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POLITICO POLITICO's Morning Score, May 26, 2010 6:26 am<br>
----------------------------------------------<br>Obama hits Ariz. law at fundraiser - Idaho picks Labrador over Ward - Dems target Rossi campaign launch - NRSC compares Blumenthal, Spitzer, Traficant - Specter brings Sestak to lunchBy: Alexander Burns
<br>Wed 26, 2010 06:19 AM EST<br><br><br>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/94RvWT ">BREAKING OVERNIGHT</a> -- LABRADOR WINS: Idaho state Rep. Raul Labrador won the GOP's nomination to run against Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick this fall, taking 48 percent of the vote to veteran Vaughn Ward's 39 percent, with over 97 percent of precincts reporting. Ward's defeat comes despite a last-minute campaign boost from Sarah Palin, who visited Boise to campaign for him last Friday. The Idaho Statesman reports: 'Ward, a Marine reservist and a first-time candidate, had a 6-to-1 money edge and the backing of the Idaho and national GOP hierarchy. Ward was a commanding presence on TV, while Labrador ran only a smattering of radio spots in the final two weeks. ... Ward's missteps - including plagiarizing other candidates' websites, misusing pictures of himself in uniform, and calling Puerto Rico a country - raised questions about his fitness as a candidate. ... The contest came with a backdrop of voter anger fueling the tea party movement, with strong support in Idaho. Tea Party Boise backed Labrador, but the movement's biggest celebrity, Sarah Palin, campaigned for Ward.' <br />
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PLUS -- WEAK: Incumbent Gov. Butch Otter took only 55 percent in a GOP primary against rancher Rex Rammell and Ada County Commissioner Sharon Ullman. The Democratic gubernatorial nominee will be Keith Allred, who heads the Idaho advocacy group Common Interest. <a target="_blank" href="http://politi.co/9R74PD ">See all the primary results here</a>. <br />
As Arlen Specter makes nice, Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore don't and the Connecticut general election smackdown begins, your daily cheat sheet for the 2010 midterm elections. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://politi.co/bovlnf ">STILL GOLDEN</a>: President Obama raised a projected $1.7 million at two fundraisers in California Tuesday night, sending $1.1 million to the DSCC and $600,000 to Sen. Barbara Boxer's reelection campaign. Hours after the White House confirmed plans to send new National Guard forces to the Mexican border, the president put his position on immigration front and center, telling his San Francisco audience that at his meeting with Senate Republicans, 'I said to them, I disagree with this Arizona law,' and told the GOP to collaborate on immigration reform 'if we actually want to solve the problem rather than just score political points.' <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/avCnyp ">THIS MORNING -- ON THE LAUNCH PAD</a>: Former Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is entering the race against Democratic Sen. Patty Murray with an online announcement today, according to the Seattle Times. 'Rossi won't hold a news conference or do any media interviews Wednesday, said his spokeswoman, Mary Lane Strow. 'He just wants to let the announcement speak for itself,' she said. Rossi will set aside time for interviews with reporters on Thursday.' <br />
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DROPPING TODAY -- DEFINING DINO: Anticipating Rossi's announcement, the DSCC has prepared a memo that frames the Republican's campaign with a series of cutting questions about his political and business record. J.B. Poersch, the committee's executive director, writes that 'voters are angry and they are tired of politicians who do not take responsibility for their actions,' and calls on Rossi to address 'several substantive questions on his ethical conduct.' The questions include: <br />
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'1) Dino Rossi recently spoke at a conference, the purpose of which was to teach investors how to make money off of foreclosed homes. ... Did Dino Rossi receive compensation for his appearance at the conference? ... 2) The bank Dino Rossi co-founded is short of capital and has been called out for its risky lending practices by federal authorities. ... Will Dino Rossi continue to stand by his position in the bank? 3) Dino Rossi's real estate firm failed to pay $20,000 in property taxes on a building in Snohomish County. Are there other properties owned by Rossi or his firm that have overdue taxes? 4) Dino Rossi recently sent out a fundraising letter on behalf of the Washington Policy Center, an extreme right wing group that wants to cut unemployment benefits, family leave and the minimum wage. Does Dino Rossi agree that the government should slash unemployment benefits, cut workers compensation benefit rates and put an end to minimum wage increases during times of high unemployment? 