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By Maggie Severns | 12/08/2016 10:00 AM EDT


With Scott Bland

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)

SKIPPED A PAGE - "How Democrats missed a chance to probe undisclosed outside money," by POLITICO's Theodoric Meyer: "Experts say a poorly composed campaign finance complaint, filed two years ago with a key page of the draft apparently missing, may have torpedoed a prime Democratic opportunity to rein in undisclosed outside money at the FEC. The North Carolina Democratic Party made the complaint in question against Carolina Rising, a nonprofit that spent millions on TV ads in the state's hotly contested 2014 Senate race... But one Democratic FEC commissioner and two outside campaign finance lawyers said that the North Carolina Democratic Party's complaint was weak enough that it damaged
Democrats' chances of getting the FEC to crack down on Carolina Rising. ... It's unclear if a stronger complaint would have induced any Republican commissioners on the bitterly divided FEC to join their Democratic counterparts in seeking to investigate Carolina Rising. But Democrats considered the case one of the clearest examples of political spending through nonprofits to avoid donor disclosure, and it didn't go anywhere." Full story here.

SO IT BEGINS - "Mandel kicks off 2018 Senate contests in divided Ohio," by POLITICO's Maggie Severns: "Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel's Wednesday announcement that he will run for Senate in 2018 officially kicked off the next round of Senate races - and stoked a continued proxy war within the state Republican Party ... A 13-year state and local officeholder who has run multiple statewide campaigns and has hired former Ted Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe as his general consultant, Mandel has laid a formidable foundation."

- "But Mandel's candidacy also stands to further divide among top Republicans in Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich and allies' hold on the party is coming under attack in the wake of Trump's victory in the state ... Mandel has publicly sparred with Kasich and endorsed Marco Rubio for president in the primary, and state Republicans now see him trying to align with Trump supporters as well as traditional Ohio conservatives ... 'He is running the classic Trump playbook, which he can do, but he's a pure political animal,' said one Ohio GOP operative." Read the story here.

- Addendum: NRSC Chairman Cory Gardner told our Seung Min Kim that "Josh is great" and "Ohio's gonna be fun" on Wednesday. Might the NRSC throw its support behind him? "We have a lot of people that may be interested in Ohio," Gardner said.

FROM DONORS TO CANDIDATES? - "Meet the Democrats' proto-Trumps," by POLITICO's Gabriel Debenedetti: "In three major states with a governor's mansion up for grabs in 2018, a big-name, politically active billionaire or multimillionaire is taking steps toward a run - donors looking to take matters into their own hands after 2016's gutting losses. In Florida, it's John Morgan, a wealthy attorney who has long been one of the Democratic Party's biggest swing-state fundraisers. In Illinois, it's J.B. Pritzker, the businessman and philanthropist with a history of pumping cash and Chicago political support toward Hillary Clinton. And in California, it's Tom Steyer, the hedge fund manager-turned
climate activist who used the 2014 and 2016 election cycles to become one of the left's single biggest donors, to the tune of over $140 million. And more may be on the way ... It's an unexpected development that stands to inject new life into the Democratic Party - but it also exposes the lack of clear pipeline for young, rising Democrats after a series of losses, at a time when they are down to just 18 governors across the country, from 29 just eight years ago." Full story here.

WOMEN OF THE CORN - "GOP women rise to power in Iowa," by POLITICO's Kevin Robillard: "With Gov. Terry Branstad accepting President-elect Donald Trump's offer to become the U.S. ambassador to China, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds is set to become Iowa's first female governor, putting a capstone on the rapid rise of women in Iowa state government and putting Reynolds in pole position to win a full term in the 2018 election. It comes just two years after GOP Sen. Joni Ernst became the state's first female member of Congress. ... Next year, as governor, Reynolds will work with Iowa's first female House speaker in Republican Linda Upmeyer. And Branstad's administration has touted the record number of
female agency heads in charge of Iowa's state government in recent years." Read the story here.

Days until the 2017 election: 337.

Days until the 2018 election: 701.

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

Maggie Severns here serving up your election news today and Friday. Regular hosts Theo and Elena aren't manning Morning Score this week but you can still follow them (and the rest of us) on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @theodoricmeyer and @maggieseverns.

