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By Elena Schneider | 02/22/2017 10:00 AM EDT


With 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)

PUBLIC ENEMY - "'They're trying to turn Elizabeth into a boogeyman,'" by POLITICO's Burgess Everett and John Bresnahan: "Republicans need a new campaign villain - and Elizabeth Warren is looking increasingly like their choice. With Barack Obama and Harry Reid out of office and Nancy Pelosi toiling deep in the minority, Republicans are in search of a figure so reviled by the conservative base that he or she motivates donors to open their wallets and voters to go the polls. Party strategists believe the liberal Massachusetts senator's brand of politics is a serious turnoff to voters outside the coasts - and will be a liability for at least five Democrats up for reelection in states President
Donald Trump easily won. So Republicans are already making plans to raise her profile - in the worst way possible - ahead of the 2018 midterms. Warren is getting top billing in news releases by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund, a prominent Republican super PAC with ties to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The NRSC is launching a new round of digital ads on Wednesday dinging incumbent Democrats for voting with Warren, officials said. And it's just a matter of time before she's featured prominently in TV ads, too." Full story.

SPECIAL ELECTION POLLING - Conservative Georgia politics blog commissions poll in GA-06: ZPolitics and Clout Research conducted a poll that found Democrat Jon Ossoff leading a six-candidate field with 32 percent in a district that reelected GOP Rep. Tom Price with over 60 percent of the vote. (Note: The actual size of the special election field is 18 candidates.) Here's the Atlanta Journal Constitution's take on that: "We're not saying the poll was rigged. But we are saying that if you wanted to rig a poll to portray all Republicans in the race as underdogs and thus in desperate need of campaign cash, this would be one way to do it." The poll also found Republicans Karen Handel with 25
percent, Bob Gray with 11 percent and Judson Hill with 9 percent. Another 18 percent said they hadn't decided. Trump's favorability hovers at just under 60 percent in the district, per the poll. Read the full memo here.

2018 WATCH - "Wolf plans listening tour to gauge gubernatorial run," by POLITICO Massachusetts' 's Lauren Dezenski: "Dan Wolf, former Democratic State Senator and current Cape Air CEO, is actively considering a run for governor and will kick off a speaking tour across the state at a Cambridge Democratic City Committee meeting on Thursday, he confirmed to POLITICO Massachusetts. 'I'm curious, in the aftermath of the Trump election nationally, in the where we are in Massachusetts with the Democratic legislature and Republican governor, I'm really curious as to where people's minds are and what they're thinking about,' Wolf said. Long considered a potential candidate, but largely silent since
the November election, Wolf will speak on Thursday night alongside another potential candidate in Newton Mayor Setti Warren, as well as Cindi Roy Gonzalez, the wife of the Democratic field's only declared candidate, Jay Gonzalez, according to an agenda of the Cambridge Democratic City Committee meeting." Full story.

- "Beto O'Rourke is a Mexico-loving liberal in Texas. Can he really beat Ted Cruz?" by The Washington Post's Ben Terris: "Beto O'Rourke has long believed that the closer you get to the Mexican border, the less you fear it. So on a recent afternoon, the Democratic congressman who may challenge Ted Cruz for his U.S. Senate seat walked into Juarez for lunch. ...Inside the bar, where Elizabeth Taylor and Steve McQueen once partied and the margarita was supposedly invented, the congressman grabbed a table lined by photos of matadors and Mexican baseball players. He was greeted by an El Paso friend, Miguel Fernandez, whose telecommunications firm does work on both sides of the border. Fernandez
talked about his fear that President Trump will spark a war between the two countries. 'At least tell me, where are you now on running for Senate?' Fernandez asked, taking a sip from his bottle of Sol. "More than 50-50?' 'I'm pretty close,' O'Rourke said. 'I really want to do this.'" Full story.

Days until the 2017 election: 258.

Days until the 2018 election: 622.

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 and pie-eating. @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4.

