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By Elena Schneider | 03/09/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With Bianca Padró Ocasio, Scott Bland, Kevin Robillard and Daniel Strauss

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 THERMOMETER - Republican candidates weigh in on the bill, largely staying noncommital: Campaign Pro surveyed a handful of Republican candidates who are either in or considering statewide bids on the House GOP health care bill. Here's what they had to say. Virginia Ed Gillespie's spokesman Matt Moran: "Ed believes Obamacare is a disaster that should be completely repealed and replaced - and done so without punishing taxpayers in fiscally-responsible states like Virginia. Ed believes that Congress and the Trump Administration should work together to pass a conservative plan that fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with healthcare system that saves taxpayer dollars, increases
affordability and gives consumers the choices they deserve." Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci's communications director Kelsey Knight: "I know that he believes Obamacare is collapsing and the reconciliation recommendations that they are considering today will deliver much needed relief. However before the House Budget Committee marks up this bill, he fully expects the Congressional Budget Office score to be publicly available." ... Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor's spokesman Michael Duchesne: "The Lt. Governor wants to take some more time with this issue before she comments. She's a thoughtful, policy-oriented person and doesn't want to just throw out a sound bite. I'm sure this is going to be topical for
awhile and we'd love to have another opportunity to weigh in on the future." ... More here.

- Some of the candidates in the crowded GA-06 special also revealed their thoughts, and no one was fully supportive - Businessman David Abroms: "Yesterday, House Republicans issued a draft of their long-awaited legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. They are moving too fast on an issue that is too important and too complex to simply 'ram through.' While I applaud the commitment of Republicans in Congress to rectify the damages caused by President Obama's signature healthcare law, I firmly believe that meaningful healthcare reform is far too important to pass with undue haste and insufficient review." ... State Sen. Judson Hill: "I don't think the proposed legislation is quite where it
needs to be yet -- as my friend Secretary Price said 'this is just a start.' We have more work to do before we find the right replacement plan, but House Republicans and the Trump Administration included some desperately needed reforms into the initial legislation." ... Attorney Bob Gray: "While the House GOP Obamacare replacement plan is a step in the right direction, it's not quite the 'repeal and replace' plan I was expecting from our House GOP Leadership. Repealing and replacing a government program as flawed as Obamacare is no easy task. Nevertheless, when you take a band-aid off, the best way to do it is by quickly ripping it off." ... Former Secretary of State Karen Handel: "I'm
pleased the bill repeals the individual mandate and eliminates the medical device tax, but there is certainly a lot more work to be done."

WHAT WILL THE FOX SAY? - "GOP courting Montana attorney general to challenge Tester," by The Associated Press' Matt Volz: "Republicans in Montana and in Washington, D.C., are now courting the state's attorney general, Tim Fox, to step up and run against [Democratic Sen. Jon] Tester next year. ... Fox was recently U.S. Sen. Steve Daines' guest for Trump's joint congressional address. While he was in Washington, Fox said he met Trump, [Interior Secretary and former Rep.] Ryan Zinke, Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, among others. Fox didn't rule out a run against Tester next year but said his main concern now is making sure his office's budget and bills move
through the current legislative session. ... Other potential Republican candidates include some or all of those who won Montana's statewide offices last November. One of them, State Auditor Matthew Rosendale, said he had not made a decision about the 2018 race." Full story.

SETTING UP SHOP - "Katherine Van Hollen carves out DSCC role," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "As the DSCC announced its new senior personnel this winter, the committee left out one key name: Katherine Van Hollen, an experienced Washington foreign policy expert and the wife of new DSCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen. Katherine Van Hollen has played a significant but behind-the-scenes role in setting up the Senate Democratic committee for the 2018 elections, from sitting in on key staff interviews late last year to now having a hand in the DSCC's digital and fundraising operations, according to sources who described her work, which is unpaid. It is not a role Van Hollen played when her
husband chaired the DCCC for two of his terms in the House, Democratic sources noted ... Strategists in both parties said it was without recent precedent for a chairman or chairwoman's spouse to take an official role in one of the party campaign committees. Overall, Katherine Van Hollen, who has an office in the DSCC's Capitol Hill headquarters but not a title, is serving as a sounding board and trusted adviser for her husband, Chris Van Hollen said in a phone interview." Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 243.

Days until the 2018 election: 607.

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, where we tweet about campaigns: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4.

BROWNBACK TO THE U.N.? - Appointment would elevate Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, scrambling what was expected to be an open 2018 Kansas gubernatorial race: "Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is in talks with President Donald Trump's administration about taking an ambassadorship position, according to sources close to the governor," the Kansas City Star's Bryan Lowry and Hunter Woodall write. "No offer has been extended yet, according to The Star's sources, but the governor has discussed the possibility of taking a position as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for food and agriculture, a position that would move the Midwestern governor to Rome. ... Kansas Public Radio reported Wednesday afternoon
that Brownback was poised to be named ambassador, citing an unnamed source who called it a 'done deal.' Several sources close to the governor framed the situation as more tentative than that." Full story.

