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By Theodoric Meyer | 04/01/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Elena Schneider, Steven Shepard and Daniel Lippman

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)

WALKER'S FUTURE - "Don't call it a comeback. The governor never left," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90caff604f777f5c0cb9a25c231e7eccc06a21bc1325957a4e49

IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER - "Stivers letter roils Nebraska House primary," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider, with POLITICO's Daniel Lippman: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90cac9b139670f50c90b8d8bb896907a4b078f892fd24296d5be

Days until the Wisconsin primary: 4.

Days until the 2016 election: 221.

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 peeing as protest: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @theodoricmeyer.

MAN ON THE GROUND - NRSC sent consultant to Colorado watch GOP Senate candidates: The National Republican Senatorial Committee acknowledged on Thursday that it had hired Brett O'Donnell, a prominent GOP strategist, and sent him to Colorado to assess the rowdy crop of Republican Senate candidates ahead of the first televised debate, The Denver Post's John Frank reports. "His presence is an indication that national Republicans are closely tracking the Colorado race - and trying to make sense of the dozen or so candidates in the free-for-all party contest to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. It is also raising questions among the campaigns about whether the NRSC is truly neutral
in the race." O'Donnell advised Cory Gardner, the Republican rising star who beat Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in the state in 2014, but he's not without controversy: "He pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his political work in September." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90ca88454a2e001e1161cf1f9b197fa640f72ccd1f76cfb56b69

THE NUMBERS - A second poll sees a tighter Senate race in Wisconsin: A day after a new Marquette Law School poll found former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold leading GOP Sen. Ron Johnson by a smaller margin than in previous polls, a new Public Policy Polling survey also saw a tighter Senate race in Wisconsin. The robopoll, conducted by PPP for the Democratic group VoteVets Action Fund, found that 46 percent of registered voters plan to cast ballots for Feingold, and 39 percent plan to vote for Johnson. The 7-point margin is bigger than the 5-point one in the Marquette poll, but smaller than the double-digit margins by which Feingold led in earlier polls. The PPP poll also found that a slim
majority - 52 percent - of voters want Justice Antonin Scalia's Supreme Court seat filled this year, while 38 percent want to wait until next year and 10 percent were undecided. The poll of 1,397 registered voters was conducted on Monday and Tuesday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

- Johnson's campaign says it's paying the poll little attention. "Politicians and pundits can worry about polls commissioned by liberal outside groups - Ron is focused on standing up for veterans and working for Wisconsin taxpayers," Brian Reisinger, a Johnson campaign spokesman, said in a statement.

CASH HUSTLE - Justice outraises Goodwin in West Virginia governor's race: The billionaire Jim Justice has dramatically outraised his Democratic primary rival Booth Goodwin, a former U.S. attorney, according to campaign finance reports filed on Thursday. Justice's campaign has raised about $582,000 since May, including more than $100,000 worth of in-kind contributions that he made to his campaign, such as the use of his plane. He also loaned his campaign nearly $2 million. His campaign spent $1.3 million in the quarter, giving him $1.2 million in cash on hand. Goodwin has raised about $286,000 since entering the race and spent about $131,000, giving him about $151,000 in cash on hand.
Republican Bill Cole's report was not available online late Thursday night, but The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that he had raised $1.1 million and spent about $467,000.

PENNSYLVANIA AIR WAR - McGinty ad highlights Obama endorsement: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate Katie McGinty is touting President Barack Obama's endorsement this week in a new TV ad. "In Pennsylvania, McGinty helped implement Obamacare and expanded coverage for 500,000 people. Trump and Toomey have attacked women's health care and Social Security," a narrator says in the ad. "To fight back, President Obama wants McGinty in the Senate to protect Obamacare, Social Security and for equal pay for women." The ad is part of a seven-figure, statewide ad buy on broadcast stations that started on March 7 and will continue through the April 26 primary, in which McGinty faces former Rep. Joe
Sestak and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman. Watch the ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90cacba279da1067960418e62b4f7799665a71320eba8a245de7

- Naughton buys another week of TV time in PA-08: Democrat Shaughnessy Naughton, who's running for the open House seat in Pennsylvania's 8th District, has purchased another $135,000 worth of airtime in Philadelphia, letting her stay on the air for another week. Her campaign will continue airing the same spot. Naughton, who's been endorsed by EMILY's List, is facing state Rep. Steve Santarsiero in the April 26 primary for the suburban Philadelphia seat, which GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick is vacating.

ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE - Report: Ohio leads the nation in Senate race spending: Campaigns, super PACs and other outside group have spent $11.5 million so far in the Ohio Senate race, more than in any other state, according to a new Sunlight Foundation reports. Maryland ranked second, with $8.8 million spent, and Illinois took third, with $8.5 million spent. Not surprisingly, all three races have had early, contested primaries. Ohio and Illinois held theirs on March 15, and the closely fought Maryland primary is April 26. Read the report: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90cadcc8f1123a771540c34efa261568e7c858728d6166ab43ed

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump's uphill delegate scramble," by POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Ben Schreckinger: "If Donald Trump loses in Wisconsin next week, he will need to win roughly 60 percent of the remaining delegates to win the Republican presidential nomination outright - a daunting but not impossible challenge. But if he fails to achieve it, and is thus unable to win the nomination outright, Trump is poised to suffer an exodus of delegates at a contested convention. Interviews with dozens of delegates, delegate candidates, operatives and party leaders in recent days suggest that more than a hundred delegates - bound by rules and laws to back Trump on a first vote at the July
convention in Cleveland - are prepared to break with him on a second ballot."

- "In one illustration of Trump's lack of support, out of the 168 Republican National Committee members - each of whom doubles as a convention delegate - only one publicly supports Trump, and she knows of only a handful of others who support him privately. Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has been whipping Trump in the quiet, early race to elect his own loyalists to become delegates to the convention, meaning that the Texas senator could triumph through delegates who are freed to vote their own preferences on a second ballot, regardless of who won their state." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90ca5bc489a7625c3c91190794dc8f0a9ec0be75209b9877f009

- "Hackers declare war on Trump," by POLITICO's Darren Samuelsohn: "Donald Trump has more to worry about on Friday than just some silly pranks for April Fools' Day: The Internet hacking collective Anonymous and its allies have promised April 1 will mark the launch of a 'total war' on the Republican front-runner that includes shutting down his websites and other attacks to 'dismantle his campaign and sabotage his brand.' A record of attacks over the past year suggests it's no idle threat: In that time Trump has been hit by at least a half-dozen embarrassing hacks that have included the defacing and spamming of his campaign and business websites, stolen credit card information from his hotel
chain's guests and the public release of his Social Security number. ... 'We have more than enough knowledge and power on our team to do almost whatever,' a West Coast-based hacker who goes by the name Compiled told POLITICO earlier this week in an interview." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90ca49fc143502eda67d19d85d172253814e7e30af1f58b7e94b

- "De Blasio falls in behind Hillary Clinton," by POLITICO's Annie Karni: Hillary Clinton and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will hold an event together ahead of the April 19 primary, with the campaign and City Hall "currently in discussions to work out the details." In an interview, de Blasio "declared Clinton was running on 'a profoundly progressive platform' that will be the most progressive 'of any president entering office in any decade.'" But he "doesn't hide his admiration for Sanders, whose personal beliefs seem to mirror de Blasio's more than the candidate he ultimately endorsed." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90ca797ecb6ef60bd016cb10850a0f863d88fbc91f533211397a

CODA -QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Wow, many many people tell me the announcement is the best announcement anyone has ever seen. So much winning ... " - GOP Sen. Rand Paul, who tweeted that he's planning on making an unspecified announcement today. Don't bet on a Trump endorsement. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=89c5871f340e90cac4ab8f7f73593d03ae0336d5e2b0abad513e02268cc2a6a8

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