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By Steven Shepard | 03/05/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard and Maggie Severns

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)

PRIMARY SEASON BEGINS THIS WEEK - The first primaries of the 2018 midterms, in Texas, are only one day away. Let's get straight to the news.

- "Democrats face first test of primary muscle in Texas race," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider in Houston: "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee doesn't want Laura Moser as the party's nominee for a House seat in Texas the party sees as critical to its strategy to winning control of the chamber next year. So the committee called her a carpet-bagging opportunist who 'begrudgingly moved' here to run for office in a post on its website. ... Instead, Moser's fundraising has ticked up - she's collected more than $130,000 since the DCCC post on February 22 - and she's urging voters in a digital ad to '[reject] the system where Washington party bosses tell us who to choose.'" Full
story.

- "Democrats using Trump as foil on Texas airwaves," by Elena in Houston: "Democratic congressional candidates want to talk about Donald Trump, even in battleground districts. At least according to their television ads, nearly all of which urge voters in Tuesday's primary to back them in order to express opposition to the president, and not the Republican congressman they are vying to face in November. It's a short-sighted strategy aimed at attracting primary support - but will require some fine-tuning in a general election, in which Trump is not at the top of the ballot." Full story.

- "Texas early voting numbers a 'wake-up call' for GOP as Democrats double their 2014 turnout," by the Dallas Morning News' Jackie Wang in Austin: "Early voting turnout for this year's Democratic primary doubled since the last midterm election in 2014. According to the Texas secretary of state's website - which tracks only the 15 counties with the most registered voters - 205,583 people voted early in the 2014 Democratic primary. This year, 406,302 Democrats ... voted early - a 98 percent increase. On the GOP side, 352,963 people voted early in the Republican primary. That's a 16 percent increase from 303,858 in 2014." Full story.

- "A $6 million candidate dominates in 9-way race to replace ... Rep. Ted Poe," by the Texas Tribune's Abby Livingston in Kingwood, Texas: "Republican donor and technology consultant Kathaleen Wall ... has dominated the field by spending nearly $6 million of her own money." Full story.

SPECIAL ELECTION SEASON - We're down to eight days until the closely watched special election in already-redrawn PA-18. President Donald Trump's reelection campaign on Friday announced it would hold a campaign rally within the district - in Moon Township - this coming Saturday.

In other PA-18 news:

- "Sharp exchanges mark Saccone-Lamb debate," by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Chris Potter: "Rick Saccone and Conor Lamb agreed that Pennsylvania steelworkers need protection from foreign imports. But that was about as far as the consensus between the two congressional candidates extended during a Saturday night debate on WTAE-TV. ... [B]oth men spoke approvingly of President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum." Full story

- "VoteVets jumps into PA-18 with TV ad," by Elena: "VoteVets Action Fund is launching a $350,000 TV ad buy in the final week of the special congressional election in Western Pennsylvania, attacking Republican Rick Saccone and urging voters to "send in the Marine" by supporting Democrat Conor Lamb." Full story. Watch the ad.

- "Lamb drops 60-second, positive ad in PA-18," by Elena: "Democrat Conor Lamb is out with his latest TV ad, in which the former Marine emphasizes his support for public servants who don't always get as much attention as a military veteran." Full story. Watch the ad.

- End Citizens United has now raised $200,000 for Lamb, the group announced. The average donation raised by ECU is $8.04.

Upcoming election dates - Texas primaries: March 6. Pennsylvania 18th District special election: March 13. Illinois primaries: March 20.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

FIRST IN SCORE - NRSC dings "high-five Heidi" in digital ad: The NRSC is following up with a radio ad attacking Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp for, the committee says, engaging in a "high five" with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after voting against an abortion ban bill in the Senate. The new Facebook ad is running statewide in North Dakota. See the ad here.

ON THE AIR - Bredesen airs first ad in Tennessee Senate race: Former Gov. Phil Bredesen is up with his first television ad in Tennessee's Senate contest. The 30-second spot features Bredesen speaking direct to camera about his achievements as governor and promising to bring bipartisanship to the Senate. Advertising Analytics says the buy is backed by a statewide buy of more than $250,000. Watch the ad here.

ONE OUT, ONE IN - Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) lost his only Democratic challenger this weekend when attorney Emilio Huerta, the son of civil rights pioneer Dolores Huerta, bailed on the race. The Fresno Bee reported the younger Huerta submitted an op-ed to the paper in which he said he wouldn't run and planned instead to work to elect Democrats to other offices.

- According to the Los Angeles Times' Sarah D. Wire, engineer T.J. Cox, who had been running in Rep. Jeff Denham's district, is expected to switch to CA-21 and challenge Valadao.

- Valadao continues to thrive - he won by 13 points last cycle, even as Hillary Clinton carried his Central Valley district by 16 points. The filing deadline is this Friday. How hard will Democrats try to land a top recruit here?

THIS COMPARISON IS F-ING GOLDEN - "Indictment doesn't prove Greitens' guilt, but does it make him a 'governor who cannot govern,'" by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Kevin McDermott: "The state's budget was in trouble and its governor was facing a criminal trial. Those two realities alone, one newspaper argued, meant it was time for drastic action. ... 'He is, more than before, the governor who cannot govern,' declared the paper. 'Governor, resign.' The newspaper was the Chicago Tribune; the governor was Rod Blagojevich of Illinois." Full story.

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TRUMP WATCH - "Trump to launch major donor initiative after disastrous week," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "The fundraiser, one of several big donor events Trump [hosted his past weekend] at Mar-a-Lago, shows how Trump is slowly building a 2020 campaign apparatus even as he endures the most tumultuous stretch of his presidency. While top advisers bolt the White House and a special counsel zeroes in on the president's ties to Russia, Trump is tapping a new campaign manager, taking steps to fend off would-be primary challengers, and lining up travel to critical 2020 states." Full story.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Yes, Blumenthal Research Daily is a fake pollster. The numbers used were random and I did little to no research before piecing together a rather sloppy google doc." - Some jerk on the internet who fabricated a PA-18 poll on Friday. Thanks to @gelliottmorris for calling this out.

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