SPECIAL ELECTION SEASON - "Republicans see South Carolina as test of a Trump-less ticket," by McClatchy's Katie Glueck: "In the South Carolina race to replace Mick Mulvaney, Republican congressional candidates can't do enough to publicly tout their support for Trump. .. 'This is going to tell you where the Republican primary voter is, after all of the carnage that's gone on in the news, the attacks on Donald Trump,' said Katon Dawson, the former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party....Perhaps none of them has leaned harder into the Trumpian outsider message than Tom Mullikin, a longer-shot lawyer and commander of the S.C. State Guard who has a record of donating to both
Republicans and Democrats-just like Donald Trump, his allies would say." Full story.

TV TIMEOUT - GOP GA-06 ad uses Trump saying 'drain the swamp': Full story.

ON THE HILL - "The Republicans who could tell Trump to take a hike on health care," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Rachael Bade: "Hardline conservatives have threatened to upend the GOP's drive to replace Obamacare, but the real peril may come from a quieter group of moderates. The two dozen House Republicans who outran President Donald Trump at home - in some cases surviving even as Hillary Clinton won their districts - are now facing a vote on health care that could put their political careers on the line. Though Obamacare has never been widely popular, the law has gained support in recent weeks as Republicans inch closer to repealing it. And the GOP plan to replace it is drawing fire from
important constituencies, from hospitals to the AARP. Republican members in swing districts are likeliest to feel the squeeze - and would be taking the greatest political risk to back the president and the party." Full story.

HOUSE MONEY - "The National Republican Congressional Committee said Wednesday that it raised a record $10.5 million in February - the first full month of solid GOP control in Washington, with Republicans running the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives," the Washington Post's Mike DeBonis reports. "That is more than double the $5 million that the NRCC, the committee charged with electing Republicans to the House, raised in the last February of a non-election year." Full story.

- "Ryan says he'll match what members raise for NRCC" in March, reports Roll Call's Lindsey McPherson. Full story.

TO A CITY NEAR YOU - "Perez, Ellison embark on unity tour," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "New Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez and Deputy Chair Keith Ellison are taking their buddy show on the road. Starting later this month, the pair will embark on what they are calling a "Democratic Turnaround Tour" that hits a collection of states that the party lost in 2016 and where there are ongoing races. The first stops, beginning March 24, are in Detroit and Flint, Michigan - where Hillary Clinton was the first Democrat to lose since 1988. That trip will be followed by visits to Texas - where Democrats are looking to make inroads - and to the states that will hold the two
gubernatorial races in 2017, New Jersey and Virginia." Full story.

TRANSITIONS - Go BIG Media adds Graves, Venezia: Go BIG Media announced Wednesday that Peter Graves, who served as the RNC's political director for 17 states over the last two cycles, will join as president of political and media strategies, per a statement from the group. Nicole Venezia, who led fundraising and direct mail projects on down ballot campaigns, will join the firm as director of client accounts.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Authorities looked into Manafort protégé," by POLITICO's Kenneth P. Vogel and David Stern: "U.S. and Ukrainian authorities have expressed interest in the activities of a Kiev-based operative with suspected ties to Russian intelligence who consulted regularly with Paul Manafort last year while Manafort was running Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, came under scrutiny from officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Department partly because of at least two trips he took to the U.S. during the presidential campaign, according to three international political operatives familiar with the
agencies' interest in Kilimnik. Kilimnik, a joint Russian-Ukrainian citizen who trained in the Russian army as a linguist, told operatives in Kiev and Washington that he met with Manafort during an April trip to the United States. And, after a late summer trip to the U.S., Kilimnik suggested that he had played a role in gutting a proposed amendment to the Republican Party platform that would have staked out a more adversarial stance toward Russia, according to a Kiev operative." Full story.

- "Heritage Foundation's cozy relationship with Trump put to test," by POLITICO's Nancy Cook and Andrew Restucci: "The Heritage Foundation has been cozying up to top White House aides and congressional leaders for months, hoping to put its conservative imprint on President Donald Trump's policy agenda. But the first major bill that Republicans proposed - to repeal and replace Obamacare - runs completely afoul of Heritage's priorities and threatens to upend a critical relationship between conservative activists and the Trump administration. Now the 44-year-old think tank must decide whether to stay in the administration's good graces by compromising some of its core values to get things done
or embrace its long-standing reputation as a political bomb-thrower." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "If [voters] had asked about it, I would have told them," said accountant Nathan D. Larson, who's running Virginia's House of Delegates and "pleaded guilty to threatening to kill the U.S. president, an admission that led to 16 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release," The Washington Post reported.

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