state Rep. Jon Keyser's Senate ballot petitions: The ABC station checked in with ten voters whose names are on Keyser's petitions but said they never signed them and that the signatures don't match. Keyser's already had signature problems, briefly getting thrown off the ballot because of a circulator error. But according to Denver7, a few of the voters asked "what recourse they have for having their signatures forged. They can contact their District Attorney's Office directly. The DA's office has direct jurisdiction over these types of complaints. The Secretary of State's Office only verifies that the
name and address on a petition are the same as what they have on record for that voter. There is no signature verification for the petition process." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5fd5fafd160c0dd9ca9ef3daecb18a4441e700eea46538d91

- A recent case of alleged election fraud in Colorado led to felony charges: " An arrest warrant was issued for a former Denver City Council candidate after she allegedly forged the signatures of deceased individuals on her petition. Corrie Houck's petition also included the names of three popular Sesame Street characters: Bert, Ernie and Big Bird." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5300264be61126c5bf7965403fab3bbc72dcec530ba57b14f ... http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5262e4c9a6f68f3b4ce38b89beec3a0e352bc58be0a46cb91

CAMPAIGN FINANCE TROUBLE - California Democratic Rep. Ami Bera's father, Babual Bera, pled guilty to "illegally funneling more than a quarter of a million dollars to his son's campaigns in 2010 and 2012," The Los Angeles Times reported. "He will be sentenced in August, and federal prosecutors are recommending up to 30 months in prison." The incumbent, who faces Republican Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones in this year's election, said in a statement Monday that he was "saddened to learn of these allegations against my father," the Sacramento Bee reported. Bera is expected to have a tough race in his competitive seat, based in the Sacramento suburbs, after intra-party strife over his
support of President Barack Obama's 2015 trade legislation. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5d6d5bbea45d00b81a46071b4f092e0b0a5e4c364e0fd4297

- Senate Leadership Fund is connecting Bera's troubles with Florida Senate candidate Patrick Murphy: In an email, the super PAC asked whether Rep. Murphy would return the $5,000 check he received from Babulal Bera on June 27, 2015, according to FEC filings. It also cited a Philadelphia Inquirer report about "a controversial donor swap scheme" between Bera and Murphy's families. "Once again, Patrick Murphy's shady campaign finances are coming into question," said spokesman Ian Prior. "Not only has he taken thousands from a criminal defendant who has been federally charged with soliciting straw donations, but Murphy's own parents were involved in a shady donor swap scheme with the accused."

CASH-MAN CANOVA - "Canova, Wasserman Schultz's challenger, set to announce $1M haul," by POLITICO Florida's Marc Caputo: Tim Canova, the upstart liberal who's challenging Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her congressional seat, is about to become a million-dollar candidate. Fueled heavily by small-dollar donors who give to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Canova said that, by the weekend, he'll have raised $1 million since he officially entered the race Jan. 7....The Canova campaign said it received 17,756 individual contributions in April alone, that the overall average contribution was just $18.76 and that of the 23,404 total donors as of
the end of April, only nine "have maxed out." The campaign says it soon will have 50,000 contributions from 25,000 individual donors. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb52fccf672e74029dacfb10402a2fe759a127491961a7b915c

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump says big rallies his key campaign weapon," by The Associated Press' Julie Pace and Jill Colvin: "Donald Trump, GOP nomination virtually in hand, is planning a general election campaign that banks heavily on his personal appeal and trademark rallies while spurning the kind of sophisticated data operation that was a centerpiece of Barack Obama's winning White House runs. 'I've always felt it was overrated,' Trump said in an interview Tuesday. 'Obama got the votes much more so than his data processing machine. And I think the same is true with me.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb59f258ed607fc67ba81007d4dee209bbcaa0ff20e126c0b7a

- "Cruz rules out third-party bid," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett: "Ted Cruz returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to rule out a third-party run for the presidency but offered no clarity on whether he will ever endorse Donald Trump. Cruz said the he trusts his delegates and the voters to determine the next president but offered no views on backing Trump now or in the future. Asked if he regretted calling Trump 'terrific' as he avoided tangling with the business mogul early in the campaign, the Texas senator said he has 'no interest in Monday morning quarterbacking.' However, Cruz kept the door cracked to enter the race again if circumstances change."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5427aa4086cba9ac70d7057784ed7c9970e40904359a8d3b4

- "GOP unfriends Facebook," by POLITICO's Tony Romm: "Washington's leading Republicans mounted an aggressive campaign on Tuesday targeting Facebook for the way it handles news stories, the latest front in the party's fight to highlight perceived liberal bias. In a presidential election year marked by the growing importance of social media - especially in helping fuel the rise of Donald Trump - Republicans found themselves seething in response to allegations that Facebook's employees had excluded news stories by conservative outlets from appearing in the Trending section of its users' daily news feeds." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb554c305c88e085189143e7e1e9aba92277332b8a835878f43

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "While I deeply love my father, it's clear that he has made a grave mistake that will have real consequences for him," Bera said in a statement about his father's guilty plea to campaign finance violations, The Los Angeles Times reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c8f648f1b45aafb5d6d5bbea45d00b81a46071b4f092e0b0a5e4c364e0fd4297

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