DOING SOMETHING? SAY SOMETHING - Starting or joining a new consulting firm? Got work to tout from your current firm? Get in touch, and we'll get it in Score: tmeyer@politico.com or eschneider@politico.com.

KOCH SIDE OF LIFE - "Koch brothers announce layoffs," by POLITICO's Ken Vogel: "The Koch brothers' massive conservative advocacy organization, which this summer began consolidating its operations after deciding to sit out the presidential race, on Wednesday announced it would be laying off 81 people. The layoffs represent less than half a percent of the total [Koch network] workforce ... Also on Wednesday, the network announced the creation of a for-profit communications firm called 'In Pursuit Of,' which will be owned by the central non-profit group in the Koch network, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce... But the news comes as questions have mounted about whether the Kochs will
continue to wield as much influence as they have in recent years under President-elect Donald Trump, who they disparaged throughout the campaign." Story here.

STAFFING UP - "Donor push urges DSCC to pick person of color as executive director," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "Susan Sandler, a member of the Democracy Alliance group of liberal big donors, has put forward an 'executive director short list' for incoming DSCC chairman Chris Van Hollen in an email with the subject line, 'What Donors Can Do to Build a an Effective, Accountable DSCC.'... Sandler's email includes a short list of 'talented candidates for the Executive Director roles for the Party committees.' The list includes Addisu Demissie, who served as Sen. Cory Booker's campaign manager in 2013 and was Hillary Clinton's voter outreach director in 2016; Simone Ward, Clinton's Florida
state director and a former DSCC political director; Brynne Craig, who was Clinton's deputy director for state campaigns; Emmy Ruiz, who directed Clinton's efforts in Colorado and Nevada in 2016; and Carlos Sanchez, Clinton's deputy political director and Rep. Joaquin Castro's former chief of staff." Story here.

- Bonus read: "Senate Democrats are facing growing pressure to break the white male stranglehold on senior staff positions in their ranks - a push that's uniting consultants and lobbyists inside the Beltway with Black Lives Matter and other minority leaders who are accusing the party of 'soft bigotry,'" Elana Schor and Burgess Everett report.

MORE 2018 UPDATES - "Udall says he won't run for New Mexico governor," by POLITICO's Scott Bland: "Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) will not run for governor of New Mexico in 2018, he said in a statement today. 'While I firmly believe that I have the backing and the experience to properly address all these issues, I have determined, after consulting with my family, colleagues and constituents, that New Mexico will be better served by my remaining in the United States Senate,' Udall said." More here.

- Murphy leaves the door open ... for something: Departing Rep. Patrick Murphy has been hinting he may jump back into politics in the future, the Tampa Bay Times reports. In his farewell speech to the House, Murphy said that "my commitment to our community, to the great state of Florida, and to our nation will always continue."

RE-COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS - Judge sides against Stein in Michigan: A federal judge effectively ended Michigan's recount of the presidential election Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith said that Stein doesn't qualify as an "aggrieved" and thus doesn't have the standing to ask for the recount. A previous ruling by Goldsmith had started the recount, but it didn't specifically address whether Stein was qualified to ask for it in the first place, The Associated Press reports.

- "Court denies Jill Stein request to examine voting machines," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "Jill Stein hit yet another roadblock in her efforts to hold a recount in Pennsylvania today, with a Philadelphia court denying the Green Party presidential candidate's request for a full forensic analysis of electronic voting machines and their software ... The court's move is a major setback for Stein in Pennsylvania." More here.

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ - "Trump thrills donors with tales of election night," by POLITICO's Isaac Arnsdorf, Alex Isenstadt and Ben White: "President-elect Donald Trump treated more than 800 donors to a play-by-play of election-night drama at a New York breakfast fundraiser on Wednesday, according to two people who attended the event. Trump's recounting of his emotions on Nov. 8 took up the bulk of his remarks at the restaurant Cipriani, with one attendee relaying that Trump said he expected to lose and take a vacation with his wife, Melania ... When it comes to his inauguration, Trump said he recently met with TV producer Mark Burnett, who urged him to plan an extravagant celebration with
events in Washington and New York." More here.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "To Claire and Kelly, if I go to war, I want to go with y'all." - Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sens. Kelly Ayotte and Claire McCaskill after McCaskill gave her farewell tribute to departing Ayotte on the Senate floor Wednesday.

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