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By Kyle Cheney

With Steven Shepard

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. (
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FIRST IN SCORE - Progressives rally behind Merkley to create "firewall" for Warren: A liberal group aligned with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has outlined a plan to build a "firewall" around Warren's staunchest allies running for Senate in 2014. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has raised more than $163,000 to support Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), and Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), lawmakers the group contends are critical to preserving Warrens' populist vision. PCCC will officially endorse Merkley today, and it's already raised nearly $70,000 for him.

"Jeff Merkley is one of the boldest leaders in the Senate because he isn't afraid to take on the big fights like breaking up the big banks, expanding Social Security benefits, defending our privacy, and fighting to ensure Senate rules represent the will of the people," said the group's cofounder, Stephanie Taylor, in a statement.

-- Warren to join Coakley on campaign trail: Warren will appear with Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee for governor in Massachusetts, for events today discussing the affordability of higher education and efforts to combat youth violence. The events come shortly after Coakley's rival, Republican Charlie Baker, accepts the endorsement of the Massachusetts Corrections Officers Federated Union in Boston.

POLITICS AND PANCAKES - Sarah Palin will attempt to add a jolt of conservative energy to the campaign of Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, who trails in the polls against independent Greg Orman. Palin will join Roberts in Independence, Kan., at the Historical Museum and Art Center for a pancake breakfast. "Governor Palin is one of our party's grassroots leaders, and we are thrilled to have her support in this important race for U.S. Senate" said Roberts spokesman Corey Bliss. "Republicans in Kansas, and across the country, are uniting around our campaign because we cannot win the Senate majority without Pat Roberts."

Exclusive: Republican Torrey Westrom, who's working to unseat 12-term incumbent Collin Peterson in Minnesota's 7th Congressional District, is down just five points, according to an internal poll shared with POLITICO. The poll of 402 likely voters, conducted Sept. 21-23 by the Tarrance Group for the Westrom camp and the NRCC, shows Peterson leading 45-40, with 15 percent undecided. It carries a 4.9-percentage-point margin of error. Westrom allies note that the challenger has yet to go on the air in the district, which Peterson has carried handily even in Republican wave years. The poll also showed a plurality of voters favoring Republicans in a generic ballot test, and nearly two-thirds
disapproving of the president's job performance.

THE RAZZIES - "The worst campaigns of 2014," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "The 2014 election is being driven by sweeping national forces - an unpopular president, a shaky economy and, increasingly, national security. Yet for candidates, the fundamentals of running a strong campaign matter as much as ever. And this year, some campaigns are turning out to be doozies - of the worst variety."
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The list, in a nutshell:

1. Most prominent gaffes: Bruce Braley

2. Most complacent: Eric Cantor

3. Fastest flameout: Wendy Davis

4. Cringeworthiest ad: Sean Eldridge

5. Worst headlines: Ed FitzGerald

6. Biggest choke: Chris McDaniel

7. Lifetime (in Washington) achievement award: Pat Roberts

As the courts jostle a couple governor's races and Kansas Dems decry a state-sanctioned sex toy sale, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the 2014 midterms.

Days until the election: 40

Thanks for joining us. We're eager for your news and feedback. Email us at
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kcheney@politico.com or find us on Twitter at @
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TODAY ON POLITICO - "Dems pin hopes on a new Graham in Florida," by Katie Glueck: "[FL-02 Democratic candidate Gwen] Graham emphasizes her disagreement with several aspects of Obamacare. And when asked twice by POLITICO whether she would back Nancy Pelosi for minority leader, she said: 'There needs to be new leadership on both sides of the aisle.'

"'I don't think either party is right 96, 97 percent of the time,' Graham said in a half-hour phone call from her campaign headquarters, while arguing that [GOP Rep. Steve] Southerland is in lockstep with an uncompromising GOP. 'We need a Congress, in general, that's more willing to consider that someone else's ideas might be equally as valid. We need to figure out a way to come down more in the middle, to get things done again.'"
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POPPING THIS MORNING - Q poll shows closer race in Virginia Senate: Continuing their pattern of showing better results for Republicans than other public polls, a new Quinnipiac University survey out this morning shows Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner up just 9 points over Republican Ed Gillespie, 48-39. Warner is still well-liked, and while he's better-known than Gillespie, the former RNC chairman still has positive image ratings. If this poll reflects a tightening reality, expect to see Warner and Democrats beat up the Republican on the airwaves. If their data differ (the HuffPollster model shows Warner +23 among likely voters before this poll), they'll probably continue to mostly
ignore him.
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FROM THE BENCH - Courts issue pair of rulings with political consequences: The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a federal appeals court has upheld a lower court order to expand voting hours and add an extra week for early voting in Ohio. The decision undercuts a state law that would've scaled back those options, a move state attorneys argued would bring voting hours and days in line with other states.