5) Why did Dino Rossi hire a former Enron lobbyist to run his campaign? 6) Dino Rossi has repeatedly said he would not run for the Senate, and only after meeting with DC Republicans did he decide to enter the race. What did DC Republicans promise Dino Rossi to encourage a run?'</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9bzQk0 ">ADVANCING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION</a>: Former Connecticut Rep. Rob Simmons announced Tuesday he's effectively ending his campaign for the GOP's Senate nomination, winding down his operation and ceding the primary to former wrestling executive Linda McMahon. But Simmons's name will still be on the August primary ballot, and the Republican isn't yet embracing McMahon's candidacy. The Stamford Advocate reports that Simmons wouldn't say Monday whether he would vote for McMahon in the general election, dodging: 'It's too soon for me to respond to a question about who I may vote for in November.' <br />
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PLUS -- SNEEK PEEK -- THE GENERAL BEGINS: The NRSC will release a provocative video Wednesday casting Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Senate nominee, as 'another lying politician.' The video compiles clips of misleading statements Blumenthal made about his Vietnam service and includes the attorney general's admission of using 'a few misplaced words' in a montage with defensive statements from disgraced pols like Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson, Bill Jefferson and Roland Burris. The video ends with Chris Matthews's assessment of Blumenthal: 'He lied. A direct, hundred-percent lie. ... He may have a real problem with character and the truth.' Watch the video <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/96zU8D ">here</a>. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/aXVIwC ">RAND TORINO -- INSURGENT NO MORE?</a> There may be some staffing changes in store for Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee, now that the general election is underway. The AP reports from Bowling Green: 'Paul has been reassessing his campaign staff. He said he expects there will be staff changes, though he declined to give details. He won the GOP nomination last week with a campaign staff made up largely of political novices and volunteers. ... Campaign manager David Adams, who had been a Republican blogger in Nicholasville before joining up, will remain but perhaps in a different role, Paul said. ... He said he has had cordial discussions with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator.' <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/baAvxv ">POLL OF THE DAY</a>: South Carolina state Rep. Nikki Haley was in a powerful position to win the GOP's gubernatorial nomination in a Public Policy Polling survey taken before a blogger claimed Monday to have had an 'inappropriate physical relationship' with her. It's not clear how that unconfirmed report might shape the June 8 primary, but PPP's poll, taken over the weekend, showed Haley drawing 39 percent of the vote and running well ahead of state Attorney General Henry McMaster, who had 18 percent, Rep. Gresham Barrett, who had 16 percent, and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who had 13 percent. Those numbers follow a Rasmussen poll released last week that showed Haley with an 11-point lead over McMaster, following Sarah Palin's visit to the state on Haley's behalf. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cchpv4 ">COUNTDOWN TO JUNE 8</a>: California's Republican Senate candidates debated for the last time Tuesday, as Carly Fiorina, Tom Campbell and Chuck DeVore sparred over their records on taxation. The Los Angeles Times writes that some of the harshest exchanges came between the two candidates competing for the hard-core conservative vote: 'Fiorina castigated DeVore for backing the 2005 and 2008 state budgets that she said 'committed this state to spending we can't afford.' DeVore questioned whether Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, could be trusted to keep her pledge not to raise taxes.' Fiorina jabbed: 'Maybe it makes Chuck DeVore, who's sort of dog-paddling at 14% in the polls - maybe it makes him feel better to belittle other people's conservative credentials.' <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://politi.co/aqDMPW ">SCHEDULING CHANGE -- OOPS:</a> EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson canceled a scheduled appearance at a June 4 DSCC fundraiser Tuesday, following a POLITICO story about the planned Manhattan event. POLITICO's Maggie Haberman and Ben Smith report: 'An EPA spokesman said Jackson was cancelling her appearance ... because she's focused on the clean-up of the BP oil spill. 'She's not going,' said Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a spokesman at the agency, adding that 'her priority has continued to be protecting human health and the environment' after the spill. An aide said Jackson was invited to attend the fundraiser on March 12, well before the oil spill, and added that she had canceled her appearance at several events since the disaster, including the White House Correspondents' dinner, the TIME 100 banquet, and a long-scheduled foreign trip.' <br />