CPAC CURTAIN RAISER - "Trump's America will be on vivid display at annual conservative gathering," by The Washington Post's David Weigel and Robert Costa: "The conservative movement in America now belongs to President Trump. Thousands of activists will arrive in Washington this week for an annual gathering that will vividly display how Trump has pushed the Republican Party and the conservative movement toward an 'America first' nationalism that has long existed on the fringes. ...That may sound like a celebration of a young presidency and the ideas that helped him win in November. But the event will also showcase the tension created as these new voices reshape conservative thinking." Full
story.

2020 PREDICTIONS - "Jay Inslee for president? Governor's profile is on the rise," by The Seattle Times' Jim Brunner: "...Among Democrats searching for new leaders after taking their own thumping in November, Inslee's loud pushback against Trump has resonated. And though it's exhaustingly early - we apologize for even talking about this - to think about the 2020 presidential race, some already are suggesting Inslee could be in the mix. In an interview Friday, Inslee downplayed any presidential ambitions. 'I love this job. It's really not in the stars. I am focused on this,' he said." Full story.

AIR WAR - Judicial Crisis Network calls out senators in Indiana, Missouri: The conservative group is out with new TV and digital ads that go after Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly and Claire McCaskill, urging them to back Trump's Supreme Court nominee. The Missouri ad buy totals $350,000, while the Indiana buy will cover $375,000. Watch the Indiana ad here and the Missouri ad here.

ON THE ISSUES - "Ryan's border visit launches push for Trump's wall," by POLITICO's Rachael Bade: "Paul Ryan will take his first tour of the U.S. southern border Wednesday, kicking off in earnest House Republicans' bid to fund Donald Trump's wall with Mexico and potentially even change laws governing the arrival of undocumented immigrants. The trip to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where more than half of all undocumented immigrants are apprehended on the southern border, is a direct nod to the president's campaign pledge." Full story.

TRANSITIONS - Pivot adds Justin Myers: Democratic consulting firm Pivot has brought on Justin Myers as a senior vice president, per a statement from the group. Myers worked at the DCCC as the Northeast political director in 2016 and as deputy campaign manager for former North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Cabinet picks clash with White House over hiring," by POLITICO's Josh Dawsey and Andrew Restuccia: "White House officials have sometimes rejected candidates who have previously criticized the president - even if they boast sterling credentials or have the endorsement of top Republicans. And they've often imposed their choices on agencies, according to more than a dozen interviews with people inside and close to the administration. Many Cabinet nominees joined the administration believing they'd have wide latitude to pick lieutenants, but they're beginning to realize Trump's powerful advisers are looking over their shoulders. The White House's approach has
already slowed hiring - and the dozens of vacancies at key agencies could make it more difficult to implement some of Trump's policy proposals. So far, Trump has nominated fewer than three dozen of the 550 most important Senate-confirmed jobs, according to an analysis by the Partnership for Public Service, a non-profit group that advised Trump officials during the presidential transition. Top officials at the Defense and Homeland Security departments have clashed with White House aides over potential deputy hires and political appointees, administration and government officials say." Full story.

- "Mexican officials riled by Trump's new deportation memos," by POLITICO's Nahal Toosi: "President Donald Trump's blunt diplomatic touch is creating new headaches for the deeply troubled U.S.-Mexico relationship. The Trump administration riled Mexican officials by choosing Tuesday - on the eve of visits by the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to Mexico City - to release sweeping guidelines on deportations and a border wall. As Mexican officials rushed to contact the State Department for more information, the timing of the guidelines' release threatened to severely hinder what could have been a diplomatic make-up session, U.S. and Mexican
officials and analysts said." Full story.

- "Trump Appears Set to Reverse Protections for Transgender Students," by The New York Times' Eric Lichtblau: "President Trump appears on the verge of reversing protections put in place by the Obama administration to stop discrimination against transgender students in schools, officials said Tuesday. Civil rights advocates said that the possible rollback of protections, which could come as soon as Wednesday, would represent a major step backward after the enormous progress made by gay and transgender people in recent years. The administration signaled that an announcement was imminent on the question of whether transgender students should be able to use the bathroom of their choosing - and
that Mr. Trump could well come down differently from his predecessor, President Barack Obama, a forceful advocate for transgender students." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!" President Trump tweeted Tuesday afternoon, catching a whiff of the activism lawmakers have felt at home.

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