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By Elena Schneider | 03/25/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard and Theodoric Meyer

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)

FLORIDA MEN TANGLE WITH TRUMP - "Florida Senate Republicans grapple with Trump phenomenon" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider and Kevin Robillard: "One candidate won Donald Trump's backing in the past, but now downplays it. Another has demanded Trump drop out of the race and praised him for energizing Republicans. A third has said he could never vote for the businessman. And two self-funders with no political experience are cribbing from Trump's playbook. Welcome to Florida, home of the nation's most Trump-ified Senate race. ... All are keenly aware that Trump carried 66 of Florida's 67 counties while embarrassing Rubio in the state's presidential primary. But they also know a Trump
candidacy could also prove toxic to their general election hopes in an incredibly diverse state."

- Five candidates on Trump, speed round: Rep. Ron DeSantis ... "He didn't really endorse me [in 2012] ... Some of the stuff about how he's approaches Hispanic voters is just totally different than how I approach it." ... Carlos Beruff ... "There's only one Donald Trump. Ok? He's been doing publicity for 30 years. ... If the public, for some reason, doesn't like Carlos Beruff, which is hard to believe - kidding, kidding, I'm kidding, I had to say that." ... Rep. David Jolly ... "I know that's unusual to hear in politics, but I haven't made a decision. And when I make a decision, I'll be clear about it." ... Todd Wilcox ... "I think it completely validates what I'm talking about. ... a return
to citizen government, not going there as a career." ... Carlos Lopez-Cantera ... "He's definitely entertaining. ... I don't think I could [support him]." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e7358b903d798b8f6e9b2dce909dc486b548260e828698913bd5

WEIRD AND GETTING WEIRDER - "VoteVets still backing Sestak despite email suggestion," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "A Democratic group backing veterans for office insists it remains '1,000 percent' behind former Rep. Joe Sestak's Pennsylvania Senate run, even though Sestak implied in a Wednesday fundraising email that the group, VoteVets, had been bullied into sitting the race out." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735c6aa8e95aac210bbc9845e05e6e03ee4b9c89a528c7c552f

- SPEAKING OF - Sestak has a big lead in a new poll: Former Rep. Joe Sestak has a substantial lead ... drawing 31 percent of the vote to Katie McGinty's 14 percent in a new Franklin & Marshall College poll, which was released just a day after the DSCC endorsed McGinty. Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, the third candidate in the race to face GOP Sen. Pat Toomey in November, draws 7 percent. A whopping 46 percent of voters do not know who they plan to support. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735a818397275655382698797612cfff8f597b0bd3d9f9865df

- McGINTY GETS BACKUP - The cavalry has arrived for Katie McGinty in Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary, with the Service Employees International Union making the first outside TV buy supporting her campaign. The group's new ad is backed by a six-figure buy in the Pittsburgh media market. The 30-second spot, "Working," features a healthcare worker named Tracy going about her day, driving her kids to school, doing laundry and preparing dinner. The ad also briefly includes footage of a McGinty campaign ad on Tracy's television.

Days until the Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington State Democratic caucuses: 1.

Days until the 2016 election: 228.

Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the whole Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com and tmeyer@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter, where we tweet a lot about campaigns and occasionally about solitary confinement. Cheery, right? @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @theodoricmeyer.

"Group blasts Garland in Colorado with million-dollar ad buy," by POLITICO's Seung Min Kim: "The Judicial Crisis Network, the chief big-pocketed outside group giving air cover to Republicans in the Supreme Court fight, is launching a $1 million ad campaign against Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) warning Coloradans of the "liberal" Merrick Garland. The campaign begins Thursday and spans television, radio and digital ads. The TV ad argues that Garland, as a Supreme Court justice, would issue rulings that would roll back Second Amendment rights and harm businesses. The Colorado-specific buy is part of a $4 million campaign from JCN that is targeting half a dozen states: Colorado, Iowa, New
Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio and West Virginia." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735114dc19c2b479866efeee79a9eeabe6f05fe1265519453a3

** A message from Sinclair Broadcast Group: Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest and most diversified television broadcasting company in the country today, delivers not only TV, the primary medium for reaching potential voters, but also targetable digital (mobile, video, email, social media and native) ad solutions. Contact Alan Brittan @ 703-236-9673. Sinclair, busy - Making Political Ads Work! **

AIR WARS - OUTSIDE GROUP BACKS VAN HOLLEN DESPITE PLEDGE - Rep. Chris Van Hollen has repeatedly offered Rep. Donna Edwards a pledge barring outside spending in the Maryland Democratic Senate primary and his campaign has criticized EMILY's List for spending so heavily on Edwards. But now Van Hollen is getting outside help of his own from the National Realtors Association's super PAC, which is spending $500,000 on television and digital ads. More than one Edwards ally quickly e-mailed Campaign Pro to accuse Van Hollen of hypocrisy. "The Washington special interests are coming to bat for their champion in Congress, Chris Van Hollen," Edwards spokesman Ben Gerdes said. "In Donna, Maryland will
have a US Senator who will take on the special interests and elevate the voices of Maryland's working families, not corporate lobbyists." See the Realtors ad here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735bd13406d5a617e30826238ea1c4e57e693efab3b1f07ca98

