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<p>By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, aburns@politico.com) <br />
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<strong>2012 SCOOP -- JMART REPORTS</strong>: “Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour insists he won't think about a possible 2012 presidential bid until after this year's election, but he's already taking steps to build support in first-in-the-nation Iowa. Barbour sent a mail piece to Iowa Republicans last week introducing himself to likely caucus-goers. 'Haley knows what it takes to succeed,' reads the mailer, touting the Mississippian's tenure as chairman of the RNC during the 1994 GOP sweep, his post-Katrina leadership as governor and his current post atop the RGA. The piece encourages recipients to sign up for updates on Barbour's website, a means of building a list. The governor is planning to raise money later this year in Iowa for GOP gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad and, officially, the piece is only aimed at 2010. 'We can't wait until 2012 to start taking our country back,' Barbour writes on the mailer. 'We need to elect conservative governors and members of Congress in 2010.' Henry Barbour, the governor's nephew and an adviser, said: 'It's part of our effort to energize voters going into November.'” See the Barbour piece here <a href="http://politi.co/cub6dF">http://politi.co/cub6dF</a> ; and here <a href="http://politi.co/dcaGTl">http://politi.co/dcaGTl</a> <br />
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<strong>GOV RACE EXCLUSIVE I -- AMERICA FIRST</strong>: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's campaign will begin blanketing rural radio stations with a new ad campaign targeting former Rep. John Kasich's record on trade, in the Democrat's latest effort to dislodge conservative-leaning constituencies from the Republican nominee. The debut commercial features the voice of Pat Spayde, who's introduced as a former auto worker from Milan, Ohio. “We were doing good work here in Ohio and then I lost my job to outsourcing,” Spayde says in the ad. “When I heard that congressman John Kasich voted for all those trade deals that sent Ohio jobs overseas - I couldn't believe it. Back in Washington, Kasich voted for NAFTA ... And then Kasich moved to Wall Street and made millions working for Lehman Brothers - and they financed corporations that ship more American jobs overseas. Now Kasich wants to be Governor?” The commercial is aimed at non-traditional Democratic voters -- particularly independent men -- and a Strickland strategist characterized the scale of the effort as “unprecedented.” Listen to it here. <a href="http://politi.co/bZyRIi">http://politi.co/bZyRIi</a> <br />
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<strong>GOV RACE EXCLUSIVE II -- ALARM BELL</strong>: Meg Whitman is going on the radio today with a commercial hammering Jerry Brown's record as mayor of Oakland, and keying off the recent scandal in Bell, Calif., that showed city officials in the small municipality pulling in big, six-figure salaries. The Whitman spot begins: “The city of Bell financial scandal. The city manager making nearly $800,000 a year, and council members pulling down a $100,000 each.” It continues, digging into a new chapter of Brown's long political life: “In Jerry Brown's Oakland, city workers were paid for 22,000 hours that they never worked. The total number of city workers making $200,000 a year, went up 700 percent. And under Jerry Brown, Oakland City Administrator gave herself $60,000 in bonuses. ... Jerry Brown - can we afford his kind of mismanagement in Sacramento?” Listen to the spot here. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9zhIiB">http://bit.ly/9zhIiB</a> <br />
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<strong>POLITICO SNEAK PEEK -- YOUNG GUNS OF AUGUST</strong>: The NRCC is naming six new House hopefuls to the top tier of its “Young Guns” program, the initiative geared toward supporting strong challengers and open-seat candidates. Joining the committee's list are (1) Kansas state Rep. Kevin Yoder, the GOP nominee for retiring Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore's seat; (2) former Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg, who won the Republican primary last week for a rematch against Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer; (3) former NFL player Jon Runyan, the challenger in New Jersey Democrat John Adler's district; (4) ophthalmologist Nan Hayworth, challenging New York Rep. John Hall; (5) lawyer-businessman Quico Canseco, the Republican nominee against Texas Democratic Rep. Ciro Rodriguez; and (6) Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks, who ousted party-switching Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith in a Republican primary and now faces former Democratic Hill aide Steve Raby in an open-seat race. Get the full details here. <a href="http://politi.co/af96w6">http://politi.co/af96w6</a> <br />
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As the Senate teeters, Jeff Greene and Rand Paul stagger and zero hour strikes in four primary states, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections. <br />
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<strong>PRIMARY DAY -- VIEWER'S GUIDE</strong>: Voters head to the polls today in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota and Connecticut. Here are the top races to watch: <br />
