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<p>By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, aburns@politico.com) <br />
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<strong>SCORE EXCLUSIVE -- SUMMER SESSIONS</strong>: NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions will issue a memo to Republican House candidates today advising them to stay on offense during the August recess and urging challengers to “not only continue to call out their Democrat opponents for their unpopular policies, they should continue to engage voters in a dialogue about their positive plans to lessen our tax burden, get our economy moving again and get America - and Washington - back to work.” Pointing to the GOP's generic ballot standing and rising fundraising numbers, Sessions mocks the majority party's strategy of tying Republicans to the tea party movement and declares that Democrats “have their backs against the wall for good reason.” <br />
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“Since last summer, House Democrats have done everything they can to ignore and evade the concerns of the voters who elected them. Now, in what was originally billed as the 'Recovery Summer,' Democrats plan to spend the next month asking voters to overlook their job-killing policies by distracting them with dishonest attacks on Republican candidates,” Sessions writes. “But this is much more than just a political strategy against Republicans - it is yet another insult to the American people whose voices have been ignored by Democrats for the past 18 months.” Read the full memo here. <a href="http://politi.co/dbBMMF">http://politi.co/dbBMMF</a> <br />
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As Rick Scott exults, John McCain endorses down ballot and another Dem joins the anti-Rangel bandwagon, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections.” <br />
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<strong>FRIDAY STANDINGS -- ARE YOU BETTER OFF NOW?</strong> August is upon us and there's just a little more than three months until Election Day. Every Friday, Morning Score reviews the top movers in the 2010 campaign through the question: Are you better off now than you were seven days ago? Here's how some of the campaign's biggest actors should answer this week: <br />
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YES: (1) Ohio Rep. Betty Sutton, who can now run on her status as the first in a group of House Democrats to call for Charlie Rangel's ouster; (2) New Hampshire Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte, who proved she could defend a Republican primary and general election lead despite sustained attacks on her record as attorney general; (3) Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who successfully test-drove a broad, biographical message about where he fits into the national GOP. <br />
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NO: (1) Former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who decided for some reason to pick a fight with Curt Schilling in the middle of a campaign for governor; (2) Connecticut Senate candidates Richard Blumenthal and Linda McMahon, who are still grasping for the right response to Rob Simmons's reactivated, totally unpredictable campaign; (3) The health care issue, which has grown less polarizing -- and probably less electorally significant -- according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll this week. <br />
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<strong>IF YOU READ ONE THING -- PELOSI ON 2010</strong>: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells POLITICO's David Rogers that she's unmoved by the GOP's decision to target her during the midterm campaign, expressing confidence in Democratic prospects this fall. Rogers: “No one of stature comparable to the speaker's is on the ballot, and her San Francisco base and stylish ways make her catnip for Republican campaigns. 'They have over and over again,' she said of the attack spots already running. 'If we weren't effective, they wouldn't be coming after us. They don't like the things that we have done. The special interests had all the leverage here. Now, the people have the leverage.' ... As she spoke Thursday, the man-who-would-be-speaker, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) was tromping through Pelosi's old Appropriations Committee turf, suddenly showing up with multiple amendments to spending bills on the House floor. 'It's time for us to get serious about spending at every level,' said Boehner, who has rarely ventured into this territory in the past. But the speaker professed indifference: 'I don't even know what he's doing,' she said, breaking into laugher. Indeed, what happens on the House floor means less and less as the focus turns toward November.” <a href="http://politi.co/dCbXZc">http://politi.co/dCbXZc</a> <br />
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<strong>COUNTDOWN TO AUG. 3</strong>: Former Gateway CEO Rick Snyder has edged narrowly ahead of his two top opponents in Michigan's Republican primary for governor, according to the state pollster EPIC-MRA. The self-funding Snyder is drawing 26 percent support, compared with 24 percent for state Attorney General Mike Cox and 23 percent for Rep. Pete Hoekstra. That means it's still anyone's race, but Snyder has moved up two places in the contest since EPIC-MRA's last poll. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9JuE7R">http://bit.ly/9JuE7R</a> </p><p><strong>DUE THIS MORNING</strong>: Quinnipiac's new numbers on Florida's statewide general elections. Yesterday, the pollster showed GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott with an 11-point lead over primary opponent Bill McCollum and Democratic billionaire Jeff Greene ahead of Rep. Kendrick Meek by 10 points in their party's Senate primary. In an internal memo, Scott campaign manager Susie Wiles hailed this week's new primary polls as proof that McCollum has failed to deliver a positive case for his campaign: “Bill McCollum's problem is Bill McCollum. He squandered more than a year without giving Florida Republicans a reason to vote for him, and now, his shrill message is not resonating. His personal attacks have only gotten more visceral, and we can expect more of them during the debates next week.” <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/d4YkSA">http://bit.ly/d4YkSA</a> <br />
