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By Elena Schneider | 05/12/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With 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)

ONE-ON-ONE - "POLITICO Pro Q&A: Senate Leadership Fund," by Campaign Pro's Theodoric Meyer: "The fight for control of the Senate has become more prominent as the presidential primaries begin to wind down. That means a lot more attention for Senate Leadership Fund, the group formed to be the principal GOP Senate super PAC of 2016. Steven Law, the group's president, and Carl Forti, the political director, have worked together for several election cycles in the same roles for American Crossroads and other groups in the Crossroads network - which are still active. But they felt that the political environment called for a Senate-specific group. They sat down with Campaign Pro to discuss that
political environment, why they got involved in Indiana's GOP Senate primary, and more.

- What is Senate Leadership Fund's role in 2016? SL: When we started this election cycle back in January 2015, our focus was defending the Senate majority. Part of that was we had just helped win the Senate majority and felt like we didn't want to let it go. Part of it was the magnitude of the challenge of holding onto that majority. And then other part of it was - particularly last January, our view was that it was just going to be a giant sucking sound of attention and resources to the presidential race. ... We concluded that the presidential super PACs would absorb vast amounts of energy and attention and resources, and we ought to stay focused on our core competency.

- The 2014 Senate races were marked by a huge amount of early spending on attack ads against Democrats, which really destabilized some races. There has been less early spending this year, and more of it has focused on praising Republicans. Why is that? CF: The map is totally different. The goal this time is different. We're talking about incumbents this time, not ... a slate of challengers against Democratic incumbents. So I think that changes how we go about it and what we do.

- What needs to be done to protect vulnerable Republican senators from a potential anti-Donald Trump wave? SL: At least at this stage of the game, I dispute the premise...

Read more of the conversation here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb02116ab0aa1bbefb5a9de91a55476b3bdfbaf051d1b0f9c2d30de

LABOR OF HATE - "Unions prepare super PAC to take down Trump," by POLITICO's Brian Mahoney and Kenneth P. Vogel: "Top labor unions are finalizing a new super PAC that will solicit cash from outside donors to take down Donald Trump in key battleground states. The super PAC is engineered by top officials at the AFL-CIO and three major public employee unions: the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the American Federation of Teachers; and the National Education Association. The Service Employees International Union considered joining the PAC but has since opted out. Unions may opt in for $1 million, sources say. The PAC's organizers aim to raise about $50 million by
soliciting money from unions and liberal donors outside the labor movement. ...The new super PAC would not be the first funded by labor unions. But it represents a departure because in the past union-run super PACs have been funded almost entirely by the unions themselves." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c6f8d584e3ac1fb9652c1f0bb4fc0453cc2a049b5e6b2a7a737523ca1f2e3d7

Days until the Oregon, Kentucky and Idaho primaries: 5. Days until the 2016 election: 179.

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 20 strikeouts: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

FIRST IN SCORE - New Ayotte web ad calls Hassan an absentee governor: For weeks, Democrats have used the #doyourjob hashtag on Twitter to attack Republican senators for refusing to move forward with President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Now, GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire is repurposing the slogan to go after her Democratic opponent, Gov. Maggie Hassan, for not doing her job as governor as she campaigns. The Ayotte campaign is going up with a new web ad using the slogan on Thursday. Watch the ad: bit.ly/1ZGGdCL

AD ROUND-UP - In NC-13 ... The Club for Growth's super PAC released a bio spot boosting its endorsed candidate for North Carolina's open 13th District, Ted Budd, calling him the "conservative choice" in a 17-way Republican primary. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb021166ee071b8fea2ae9247ef1df4c46ca75c89667e10c962dfb9

- In Montana ... The Republican Governors Association is out with a new ad accusing Montana Gov. Steve Bullock of saying one thing and doing another. The ad says Bullock "promised reform" and then hits him for using a taxpayer-funded plane to travel to campaign events. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb021161f6a4481356493b484419c737701e71d07c358bf3068f42d

- The entire Wednesday round-up: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb02116e5d60594f03d1efa7b18679cdf9d0cea7688da3a3eae1256

SAY MY NAME, SAY MY NAME - "Reid to Grayson: 'I want you to lose,'" by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim: Rep. Alan Grayson angrily confronted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday, disrupting a meeting of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in front of dozens of staffers and members of Congress. Grayson (D-Fla.), who Reid vehemently opposes in his bid for the open Florida Senate seat, arrived at the meeting with Reid's February statement in hand ... that Grayson has 'no moral compass' and 'used his status as a congressman to unethically promote his Cayman Islands hedge funds.' As each member took a turn to speak to Reid, it was Grayson's turn. He asked Reid if the
Nevada senator knows who he is. After Reid answered in the affirmative, Grayson went on the attack. 'Say my name, senator. Say my name' ... Reid calmly faced his inquisitor: 'I want you to lose. It's true.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c6f8d584e3ac1fb805890ae7697f0f8940f4350926fabc54f2becbbff25ccc2

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Biden wanted Warren as his VP," by POLITICO's Glenn Thrush and Annie Karni: "Joe Biden took months to decide he wouldn't run for president - but he was sold on Elizabeth Warren as his running mate from the start, people familiar with the situation told POLITICO. And he still thinks the Massachusetts firebrand would be Hillary Clinton's best choice to replace him as the nation's No. 2 in January 2017." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb0211698347596309194394470d6bc124e25896f6cceb46ca1881d

- "Ted Cruz poised to challenge Trump in Texas," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney: "Ted Cruz isn't giving up. While Donald Trump dispatches three advisers to Texas's convention in Dallas this week and makes a pitch for party unity, his team will be running up against a Cruz operation that is still maneuvering to stuff the state's delegation with allies the senator could call on to snub the presumptive nominee. 'We have a busy weekend planned,' said a source familiar with the Cruz campaign's plans. Cruz is scheduled to deliver an address at the Texas convention after a week of hinting he could jump back into the presidential contest and urging activists to thwart the New Yorker's takeover of the
GOP's policy platform. And despite dropping out of the race more than a week ago ... [i]t's not just Texas where Cruz is still playing." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb02116d454ca1c56ccd6f9d78fd74e159629743cfae740dcf349fd

- "Head of Bernie Sanders's Campaign in California Is Replaced," by The New York Times' Yamiche Alcindor: "Senator Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign replaced its California state director Wednesday, less than a month before voters in the delegate-rich state cast their primary ballots. Michael Ceraso, who had been directing the campaign's efforts in the state, will be replaced by Robert Becker, who has run the Sanders campaign's operations in other states. Mr. Ceraso, 34, said in an interview Wednesday that he wanted the campaign in California to devote more resources on supporting volunteers, digital initiatives and field organizing than on buying expensive television advertising."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb021161a243bde2ca94774e26b4070b3e8b48803ec59ae7403c972

- "The presidential polling wars begin anew," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: "We are just one week into the presumptive general election matchup between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and the two sides, the media and polling experts are already disagreeing over a series of divergent general election polls in Florida and other battleground states. ... [Associated Industries of Florida] Vice President of Political Operations Ryan Tyson, who conducted [one] survey analysis, says the blow-up over Quinnipiac's numbers and its nonconformity with other recent polls (including AIF's) misses the point. His explanation: Quinnipiac's survey randomly telephoned households looking for registered
voters, while AIF's sampled likely voters. Tyson said that difference gets to the central question of the 2016 election." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb021162c42a6405f165889b3a433c7b9893504b31f07c7f36d81a7

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems." - Bernie Sanders to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c1ef74757bb021164ffe5382bd94715a5b5d0fa08043bb878bede734229c9aba

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