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(1) Both parties' Senate primaries in Colorado, as former Republican Lt. Gov. Jane Norton and Weld County DA Ken Buck fight to the finish and Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet faces a potentially career-ending challenge from former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff; (2) The Colorado GOP's gubernatorial primary, where voters have a choice between admitted plagiarist Scott McInnis and bicycle-fearing first-time candidate Dan Maes; (3) The Republican House primaries in Colorado's 3rd and 7th Districts; in the 3rd, veteran Bob McConnell and state Rep. Scott Tipton are competing to take on Rep. John Salazar and in the 7th it's Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier versus former McCain campaign staffer Lang Sias in the race against Rep. Ed Perlmutter; (4) The Democratic gubernatorial primary in Minnesota, where self-funding former Sen. Mark Dayton appears to hold an edge over DFL-endorsed state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and former state Rep. Matt Entenza; (5) The Republican Senate primary in Connecticut, where former wrestling executive Linda McMahon is expected to finally put a stake through the heart of ex-Rep. Rob Simmons's back-from-the-dead campaign; (6) Both the GOP and Dem gubernatorial primaries in Connecticut, featuring self-funding Dem Ned Lamont and self-funding Republican Tom Foley against plucky, veteran pols Dan Malloy, the Democratic former Stamford mayor, and Michael Fedele, the Republican lieutenant governor. <br />
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<strong>THE BIG 2010 PICTURE -- SNAPSHOT FROM CROSSROADS</strong>: A Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted for the conservative group American Crossroads shows an ugly electoral landscape for Democrats in 13 states featuring marquee Senate contests. The survey tested 1,300 voters in 13 key states: that means the sample is too small to be meaningful in individual races, but it's the aggregate picture that matters. Pollster Glen Bolger writes in a memo: “The Republican candidate leads on the ballot 47%-39% across the 13 Battleground Senate states. The lead is 45%-37% in the Republican-held states (Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Ohio), and 47%-40% in Democratic-held states (Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Washington). ... Delving into the survey, the crosstab data shows even more of an opportunity for Republicans to make major gains in these U.S. Senate seats than even the positive topline data indicates. Independents are breaking heavily to the Republican candidates, and high interest voters provide significantly more support to the Republican candidates than the electorate overall. Democrats in these Battleground Senate races are not only facing an enthusiasm gap, they are also facing a message gap. It is possible, albeit unlikely, that they can make up for with money what they are losing on turnout interest and on message.” Read more. <a href="http://politi.co/cfxY0C">http://politi.co/cfxY0C</a> <br />
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<strong>HOUSE RACE MUST-READ -- MOLLOHAN UNPLUGGED</strong>: West Virginia Rep. Alan Mollohan, defeated for reelection in a May Democratic primary, blasted his challenger in a memo Monday for having “used a four-year-old dishonest Republican smear campaign as the centerpiece of his race.” POLITICO's John Bresnahan reports: “On Monday, Mollohan - beaten by 12 points by Democratic state Sen. Michael Oliverio on May 11 - sent out a lengthy memo to his supporters, bashing Oliverio and blaming the press, the Justice Department, congressional watchdog groups and former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Karl Rove and other Republicans for the criminal investigation that dogged him for years and helped lead to his defeat. ... In his Monday memo, Mollohan vehemently denied allegation that he or his family had ever benefitted financially from his congressional service. ... 'It is important to understand at the outset that the Justice Department never contacted me and there was never any allegation of wrongdoing. There was only an ugly, and false, insinuation that something inappropriate must have occurred.'” <a href="http://politi.co/9WFt8z">http://politi.co/9WFt8z</a> </p><p><strong>2012 WATCH -- MILLER TIME FOR HUCKABEE</strong>: The former Arkansas governor endorsed attorney Joe Miller's (very) long-shot GOP primary challenge to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, joining Sarah Palin in boosting the decided underdog. In his message of support, Huckabee made no mention of the incumbent. Read the endorsement here. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cD4vqI">http://bit.ly/cD4vqI</a> <br />
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<strong>AND TODAY</strong>: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is in Grand Rapids and Detroit, Mich., for events with newly crowned Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Snyder and other local GOP candidates. He finishes the day by addressing the Macomb County GOP dinner -- before heading on to Iowa Wednesday morning for a two-day visit. <br />
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<strong>JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE WATER</strong> -- POLITICO's Maggie Haberman drops the latest bombshell in Jeff Greene's terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week: boxer Mike Tyson, the best man at Greene's wedding, has referred to the summer of 2005 as his “junkie” period, and spent a good stretch of that summer of Greene's now-infamous yacht, Summerwind. Haberman: “The tale by the now-sober Tyson - the best man at Greene's 2007 wedding - is another glimpse into the colorful world of high-life travel and sometimes eyebrow-raising associations that were part of the pre-political, bachelor days of the candidate ... whatever Tyson was doing, Greene said, he didn't do it around him or on his boat. 'We have a zero tolerance policy (for drugs), I always have and always will, on the boat…I'm not a drug-doer, I don't even drink. I don't drink coffee. I like nice wines with dinner,' but that's extent of it, he added. ... [W]hen Italian police boarded Summerwind in Sardinia to investigate an alleged sexual assault involving Tyson - which they said had not occurred - they found 'no trace' of any drugs.” <a href="http://politi.co/cZo1qQ">http://politi.co/cZo1qQ</a> <br />
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<strong>PLUS -- WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN THERE?</strong> Here are nine words you don't want in a headline if you're Bud Chiles, the Democrat-turned independent running for governor of Florida: “Leadership Role in Church Accused of Being a Cult.” <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/awghUi">http://bit.ly/awghUi</a> <br />
