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By Zach Montellaro | 08/21/2018 10:00 AM EDT


Good Tuesday morning and happy primary day! Today two states will head to the ballot box: Wyoming and Alaska.

In Wyoming, where current Republican Gov. Matt Mead term-limited, the GOP primary is a tight three-way race with no clear frontrunner. Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "Millionaire megadonor Foster Friess has spent more money, racked up more national endorsements and blanketed the airwaves more aggressively than any other Republican in Tuesday's Wyoming governor's primary. It might not be enough to win.

"Friess may be a household name in conservative fundraising circles, but he started his surprise bid for governor largely unknown in Wyoming compared to the other leading candidates: state Treasurer Mark Gordon and businessman Sam Galeotos. Friess' carpet-bomb ad campaign has helped, with the latest polling showing Friess deadlocked with Gordon and Galeotos lurking just behind. But Galeotos has crowded the 'outsider' lane in the primary, and Friess' start-from-scratch career in state politics, after focusing on national issues as a donor, may be too big an obstacle to overcome."

Meanwhile, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) will try to head off five challengers in his primary. They include the likes of perma-candidate Rocky De La Fuente and, more intriguingly, businessman Dave Dodson. Dodson loaned his campaign $1 million and raised an additional $470,000 to try to dethrone Barrasso. He's spent just about all of it too, reporting just $67,000 cash on hand in his pre-primary FEC report, which went through Aug. 1. The AP's Mead Gruver reported that Dodson has centered his campaign around trying "to tap anger over Barrasso's corporate donations and Washington ties." The Casper Star Tribune's editorial board also backed Dodson over Barrasso in the GOP primary, while President
Donald Trump tweeted his support for Barrasso last month.

In Alaska, incumbent Gov. Bill Walker on Wednesday will have two different general election challengers. Walker initially intended to run for the Democratic nomination, but opted instead to run only as an independent after former Sen. Mark Begich entered the race for the Democratic nomination. In the Republican primary, former state Sen. Mike Dunleavy is seen as the front-runner in a race that also includes former Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell. Public polling has been sparse, but a poll from Walker's camp released in early July had Dunleavy emerging from a three way race with 26 percent of the vote. Vox's Dylan Scott reported that the Walker and Begich teams have held preliminary talks on how to
head off Dunleavy, which could include one candidate dropping out or forming a unity ticket. If one of the two candidates were to drop out, they have until Sept. 4 to do so and not be on the ballot come November. A national GOP strategist described this race as probably the party's best opportunity to pick up a governorship, regardless of what the final November tickets end up being.

Good Tuesday morning. You know how Monday's Score said we weren't publishing next week? Just kidding! Score will arrive in your inboxes as usual next week (although we still won't publish on Labor Day). As always, you can email me at zmontellaro@politico.com or DM me at @ZachMontellaro.

Email the great Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com, jarkin@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com. Follow them on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @ec_schneider, @DanielStrauss4, @JamesArkin and @MaggieSeverns.

Days until the 2018 election: 77.

Upcoming election dates - Aug. 21: Alaska, Wyoming primaries. - Aug. 28: Arizona, Florida primaries and Oklahoma primary runoffs. - Sept. 4: Massachusetts primaries. - Sept. 6: Delaware primaries. - Sept. 11: New Hampshire primaries. - Sept. 12: Rhode Island primaries. - Sept. 13: New York (state-level) primaries.

What is it really like for women hitting the campaign trail in 2018? Women Rule's three-part podcast series, "Women Rule: Tracking the candidates," focuses on the gritty realities of running for office. Tune in the next two Wednesdays in August to hear from three women running for office, the challenges and opportunities they face, and the lessons other women can take from their campaigns.

BIG MONEY - July fundraising numbers are rolling in. The GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund raised $26 million last month, its best July ever, POLITICO Playbook reported. Of that, a whopping $25 million comes from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and Miriam Adelson, Score alum Theodoric Meyer reported. Collectively, the constellation of Republican groups SLF, American Crossroads, One Nation and Crossroads GPS raised about $100 million this cycle.

- Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic outside group, raised $7.4 million in July, per its filing. House Majority PAC raised $3.7 million, per its filing. An interesting in-kind donation: $457,000 in polling data from Michael Bloomberg.

- The RNC raised $14.2 million in July - its best non-presidential year July ever, CBS News' Caitlin Conant reported. The DNC was doubled up, raising $7.2 million in July per their filing.

- The DCCC also had its best July ever, raising $13.5 million. They've raised $191 million this cycle. The NRCC was outraised again, bringing in $10.2 million in July per its FEC report.

THE WALKING DEAD - The FEC won't move to crack down on "zombie campaigns" - campaigns from ex-lawmakers who "hoard and spend leftover campaign donations long after they leave office" - until next year. The Tampa Bay Times' Christopher O'Donnell and Connie Humburg: "The Federal Election Commission acknowledged last week that it actually won't begin scrutinizing the spending of former office holders until 2019. FEC spokeswoman Judith Ingram said that was always the timetable agreed by commissioners in a closed-room session in April, but that the agency had accidentally announced the wrong start date."

