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By Scott Bland | 03/17/2017 10:00 AM EDT


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)

COALITION BUILDING - "Freedom Caucus aligns with Bannon in risky Obamacare gambit," by POLITICO's Rachael Bade, Tara Palmeri and Kyle Cheney: "Steve Bannon was furious. Last weekend, the Washington Examiner published a story claiming that President Donald Trump had vowed to back primary challengers to run against Republicans who oppose the GOP's health care plan. The article named Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows as a 'possible target.' Bannon believed the story was categorically untrue, according to sources, and he met with Meadows over the weekend as speculation mounted about who was behind it. Multiple House Republican whips denied that Trump made the threat during the meeting with
GOP leaders cited in the story. But a few days later, Trump leaned on Paul Ryan to compromise with the House's far-right flank, which has dubbed the speaker's health care bill 'Obamacare-lite.' The Freedom Caucus may not need to fear Trump-backed primary challengers because of this episode. But the group nonetheless is taking a big risk in threatening to blow up Ryan's health care proposal: Its passage is a top priority for Trump and could have ramifications for the rest of the new president's agenda. Trump told GOP vote-counters last week he'd do everything in his power to get it through Congress." Full story.

SPECIAL ELECTION WATCH - STICKING TOGETHER - Republican MT-AL nominee Greg Gianforte is encouraging comparison with President Donald Trump in the May special election to replace Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in the House - a departure from the prevailing conventional wisdom in Washington but a reminder that the big House special elections are in Republican-leaning territory and Trump remains popular in the red states like Montana that comprise the core of the 2018 Senate battleground map.

- Via MTN News' Jay Kohn: "All eyes will be Montana," said Gianforte. "This will be a race of national significance. It will be a referendum on President Trump's administration." But Gianforte also separated himself from the House GOP health care bill Trump is backing, which Democrat Rob Quist is criticizing. (Quist called the plan a "dangerous D.C. health proposal" in a release Wednesday.)

- More from Gianforte to MTN News: "I think we can do better than the program that's on the table today. It's clear to me that there are aspects of [Obamacare] that are good. We need to protect people with pre-existing conditions, and we need to make sure that we have a safety net for people that can't take care of themselves." Full story.

- Gianforte also released a TV ad in which he pledges to protect the Second Amendment, public land access and jobs and says: "As your representative, you can count on me to fight back against Washington, D.C.'s war on the west." Watch the ad here.

IN GEORGIA... - "Karen Handel joins attacks on Jon Ossoff with debut ad," by the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Greg Bluestein: "Republican Karen Handel joined the growing list of candidates in the race for Georgia's Sixth District attacking Democrat Jon Ossoff as attention and donations for his bid swell. The former Georgia Secretary of State released ... a digital ad that focuses largely on the 30-year-old Democrat ... It slams Ossoff as a "lightweight liberal" and ties him to the Affordable Care Act that Price - now Trump's health secretary - is charged with overhauling." Full story.

- "Bob Gray's pro-Trump credentials under fire," again via the AJC's Bluestein: "Two of the biggest Donald Trump boosters in the race for Georgia's Sixth District are feuding with each other in the battle for the suburban Atlanta district. Bruce LeVell, who was head of Trump's diversity coalition, said Bob Gray has been 'lying to the Trump voters from the start of this campaign' about his support for the president. He included a yard sign purported to be on Gray's Facebook page that he said exposes him as a 'false prophet.' ... Gray, a former Johns Creek councilman, has promised to be a 'willing partner' of Trump and has featured his drain the swamp slogan in his ad campaign. ... 'We're
focused on defeating the Democrat," said Joash Thomas, a [Gray] campaign spokesman, 'not any of the candidates polling below Lindsey Graham.'" Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 235.

Days until the 2018 election: 599.

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: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4.