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<strong>WAY BEYOND 'STRANGE IDEAS'</strong> -- GQ's Jason Zengerle turned his attention to Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul and unearthed an episode from the Republican's past that can only be described as ... just read it yourself: “The strangest episode of Paul's time at Baylor occurred one afternoon in 1983 (although memories about all of these events are understandably a bit hazy, so the date might be slightly off), when he and a NoZe brother paid a visit to a female student who was one of Paul's teammates on the Baylor swim team. According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, 'He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot.' After the woman refused to smoke with them, Paul and his friend put her back in their car and drove to the countryside outside of Waco, where they stopped near a creek. 'They told me their god was “Aqua Buddha” and that I needed to bow down and worship him,' the woman recalls. 'They blindfolded me and made me bow down to 'Aqua Buddha'” in the creek. I had to say, “I worship you Aqua Buddha, I worship you.”'” Read. the. whole. thing. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/d0twNK">http://bit.ly/d0twNK</a> (And the ensuing crossfire between Paul and GQ. <a href="http://politi.co/cEpL1a">http://politi.co/cEpL1a</a> ) <br />
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<strong>DEFECTION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE</strong>: New Hampshire Senate candidate Jim Bender, a self-funder who has struggled to pick up traction in the four-way GOP nomination fight, has lost his political director to rival candidate Ovide Lamontagne. New Hampshire operative and Giuliani '08 campaign vet David Tille joins Lamontagne's political shop a month almost to the day before New Hampshire's Sept. 14 primary. <br />
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<strong>QUOTE OF THE WEEK</strong>: “I don't think that it says anything broadly about the president's coattails. I think it says that Bill White had something else going on today that he would rather do than campaign with the president. ... He definitely does not take that as an insult.” -- deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton, on former Houston Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White's decision not to appear with President Obama in Texas. <br />
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<strong>RUNNER-UP</strong>: “It was not meant as a threat. I didn't say I would go to the press unless Hayworth ceased criticizing the senator. I simply informed his chief of staff that since Hayworth had shown so little courtesy to the senator, I was no longer inclined to ignore reporters' inquiries to me on his relationship with Jack Abramoff, which was already public knowledge.” -- McCain adviser Mark Salter, in a statement on former Rep. J.D. Hayworth's renewed complaints about a 2005 e-mail he sent to Hayworth's chief of staff about the Abramoff scandal <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.laHrf0P">http://bit.laHrf0P</a> <br />
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<strong>ACROSS THE BIG MAP</strong> -- with POLITICO's Tim Alberta: <br />
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-- Edwards gets backup. Texas Rep. Chet Edwards is the latest Democrat to be endorsed by the National Rifle Association, picking up the gun group's support Monday. Edwards faces a stiff challenge from Republican Bill Flores, who has won the support of the Gun Owners of America, and Edwards's spokeswoman bragged Monday that he “supported the 2nd Amendment as a right guaranteeing individuals' rights to gun ownership long before the recent Supreme Court decision affirming that individual right.” <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9V8epp">http://bit.ly/9V8epp</a> <br />
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-- Depends on the meaning of 'lobbyist.' New Hampshire congressional candidate Katrina Swett is insisting that she was never a lobbyist -- despite having registered to lobby in the 1990s. “It's kind of like, if you register to vote, but don't vote, you're not a voter,” Swett told the Union Leader. It's a charged issue in her Democratic primary race with attorney Ann McLane Kuster, for outgoing Rep. Paul Hodes's seat: Swett has attacked Kuster for lobbying, and repeatedly denied being a lobbyist herself. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cllikw">http://bit.ly/cllikw</a> <br />
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-- AFSCME vs. Renacci. The powerful union is up in Ohio's 16th Congressional District, hammering Republican hopeful Jim Renacci for his views on the “Fair Tax.” Citing the proposal to impose a 23 percent national sales tax, the spot features one citizen worrying: “That would probably destroy what's left of the middle class.” <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/dw7Ody">http://bit.ly/dw7Ody</a> <br />
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-- Melancon strikes first. Democratic Senate candidate Charlie Melancon is going up with his first television ad today -- a 30-second spot dubbing himself a “a pro-life, pro-gun, Louisiana Democrat.” Melancon tells viewers: “David Vitter hasn't been honest with Louisiana, and I don't expect anything different when he talks about my record. So, I want you to hear it straight from me, what I stand for.” <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/c2kDaK">http://bit.ly/c2kDaK</a> <br />
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-- Rory Reid, en Espanol. The Clark County commissioner is running a new television ad for his gubernatorial campaign that features the Democrat introducing himself in Spanish. Reid is competing with Republican Brian Sandoval, who would be Nevada's first Latino governor but doesn't speak Spanish. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cpx6ta">http://bit.ly/cpx6ta</a> </p><br>
Go to Morning Score Now >> http://www.politico.com/morningscore<br><br><br>
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