UP IN NORTH DAKOTA - What to make of GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer's bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp? Republican outside groups have sat on the sidelines, but party leaders are bullish. POLITICO's Elana Schor from Bismarck, N.D.: "Two leading GOP groups, the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity and the free market Club for Growth, have decided not to offer Cramer any help this cycle out of frustration with his record on trade and spending. ... Yet now that he's all in, party leaders are bullish on Cramer's prospects. ... In a recent interview, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called Heitkamp the 'most vulnerable senator' this year
and named North Dakota the 'No. 1' most closely contested race."

AIR WARS - Liberals have been vastly outspent by conservatives in the battle over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Maggie Severns: "Conservatives have run more than $7.5 million in television ads thus far compared with approximately $1.3 million from liberals in the fight over Kavanaugh's confirmation, according to spending analyzed by POLITICO and Advertising Analytics. 'It's silly. It's a waste of time,' said [Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.)], who is deliberating his first Supreme Court nomination. 'It's just a sad state of affairs when a judicial nomination becomes a political campaign. I'm seeing myself more on TV than I did last year when I
ran.'"

OBAMA WADES IN - Former President Barack Obama stars in a 90-second video for Democrat J.B. Pritzker's campaign to unseat Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. " I know JB, I trust JB," Obama says in the video. "I'm asking you to join me in supporting and voting for J.B. Pritzker for the next governor of Illinois." POLITICO's Natasha Korecki dives in on what this could mean for the race.

ON THE AIRWAVES - End Citizens United has reserved over $750,000 in ad spending in Colorado's 6th District, the group told Score. It'll spent $625,000 on television advertising and $150,000 on digital. Both buys start on Sept. 6, and the TV buy is slated to end on Sept. 17. This is its first buy in a House general election this cycle. The group has endorsed Democrat Jason Crow and named GOP Rep. Mike Coffman to its top targets list. The group also reserved $530,000 in television in MN-03 from Sept. 11-20. In that contest, it endorsed Democrat Dean Phillips and put GOP Rep. Erik Philip Paulsen on the top targets list.

- VoteVets, the Democratic-aligned outside group, released a new ad in Kentucky's 6th District hitting Republican Rep. Andy Barr. More from me: "'Washington Congressman Barr is enthusiastic about the special interests,' the ad's narrator says. 'Barr's taking millions from insurance and financial interests who benefit," the narrator continues, before saying Democrat Amy McGrath is 'tough enough to take on the special interests.' The group says it will spend $156,000 on a buy running from Aug. 21 to Sept. 3."

- CLF launched its latest messaging in Minnesota, launching a series of near-identical ads in MN-01, MN-02, MN-03 and MN-08 going after the Democratic candidate in the district for backing Rep. Keith Ellison, the DFL attorney general candidate, amid abuse claims against him. "Backing Ellison instead of believing his victim? [Democratic nominee] should be ashamed," the ads all say.

WHAT'S IN A WORD? - Republicans across the country have taken to branding their opponents as socialists. But is the label accurate, and will it stick? The Dallas Morning News' Rachel Cohrs on the trend in Texas: "This election cycle, some Texas Republicans have taken to slapping the label 'socialist' on Democratic opponents who do not identify as socialists. The campaign of U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions of Dallas said challenger Colin Allred has 'socialist ideas.' A campaign email from Chip Roy, a former Cruz chief of staff running for a vacant San Antonio-area congressional seat, compared Joseph Kopser to Karl Marx. ... For [Sen. Ted] Cruz, Sessions and Roy, it's likely the accusatory rhetoric
is an attempt to stoke their bases in competitive midterm races. 'It's an activation game, and you can see in Texas that you have half the turnout in the midterms. You have to make sure to get voters not to skip,' said Guy Harrison, a partner at OnMessage Inc. who formerly served as executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee and as Sessions' chief of staff."

SHE'S BACK - Hillary Clinton will headline three fundraisers for the DNC, with more events on the way. NBC News' Heidi Przybyla: "Billed as 'intimate dinners with discussion,' the first invitations were set to go out Monday night for a September event in San Francisco [with two more in Chicago and New York]. ... She is also planning fundraisers for some women running for Congress in key races, according to a Democratic source close to her."

MIDTERM MESSAGING - Democratic groups are hitting the road to campaign for gun control. McClatchy's Alex Roarty: "VoteVets and the Giffords group will campaign on behalf of seven candidates: New Jersey's Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District, Chrissy Houlahan and Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania's 6th and 17th districts, respectively, Jason Crow in Colorado's 6th district, Gil Cisneros in California's 39th Congressional District, Amy McGrath in Kentucky's 6th district, and Elaine Luria in Virginia's 2nd district. Each candidate is a veteran of the U.S. armed services and running in a top-tier general election bellwether districts. ... The two groups say they think veterans
are especially good messengers for policies that restrict access to guns. They have the 'platform and credibility' to talk about the issue, [VoteVets' Dan] Helmer said."

CODA - STAT OF THE DAY: A majority of the Senate represents 18 percent of the nation's population, via David Wasserman in The New York Times.

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