TV TIMEOUT - U.S. Chamber ads push Heitkamp, McCaskill on regulatory bill: The Chamber of Commerce is airing TV ads in North Dakota and Missouri, two states which will have marquee Senate races in 2018, pushing Democratics Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Claire McCaskill to support the Regulatory Accountability Act, which would revise federal regulation procedures and "stimulat[e] growth," according to the spot. "The ad is supported by a six-figure buy including statewide cable TV in Missouri and North Dakota," Chamber spokeswoman Megan Van Etten wrote in an email. Watch the Missouri and North Dakota ads.

BUDGET LINE - "Democrats rush to turn Trump's budget cuts against him," by POLITICO's Heather Caygle and Elana Schor: "Democrats on Thursday savaged the steep cuts to health, education and environmental protection programs in President Donald Trump's budget proposal, seizing on the spending blueprint as proof that Trump has abandoned the voters who put him in the White House. Trump's budget, like the fiscal frameworks of his predecessors, represents a message about his agenda more than a plan that might actually become law. Congress would have to go along with Trump's painful cuts, and even Republicans were preemptively balking at some provisions. But that won't stop Democrats from
hammering the GOP for Trump's wishlist." Full story.

CHECK RETURNED - "Lawmaker to return campaign funds from donor accused of marketing scam," by POLITICO's Heather Caygle: "Freshman Rep. Brian Mast is returning more than $5,000 in campaign donations from a Florida businessman accused of defrauding people of millions of dollars in a marketing scam. The Republican lawmaker received $5,400 in campaign contributions last year from Scott Cooper, president of World Patent Marketing. The donations, in March 2016, came a week after Cooper's company put out a press release announcing Mast as a member of its advisory board. Mast denied any involvement with the company, including its advisory board, in a story first reported by POLITICO. Now a
spokesman for the lawmaker, who represents part of Palm Beach County, says he will be returning the money from Cooper. Cooper and his company are accused by the FTC of bilking millions of dollars out of thousands of customers through a patent scam. A district court in Florida agreed to an FTC request to freeze the company's assets earlier this month." Full story.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW - "Former Texas Congressman Steve Stockman accused of violating federal election law," by KPRC's Phil Archer: "He is accused of conspiring to violate federal election laws during his last term in office. It's a felony that could send him to federal prison if he's convicted. As Stockman stood before the judge Thursday afternoon, prosecutors alleged that the former congressman had conspired with two former employees to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to his personal use. According to the complaint, in 2011 Stockman set up a non-profit called Life Without Limits in Las Vegas. A single contributor donated $350,000 to the charity, which Stockman then allegedly funneled
back to himself through donations made by his employees." Full story.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Congress' wiretap slap leaves White House fuming," by POLITICO's Austin Wright: "President Donald Trump suffered the second bipartisan rebuke from Congress over his wiretapping claims in two days - and left it to his embattled spokesman, Sean Spicer, to explain that the president didn't actually mean what he wrote. The Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday shot down Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. ... The ... rebukes from senior Republicans are the latest sign that many in the GOP are increasingly frustrated with a president
who has made a habit of hurling inflammatory insults on Twitter at his political rivals - or even his reality-television rivals - often without evidence and sometimes based on conspiracy theories. A defiant Spicer on Thursday responded by accusing reporters of ignoring key information and the intelligence committee leaders of speaking before they have all the facts." Full story.

- "Campaign Pledges Haunt Trump in Court," by the New York Times' Adam Liptak: "In quick succession on Wednesday night, federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland blocked President Trump's revised travel ban. They said statements Mr. Trump had made as a presidential candidate, including his call for 'a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,' helped doom the executive order. ... Outside the context of Mr. Trump's two travel bans, few judicial rulings have addressed how much weight courts may put on statements from political candidates. Even informal remarks from sitting government officials are often ignored by courts, which can be reluctant to conduct what the Supreme
Court has called 'judicial psychoanalysis.' But ... the Supreme Court has said judges may not turn a blind eye to the context in which government policies on religion arose." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "My staff laughs at my jokes, maybe they have to." - Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), describing her sense of humor as an asset in Congress, in the Jewish Journal.

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