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<p><strong>By Alexander Burns</strong> (@<a href="http://twitter.com/aburnspolitico">aburnspolitico</a>, <a href="mailto:aburns@politico.com">aburns@politico.com</a>) <br />
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<strong>SCORE EXCLUSIVE -- KIRK FOR KAGAN:</strong> Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk, the Republican nominee for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat, will announce in a statement this morning that he supports confirming Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and would vote to put her on the bench if he were currently a member of the Senate. The endorsement sends a high-profile message to the center about where Kirk stands on judicial politics, as he attempts to court independent and crossover votes in Democratic-leaning Illinois. <br />
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<strong>AND -- SENATE SNEAK PEEK:</strong> The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will endorse former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio's campaign for Senate this weekend at an event in Orlando, putting the muscle of one of the country's most powerful interest groups behind the Republican's bid. Bill Miller, the vice president and political director for the Chamber, plans to announce the organization's decision on Saturday at the Plaza Theatre in Orlando and call Rubio “an invaluable leader who has a common sense approach to job creation and getting America back on the road to recovery.” Winning the backing of the Chamber could help Rubio in a three-way race that includes business-friendly, ex-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist. <br />
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<strong>GOV RACE EXCLUSIVE -- THE RICHARDSON CARD</strong>: New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez is attempting to make outgoing Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson's questionable spending an economic issue in a new ad that takes aim at Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish -- Martinez's general election opponent -- for having “wasted millions [and] abused the state jet.” “By ending corruption and eliminating wasteful spending, we can phase out job-killing taxes to help all small businesses grow,” Martinez says in the ad, tying it all together. <strong>Watch the spot here.</strong> <a href="http://bit.ly/d25oBO">http://bit.ly/d25oBO</a> <br />
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As Rand Paul gets on the McConnell bandwagon, Meg Whitman goes to the videotape and Ted Kennedy Jr. goes on the air, 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> There are 15 weeks -- 102 days -- until Election Day. Here's Morning Score's weekly list of how some of the top candidates and groups should answer the question: Are you better off now than you were seven days ago? <br />
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<strong>YES:</strong> (1) Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who posted a 32-point polling lead and an overwhelming financial advantage over GOP primary challenger Joe Miller, even as Miller's chief backers at the Tea Party Express were on the defensive over a prominent member's racially offensive comments; (2) Florida CFO Alex Sink, whose gubernatorial campaign showed momentum in the polls at the same time as Charlie Crist and the Republican state Legislature gave her a big target to shoot at with a failed special session; (3) Virginia state Sen. Robert Hurt, whose massive financial disadvantage to Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello seems a little less daunting in the wake of a SurveyUSA poll showing Hurt up 23 points. <br />
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<strong>NO:</strong> (1) Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck, who committed a significant unforced error in his GOP primary bid against former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton with an impolitic comment about women's footwear; (2) West Virginia Republicans, who couldn't land their top Senate candidate and will now compete against a Democratic ticket led by the Joe Manchin juggernaut; (3) House Democrats who stuck their necks out on energy, and must now campaign with a vote for cap and trade in their record and no impressive accomplishment to show for it, after the Senate dropped a comprehensive energy bill. <br />
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<strong>ET TU, NORM?</strong> Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman is considering a run for RNC chairman in the event that Michael Steele seeks another term in the job. POLITICO's Jonathan Martin scoops: “Coleman is planning to attend the RNC's summer meeting next month in Kansas City, in part to be on hand for a tribute to longtime New Jersey Committeeman David Norcross, who is stepping down from his party post. But senior Republicans say the former senator's appearance at the committee's gathering will also allow him to meet the party members who will pick the next chairman and signal to them that he's interested in the job. In the last month, Coleman has had private conversations with multiple high-level GOP officials about the party's chairmanship in an attempt to sound out his prospects. In an e-mail, the former St. Paul mayor said only that he was working to help Republicans in 2010. 'My focus is on the 2010 elections,' Coleman wrote in response to questions about his interest in the RNC post.” <a href="http://politi.co/dAZw7q">http://politi.co/dAZw7q</a> <br />
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<strong>DEFINING THE MAP:</strong> The fall battlefield just got a bit clearer, as the DCCC slapped down $28 million to reserve television air time in 40 congressional districts. Jeff Zeleny reported in the New York Times: “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reserved television time in 40 districts across the country, including those of Representatives John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, chairman of the Budget Committee, and Ike Skelton of Missouri, chairman of the Armed Services Committee. The committee also reserved time to help Representative Chet Edwards of Texas .... Democrats are playing defense in districts in every corner of the country, hoping to use their fund-raising advantages to preserve control. The $28 million in advertising commitments represents the bulk of the $34 million in cash that the Democratic campaign committee has on hand.” <a href="http://nyti.ms/bVt15e">http://nyti.ms/bVt15e</a> <em>(Alex Isenstadt has the full list of districts here: </em><a href="http://politi.co/atgHUr"><em>http://politi.co/atgHUr</em></a><em>)</em> <br />