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<strong>GAFFE ALERT I</strong> -- Former federal Judge Brian Sandoval's campaign for governor of Nevada is on the defensive at week's end, after the network Univision confirmed -- over the Republican candidate's repeated denials -- that Sandoval said in an interview that his “children don't look Hispanic.” The initial comment was bad enough, but the denials made it worse and Sandoval backtracked with a statement late yesterday: “I don't remember saying it and it is most certainly not how I feel. If I did say those words, it was wrong and I sincerely regret it. I am proud of my heritage and my family.” http://bit.ly/d36svt and <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cKbhMV">http://bit.ly/cKbhMV</a> <br />
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<strong>GAFFE ALERT II</strong> -- New York Rep. Mike McMahon, the first-term Democrat facing weak Republican opposition, handed a gift to challenger Michael Grimm in the form of a botched oppo dump to the New York Observer. McMahon's campaign, attempting to show that Grimm had only shaky support in the Staten Island-based district, sent the paper a document titled “Grimm Jewish Money Q2,” and a spokesperson noted there was “a lot of Jewish money” coming to Grimm from outside the district. McMahon fired the aide and condemned the comments. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/anUdCR">http://bit.ly/anUdCR</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://politi.co/dB2zNT">http://politi.co/dB2zNT</a> <br />
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<strong>POLLS OF THE DAY</strong>: The University of New Hampshire's Granite State Poll tested the competitive House races in both the state's congressional districts, finding Rep. Carol Shea-Porter leading in her reelection campaign and former GOP Rep. Charlie Bass in a solid position to reclaim his old seat. Shea-Porter doesn't break 50 percent in any electoral match-up, but now leads all four of her prospective Republican opponents. Bass has double-digit leads over both Democratic hopefuls in his district, Katrina Swett and Ann McLane Kuster. Both Shea-Porter and Bass are considerably better known than their opponents at this point. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9kQ3Ia">http://bit.ly/9kQ3Ia</a> <br />
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<strong>MCCAIN PLAYS DOWN BALLOT</strong>: How confident is John McCain of his prospects in next month's Senate primary? Confident enough that he's willing to gamble on other contested Arizona primaries, backing state Sen. Jim Waring's bid for retiring Rep. John Shadegg's 3rd District House seat. Bonus immigration angle: the race also features endorsements from prominent Arizona immigration activists Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa county sheriff supporting former Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker, and state Sen. Russell Pearce, the S.B. 1070 author backing former state Sen. Pam Gorman. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cTe4uG">http://bit.ly/cTe4uG</a> <br />
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<strong>ACROSS THE BIG MAP</strong> -- with POLITICO's Tim Alberta: <br />
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-- Quinn makes it official. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, acting on the instructions of a federal court, has formally ordered that a special Senate election take place on Nov. 2. The winner of that contest, competing on the same day as the regular midterm vote, will hold President Barack Obama's Senate seat until a new Senate term begins on Jan. 3. District Judge John Grady indicated that the two parties' Senate nominees for the 2010 general election would likely become the special election candidates, too. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/bkwHzV">http://bit.ly/bkwHzV</a> <br />
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-- Cox accuser has a past. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has spent the week tamping down one man's charge that Cox attended -- and got a lap dance -- at a 2002 party with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. But Cox's accuser, who signed an affidavit to back up his claim his claim, “has an extensive criminal history that includes arson, weapons, drugs and theft,” Fox2Detroit reports. Cox called Kay's accusation “ridiculous.” <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/c1AY1I">http://bit.ly/c1AY1I</a> <br />
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-- Has the dam broken yet? Another House Democrat called for former Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel's resignation Thursday, with Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy adding his name to a list that includes Betty Sutton, Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick and Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/d8K9Bx">http://bit.ly/d8K9Bx</a> <br />
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-- Look-alikes wanted. Former Houston Mayor Bill White has issued a casting call for actors who look like incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry, to participate in campaign videos mocking the governor. One casting notice says an ideal applicant would not just resemble Perry, but also “combine that with a Steve Carrell-like cluelessness.” <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9e5ta8">http://bit.ly/9e5ta8</a> <br />
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-- Alan Grayson, as seen on TV. The Florida Democrat has mailed thousands of DVDs to constituents in his Orlando-area district, each with a 90-minute highlights reel from Grayson's first term in Congress. The 90-minute disc shows “Congressman Grayson in Action,” according to an accompanying mailer. The catch, according to the Orlando Sentinel, is that taxpayer funds, instead of campaign dollars, were used for the more than $70,000 project. <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9HLTKC">http://bit.ly/9HLTKC</a> </p><br>
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