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS - "African-American officials back out of Duckworth 'unity' event," by POLITICO's Natasha Korecki: "A group of African-American aldermen and state lawmakers plan to boycott a "unity" event on Monday on behalf of" Senate hopeful Tammy Duckworth "to protest a perceived disconnect between Duckworth and the African-American community, the head of the Chicago City Council's Black Caucus told POLITICO Wednesday. Other African-American elected officials have confirmed their attendance ... Still, Alderman Roderick Sawyer said Duckworth scheduled the unity event before many members of the City Council and Legislative Black Caucuses were invited. 'I think that's evidence of how
there is a disconnect between the Duckworth campaign and communities of color. I think that's incorrect and disrespectful,' Sawyer told POLITICO Illinois." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735f9b392591383394ba7a42184647d9ade152e86e883f417f6

REPUBLICANS FOR CLINTON CLUB - Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who represents a swing, heavily-Hispanic Miami-based seat, has reportedly told Democrats in his district that he "would vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump if those were his two choices," CBS Miami reported. In an interview with the station last night, Curbelo refused to rule out voting for Clinton. "I think both Donald Trump and Mrs. Clinton are flawed candidates, if you look at the polls the majority of Americans have negative views on both of them," Curbelo said. "So I am going to wait and see what happens on our side, but I have already said I will not support Mr. Trump, that is not a political decision that is a moral
decision." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e73503f10720707e090d9b5b91ba699f5b69cdeffb026c177736

LINE REDDIT - Clinton's lawyer answers Sanders' angry Redditors: When Bernie Sanders criticized the hours-long lines to vote in the Arizona primary on Tuesday, many of his supporters took to Reddit to voice their frustrations - including some who thought Clinton had something to do with it. The thread - or subreddit, in the lingo of the site - grew and grew, reaching nearly 5,000 posts. On Wednesday, Clinton's top lawyer, Marc Elias, joined the thread. "I wanted to weigh in here because I know that many people have serious concerns about yesterday's primary in Arizona, and the frustrations voters there encountered while trying to exercise their basic right to vote," Elias wrote in a lengthy
post. "I share those concerns -- and I know the rest of the HFA team does, too." Late Thursday afternoon, he returned to Reddit to address follow-up questions, including the role of the Democratic Party in running the elections (zilch, in Arizona) and at what can be done to fix the problems. He also added a bit of trivia at the end of his post: "PS: Senator Sanders was a college professor of mine. He gave me an A." Read the post: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735a25c3bba78e0a1ff8395cf82b468eacd2da86fe446c077ff

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Cruz plays dangerous game in Wisconsin," by POLITICO's Katie Glueck: "Ted Cruz's campaign manager predicted Cruz would win Iowa "outside the margin of error." Marco Rubio stole the spotlight. Cruz himself predicted that Super Tuesday's slew of southern primaries would be the firewall against Donald Trump's surging campaign. Trump thumped him. Now Cruz is playing the same high-stakes expectations game in Wisconsin, with his campaign talking up a primary election win that Cruz badly needs - but can't promise to deliver. ...But the few polls that have been conducted suggest Wisconsin is a wide-open race. And this time, if Cruz falls short of expectations again, there
will be no safety net to catch him. After Wisconsin's April 5 primary, the race heads to a string of northeastern states that are unfriendly territory for the Texas senator." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e73595ac2d7055d0be7bfa99f74cd5f596c512a80524ae2cbcf4

- Ted Cruz Gains in Louisiana After Loss There to Donald Trump," by The Wall Street Journal's Reid J. Epstein: "While Mr. Trump leads in winning primary and caucus elections, and has won more delegates, the Cruz campaign is proving superior at the arcane game of picking the people who will be the actual delegates to the convention, where they will help write the rules and ultimately choose the nominee ... Kay Kellogg Katz, a Trump supporter who sought unsuccessfully to win a position on a key panel at the convention, summarized the Trump campaign's predicament this way: "I do not know Mr. Trump, I do not know his staff people. Quite frankly, we don't have much of a campaign in Louisiana.
All we have is voters." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735077e15459377e948f304836b1d1c7c82d89a2a8783c8243b

- "Sanders' camp serves DNC with lawsuit over voter data," by POLITICO's Nolan D. McCaskill: "Bernie Sanders' campaign [Thursday] officially served the Democratic National Committee with a lawsuit alleging the organization unfairly revoked its access to voter file data. Sanders' campaign initially sued the DNC in December and was facing a deadline ... to serve the committee with the suit. The allegations stem from a controversy late last year in which Sanders staffers improperly accessed information from Hillary Clinton's data file after a firewall between the campaigns' information was inadvertently dropped. ...Sanders sued for negligence and breach of contract and sought $75,000 in
damages from the DNC for temporarily freezing the data access." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e735ee1e28f49174f1b3d7b1cfe6cb31641062dcd2eba2a0af5d

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It's not easy to tick me off. I don't get angry often, but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that'll do it every time." - Ted Cruz, who also called Donald Trump a "sniveling coward," POLITICO reported. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e2c5f7149f36e7352e771af83b934b72fb0fd3d960cb64c15faa6f3bcff14484

** A message from Sinclair Broadcast Group: The race for influence in the 2016 election cycle is gaining speed. Everyone is looking to reach as big of an audience as possible and get significant portions of that audience motivated and educated enough to vote and mobilize probable supporters. As the pace quickens, more will be trying to find an edge to influence voters their way. Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest and most diversified television broadcasting company in the country today, can help you break through the clutter. Utilizing both TV, the primary medium for reaching potential voters and targetable digital (mobile, video, email, social media and native) ad solutions, Sinclair
Makes Political Ads Work! The bottom line is the bottom line - winning elections. At the Sinclair Broadcast Group, we have the ad tools necessary to help you to persuade, enlighten and activate voters. Contact Alan Brittan, Sinclair's Director of Political Ads for more details @ 703-236-9673. **

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