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<strong>CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE:</strong> So is the Louisiana Senate race competitive or not? Months after Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon raised his profile dramatically in response to the BP oil disaster, and following weeks of terrible press for Republican Sen. David Vitter over an aide's domestic violence record -- we still can't answer the question. A Democratic poll conducted by Anzalone-Liszt points to yes, showing Vitter with a one-point, 44 percent to 43 percent lead. A Republican poll by Public Opinion Strategies says otherwise, showing Vitter up, 48 percent to 31 percent. <a href="http://bit.ly/bdY8I0">http://bit.ly/bdY8I0</a> </p><p><strong>SPOILER ALERT</strong>: Former GOP Rep. Tom Tancredo is threatening to run as a third-party candidate in the Colorado governor's election if the current Republican candidates, former Rep. Scott McInnis and marketing executive Dan Maes, don't agree to leave the race after the Aug. 11 primary. Tancredo wants both McInnis and Maes to pledge they'll drop out, in order to let Colorado Republicans pick a new, more electable candidate for the ballot. Otherwise, he'll run on the American Constitution Party Slate. <a href="http://bit.ly/cpKJcj">http://bit.ly/cpKJcj</a> <br />
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<strong>SCORE'S TAKE</strong>: If you're getting lectured on electability by Tom Tancredo … <br />
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<strong>RANGEL CHARGED:</strong> A House subcommittee charged New York Rep. and former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel Thursday with multiple ethics violations -- a development the veteran congressman hailed as “sunshine [that] will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media.” The New York Daily News reports: “Sources told the Daily News they are likely among the most serious charges that have been swirled around Rangel, or the rare step of setting a trial process would not have happened.” Rangel faces several challengers in New York's Sept. 14 Democratic primary, including state Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV and banker Vince Morgan. <a href="http://bit.ly/9jnKZd">http://bit.ly/9jnKZd</a> <br />
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<strong>CAMPAIGNING IS HARD:</strong> Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott got tripped up on the birther question Thursday night, when a voter asked him whether President Obama should be able to qualify for the state's 2012 presidential ballot despite alleged issues with his birth certificate. Scott's response? “I'll look into it.” <a href="http://bit.ly/c2hGxX">http://bit.ly/c2hGxX</a> <br />
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<strong>BIDEN TODAY</strong> -- From the White House guidance: “At 1:30 PM, the Vice President will attend an event for Representative John Spratt.” <br />
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<strong>COMING SOON -- OBAMA TO GEORGIA</strong>: President Obama will travel to Atlanta on Aug. 2 to speak to the group Disabled American Veterans, and he'll also address a fundraising event for the DNC and OFA while he's in town. <a href="http://bit.ly/b85DfL">http://bit.ly/b85DfL</a> <br />
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<strong>QUOTE OF THE WEEK:</strong> “I was in the oil and gas business when he was a community organizer.” -- former Houston Mayor Bill White, the Democratic nominee for governor of Texas, explaining how his background differs from the president's. <a href="http://bit.ly/dDBkRj">http://bit.ly/dDBkRj</a> <br />
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<strong>ACROSS THE BIG MAP -- with POLITICO's Tim Alberta:</strong> <br />
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-- <strong>Ted Jr. on the air.</strong> The son of the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy is appearing in ads for Connecticut Democrat Ned Lamont's gubernatorial campaign ahead of the Aug. 10 primary. “I've seen Ned in action and I know Ned can bring people together from both parties to move Connecticut forward,” Ted Kennedy Jr. says in a new spot. Kennedy has been viewed as a possible candidate for high office in his adopted state. Watch the ad here. <a href="http://bit.ly/9izhqU">http://bit.ly/9izhqU</a> <br />
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-- <strong>Meet Rand Paul, team player.</strong> The Republican nominee for Senate in Kentucky said definitively Thursday night that he would support incumbent Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for another term at the helm. “I'm going to go up there and vote for Mitch McConnell,” Paul said, clearing up an issue he left vague during the GOP primary. The comments came at a debate between Paul and Democratic state Attorney General Jack Conway, who attacked his Republican opponent for his record of opposition to farm subsidies. <a href="http://bit.ly/bLr6iN">http://bit.ly/bLr6iN</a> <br />
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-- <strong>Bloomberg for Castle</strong>. NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg will headline an Aug. 17 fundraiser in New York City for Delaware Rep. Mike Castle's Senate campaign, POLITICO's Maggie Haberman reports. Bloomberg has backed a bipartisan group of candidates around the country -- including Mark Kirk in Illinois and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat running for governor, in Wisconsin -- who have supported his agenda on gun control. <a href="http://politi.co/ct5aAt">http://politi.co/ct5aAt</a> <br />
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-- <strong>Hayworth takes on Babeu.</strong> Arizona Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth called on Sen. John McCain to pull ads featuring Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu after the law enforcement official appeared on a radio show hosted by a white supremacist. Hayworth may have phrased his condemnation a bit too strongly, however, drawing a rebuke from the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police. "The former congressman should know better than to attack law enforcement for political gain,” said Arizona FOP president John Ortolano. <a href="http://bit.ly/9Apsfn">http://bit.ly/9Apsfn</a> <br />
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-- <strong>Whitman vs. file footage.</strong> Meg Whitman's campaign is using California Attorney General Jerry Brown's long political career -- and long record of cable news appearances -- against him in a new ad that clips comments he made in a 1995 CNN interview admitting of his previous stint as governor, “I didn't have a plan for California.” The Whitman spot adds the kicker: “Jerry Brown: no plan then, no plan now.” <a href="http://bit.ly/cBBYLH">http://bit.ly/cBBYLH</a> </p><br>
Go to Morning Score Now >> http://www.politico.com/morningscore<br><br><br>
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