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THE BIG MAP -- with POLITICO's Tim Alberta: <br />
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SENATE: <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/bRq7xE ">ARKANSAS</a>: AFSCME is running a cutting new ad in the runoff election between Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, showing a moving truck driving to Washington and accusing Lincoln of having 'moved up the Washington way.' 'The more Blanche Lincoln voted with the Washington insiders, the further she moved away from us,' the narrator says. 'Blanche Lincoln packed up and left us years ago -- maybe it's time Arkansas sent her packing for good.' <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cY0Phf ">ILLINOIS</a>: Democratic state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who's battled perceptions that the White House isn't invested in his campaign, is bringing some Obama administration muscle to the trail next month. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will campaign with Giannoulias on June 17 and White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina will join him on June 19. Still, that leaves Giannoulias something well short of a presidential visit. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/dpyEEq ">KANSAS</a>: Rep. Todd Tiahrt is going negative on his GOP primary rival, Rep. Jerry Moran, running an ad that claims Moran 'votes for higher income, property and sales taxes' and 'turns his back on conservatives and his party, voting with Pelosi to block tax cuts.' Moran's campaign dismissed the spot as 'desperate,' pointing to a poll published Monday that showed Moran leading the Senate primary by 23 points. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/au7pZS ">NORTH CAROLINA</a>: Ken Lewis, the third-place finisher in this month's Democratic Senate primary, hasn't just endorsed first-place finisher Elaine Marshall: he's signed on to be her campaign chairman. Lewis predicted Tuesday that Marshall, North Carolina's secretary of state, would be a 'passionate voice for working families' as senator. She's competing in a June 22 runoff against former state Sen. Cal Cunningham. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://nyti.ms/9hf7UI ">PENNSYLVANIA</a>: Sen. Arlen Specter escorted the man who defeated him in last week's Democratic primary to the Senate Democrats' weekly lunch Tuesday, the New York Times reports, and even introduced Rep. Joe Sestak to the group. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid praised his party's new nominee: 'He is a man who has spent 31 years in the Navy doing a lot of things that only someone in the Navy could do. We're very proud of the work that he's done.' <br />
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HOUSE: <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/dhSym1 ">NC-08</a>: North Carolina's whole Republican House delegation endorsed former broadcaster Harold Johnson in the GOP primary runoff in Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell's district, in the latest sign that state Republicans are uniting against businessman Tim D'Annunzio's campaign. State GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer has called D'Annunzio 'unfit to serve' in office following reports of his alleged drug problems and criminal record. D'Annunzio, who finished first in the primary earlier this month, called his opponents' moves 'a desperate attempt to prop up their failed candidate.'<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/dxYIEc ">NE-03</a>: Democratic state Sen. Tom White's campaign is dropping a video Wednesday that sharpens one of its attack lines against incumbent Republican Lee Terry: that he hasn't actually done much as a congressman. The video shows footage of Terry quipping that the 'do-nothing' House hasn't been doing much beyond 'renaming post offices,' then cuts to a clip from ten years earlier that shows Terry introducing what the White camp calls 'the only bill he's ever past' -- a proposal, naturally, to rename a post office. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://politi.co/bOVCt2 ">NY-13</a>: Staten Island Republicans are voting Thursday to back a nominee for Congress and former Rep. Vito Fossella still hasn't firmly signaled whether he plans to pursue a comeback bid this year. POLITICO's Maggie Haberman says several members of the party committee won't support Fossella until he formally gets into the race and they find out just how much damage the New York City tabloids can do to the scandal-scarred ex-congressman. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/aqDbUi ">OH-18</a>: The Republican primary in Rep. Zack Space's district is headed to a runoff, after state Sen. Bob Gibbs finished just 156 votes ahead of former state Agriculture Director Fred Dailey. State law mandates a recount when a candidate's victory margin is less than half a percentage point -- Gibbs won by a third of a percent -- and Dailey has refused to concede before a recount takes place. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://politi.co/b0C4Aq ">TN-06</a>: Republican state Sen. Jim Tracy is working to outflank fellow state Sen. Diane Black on the issue of illegal immigration, accusing her of 'coddling illegal aliens' as they both compete for the GOP nomination in retiring Democrat Bart Gordon's district. Tracy's been blasting out daily updates on an amendment Black proposed to anti-illegal immigration legislation, that would have exempted counties she represents from some of its strictest provisions. Blacks' campaign says the reality of her proposals is more complicated. <br />
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GOVERNORS: <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/di2HXT ">CALIFORNIA</a>: MoveOn.org founder Peter Schurman ended his long-shot campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination Tuesday, urging his supporters to rally behind state Attorney General Jerry Brown's campaign. In a message to supporters, Schurman said he's comfortable supporting Brown's campaign, now that the former governor is 'speaking up on ... green jobs, reaching out to voters, and confronting the Republicans on their ties to Wall Street.' <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9cQ2Ke ">FLORIDA</a>: The St. Petersburg Times reports unconfirmed chatter in Florida that an outside advertising group is preparing to 'start carpet-bombing' Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott on television. Scott, a self-funding former health care CEO, has spent nearly $8 million since mid-April to compete with Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican Party's nomination. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/coo4HX ">HAWAII</a>: Former Rep. Neil Abercrombie is up with the first television ad of the Democratic gubernatorial primary: a 30-second spot focused on education. He criticizes teacher furloughs, casting the election as a 'referendum on leadership' and pledging: 'I'll take personal responsibility to get teachers and principals the support they need.' <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cKF5sV ">NEW YORK</a>: The state Independence Party endorsed Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for governor Tuesday, giving him a place on New York's most prominent third-party ballot line for the fall campaign. Though the Independence Party has put up its own candidate for governor in the past, Chairman Frank McKay explained: 'We've been a line that is the party of political reform ... we're in a comfortable spot for people in other parties to vote for a candidate in another party.' <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9MieEH ">TEXAS</a>: The Wall Street Journal offers a budget-based take on the Texas governor's race Wednesday, highlighting the challenge incumbent Republican Rick Perry faces as his fiscally conservative policies run up against a budget gap that could reach $18 billion. That's given former Houston Mayor Bill White, Perry's Democratic challenger, an opening to argue: 'For 10 years Rick Perry has failed to develop a long-term budget.'<br />
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2012: <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/chb89l ">ROUND THREE</a>: Tim Pawlenty is heading to New Hampshire in July to address the Strafford County Republican Committee. County GOP Chairwoman Kaitlyn Smith confirmed the Minnesota governor will speak to the organization's summer picnic at Guppey Park on July 10. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/9ZvOXr">STANDING BY THEIR WOMAN</a>: Mitt Romney became the second possible 2012 hopeful to defend Nikki Haley from blogger Will Folks's claim of physical indiscretions with her. In a statement to CBS News, Romney said he's sticking 'four square by Nikki Haley,' whose campaign he's endorsed. 'I don't put much stock in unsubstantiated blog posts that appear at the 11th hour, and neither should the voters of South Carolina,' he said. Sarah Palin leaped to Haley's defense on Monday.</p><br>

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