-- Meanwhile, POLITICO's Byron Tau reports that a federal appeals court ruling kicks back to state courts an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations by Gov. Scott Walker: "It does not necessarily mean the probe will be restarted because a state court judge in January ordered it stopped ... The federal ruling undercuts one of Walker's key political arguments against some of the facts revealed in the investigation: that federal courts had largely sided with him and his allies on the questions raised in the course of the probe."
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NRA goes cold in Alaska: The gun lobby isn't taking sides in Alaska's razor-close Senate race, despite aggressive support for gun rights professed by Democratic Sen. Mark Begich and his challenger, Dan Sullivan. Per the AP: "[T]he NRA gave Begich an A-minus rating and his Republican challenger Dan Sullivan an A-q. The 'q' means the grade is qualified because Sullivan has no voting record, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. Grades in those cases are based, in part, on answers provided in questionnaires ... Arulanandam said Begich would have gotten a higher grade and the NRA's endorsement if he had not voted for President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominees, Justices Elena Kagan
and Sonia Sotomayor. Both were opposed by the NRA."
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TOP TALKER - Kansas auctioning off sex toys, Dems blame Brownback: Democrats pounced yesterday on the news that Kansas authorities are auctioning off sex toys - seized from a delinquent business - to help make up for unpaid taxes. The Topeka Capital-Journal broke the story, which prompted an outcry from Democrats already seizing on Kansas's fiscal woes amid a tight election contest between Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and Democrat Paul Davis. It comes a week after Davis fended off questions about his presence in a strip club in 1998 when it was raided by police looking for drugs.

-- "Brownback is so desperate to fill the massive hole in the state budget caused by his reckless income tax cuts that the state of Kansas is now in the porn business," Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley said in a statement. "This is the same governor whose supporters spent this past week attacking his opponent for a strip club incident that happened 16 years ago."
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Daybook: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus will be in Iowa today alongside the state's slate of Republican nominees - from Senate candidate Joni Ernst to Gov. Terry Branstad. It marks the first day of early voting in a state that's as closely watched for 2016 cues as it is for it's hotly contested Senate race this year. Priebus will make the RNC's latest push for supporters to cast ballots early.

2016 WATCH - "Carly Fiorina Hits the Trail With an Eye on 2016," by National Journal's Emily Schultheis: "She's been to New Hampshire three times and South Carolina once. She's heading to Iowa this weekend, and then North Carolina and Virginia after that. Clearly, Carly Fiorina is thinking about 2016. But is anybody thinking about Carly Fiorina? ... While her efforts are focused on helping the GOP win control of the Senate in November, political strategists say Fiorina is doing all the right things to prep for a 2016 bid. And the message she's touting is a preview of the kind of role she could play, if she runs."
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TECH MINUTE -- The RNC is also upgrading its interaction with potential voters through a brand new website. "The site is filled with new features and information you need for this year's elections," said Chuck DeFeo, the RNC's chief digital officer, said in a letter to supporters. "Make sure your opinion is heard by signing a petition or taking a survey with one click of a button. Or look up how to vote early by mail or in person in your state. There's so much you can do."

RATINGS CHANGES - Sabato's Crystal Ball moved 14 House ratings this week. The 10 favoring Republicans: CO-06 and NY-21 move to "leans Republican" from "tossup," CA-07 moves from "leans Democratic" to "tossup." CA-21 and IL-13 move from "leans Republican" to "likely Republican." NJ-02, PA-08 and VA-02 move to "safe Republican" from "likely Republican." NY-24 moes from "likely Democratic" to "leans Democratic," and HI-01 moves from "safe Democratic to "Likely Democratic."

-- And the four favoring Democrats: AZ-09, CA-36 and FL-18 move from "leans Democratic" to "likely Democratic." NV-04 moves from "likely Democratic" to "safe Democratic."
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CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'What is different is the titillation factor of what we're selling,' a Kansas revenue department spokeswoman to the Topeka Capital-Journal, bluntly explaining the novelty of a sex-toy auction sponsored by the state.
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