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By Elena Schneider | 04/27/2018 10:00 AM EDT


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)

MCCONNELL VS. BLANKENSHIP - "McConnell seeks redemption in ugly West Virginia primary," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt in Huntington, W.Va.: "As the dramatic May 8 primary hurtles to a close, it's taking on an all-too familiar outline. For the second time in a matter of months, an insurgent outsider is taking aim at [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell, looking to capitalize on the broiling anti-establishment unrest that's dominating Republican politics. And just like last time, McConnell is fighting back. In the fall, the leader's aggressive campaign to defeat Alabama Republican Roy Moore backfired spectacularly. This time, his attempt to stop the 68-year-old [Don] Blankenship seems to
be faring better. Amid an avalanche of attacks from a McConnell-aligned super PAC, two new polls out this week show Blankenship, once seen as an early front-runner, plunging into third place." Full story.

NORTHEAST WEAKNESS - "Democrats' rare 2018 tough spot: New England governor's races," by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "A combination of popular Republican governors and less popular Democratic chief executives has scrambled the gubernatorial outlook in New England, even as Democrats remain heavy favorites in congressional contests in the region, where the GOP holds just one House seat and one Senate seat, both in Maine. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker enjoys stratospheric approval ratings, while new Republican governors in Vermont and New Hampshire are both popular halfway through their first two-year terms. Meanwhile, outgoing Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy is one of the
least popular governors in the country after years of budget battles, and Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is gearing up for a grind-it-out reelection fight, where she'll have to bat down primary challengers and then could face a difficult rematch with Republican Cranston Mayor Allan Fung in the general election." Full story.

THE ESTABLISHMENT - "Secretly Taped Audio Reveals Democratic Leadership Pressuring Progressive to Leave Race," by The Intercept's Lee Fang: "With [Democratic Whip Steny] Hoyer in Denver, [Levi Tillemann, a progressive running in CO-06] met the minority whip at the Hilton Denver Downtown to make the case that the party should stay neutral in the primary and that he had a more plausible path to victory than the same centrism that [Republican incumbent Mike] Coffman had already beaten repeatedly. Hoyer, however, had his own message he wanted to convey: Tillemann should drop out. In a frank and wide-ranging conversation, Hoyer laid down the law for Tillemann." Full story.

- "Pelosi defends Hoyer's comments in secret recording," by POLITICO's Heather Caygle: "'I don't see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in conversation about,' Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference. 'If the realities of life is that some candidates can do better in the general than others, then that's a clear-eyed conversation that we should be having.'" Full story.

AD WATCH - Advertising Analytics released a visualization of the top words mentioned by party in 954 political ads this year. "Health care" dominates for Democrats, while "conservative" is still tops for Republicans. And the most-mentioned word overlapping between Democratic and Republican ads? "Trump," of course. See it here.

Days until the 2018 election: 193

Upcoming election dates - Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia primaries: May 8 - Idaho, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Oregon primaries: May 15 - Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky primaries, plus Texas primary runoffs: May 22.

Upcoming filing deadlines - Florida: May 4 - Massachusetts: May 8 - Washington: May 18 - Arizona: May 30.

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

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

POLITICO's Ben White is bringing Morning Money to the Milken Institute Global Conference to provide coverage of the day's events and evening happenings. The newsletter will run April 29 - May 2. Sign up to keep up with your daily conference coverage.

MONTANA DISPATCHES - "'Jon poked the bear': Tester braces for Trump's revenge," by POLITICO's Burgess Everett: "Jon Tester didn't intend to play a central role in taking down President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Veterans Affairs Department. Yet that's exactly what the Montana Democrat ended up doing. And now, Trump is coming after him. The president is enraged over Tester's work documenting allegations of malfeasance by Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, which quickly unraveled Jackson's nomination to be VA secretary and marks a turning point in the relationship between the moderate Democrat and Trump. As Tester's reelection campaign kicks into high gear, Trump is more motivated than ever to
campaign against him in the ruby-red state - accusing the senator of irresponsibly leaking the damaging information to undermine the president's nominee." Full story.

- "Title company error leads to incorrect form for Rosendale," by The Independent Record's Holly K. Michels: "Because of a mistake made by a title company, two forms were submitted in 2015 on behalf of Montana state Auditor [and GOP primary candidate for Senate] Matt Rosendale calling Rosendale a resident of Maryland when he was actually a resident of Montana." Full story.

ON THE AIRWAVES - Rosendale pops his first TV ad in Montana: Rosendale released his first TV ad in the Montana Senate race, focusing on his commitment to "cutting spending." "When Montana's budget was in crisis, Matt cut his operating costs by 23 percent," the ad's narrator says, as Rosendale gets a haircut. "You know government needs a haircut, and if we keep their spending down, that's more money in your pocket," Rosendale says. Watch the ad here.

- Messer, Rokita attack each other; Braun goes positive in new ads: "Reps. Luke Messer and Todd Rokita slammed each other in new TV ads in the Indiana Republican Senate primary, while former state Rep. Mike Braun went positive." Full story.

- Harkey launches first TV ad in CA-39: Republican Diane Harkey released her first TV ad, casting her as a "tax-fighting champion." Watch the ad here.

- LCV hits Heller, Gardner on Pruitt: The League of Conservation Voters announced a $257,000 TV and digital ad buy in Nevada and Colorado, urging Nevada Sen. Dean Heller and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner to hold EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt accountable for "scandal after scandal." Watch the Nevada ad here. Watch the Colorado ad here.

- Walker reserving TV ad time starting in May: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's reelection campaign has begun reserving TV advertising time starting in May. Walker's campaign has reserved $121,000 of broadcast TV time in La Crosse and Green Bay from May 1 through July 8, according to Advertising Analytics. The total spend and number of markets could go up." Full story.

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FORMAL ADMONISHMENT - Menendez admonished by Senate Ethics Committee, via POLITICO's John Bresnahan: "The Senate Ethics Committee has formally admonished Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.) over his relationship with a close friend and donor, Salomon Melgen." Full story.

TEAM TRUMP - "Here's The White House Questionnaire For GOP Candidates Who Want Trump's Backing," by HuffPost's Kevin Robillard: "Do you support ending foreign aid to Pakistan? How about withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Did you back the president's ban on visa holders from several Muslim-majority countries? ... Candidates meeting with the White House in recent weeks and months are leaving with an 'Opinion Leader Questionnaire' from the Office of Political Affairs, with eight yes-or-no questions to fill out and space to elaborate on their reasoning. The questions range from layups to relatively obscure issues. Some of the questions are potentially divisive in a GOP primary."
Full story.

POLLING DATA - Numbers shift in Missouri Senate race: There has been a slight shift in polling numbers of both the Missouri Senate race and Gov. Eric Greitens' approval rating over the past month, according to polling conducted for Missouri Scout by Remington Research. In early March, the poll found that if the election were held today between Sen. Claire McCaskill and Attorney General Josh Hawley, 47 percent said they would support Hawley, 45 percent said they would pick McCaskill and 8 percent said they were undecided. In early April, 44 percent said they would pick Hawley and 48 percent said they would pick McCaskill.

- The April 19 Missouri Scout poll also surveyed the embattled Greitens' approval rating, finding Greitens' approval above water within his own party with 57 percent of Republicans approving of his job performance and 27 percent disapproving. Those numbers among Democrats are much more lopsided: 12 percent said they approved of his job performance, while 80 percent said they disapproved.

DEBATE NIGHT - "Vukmir, Nicholson Clash Over Experiences in First Debate," by The Associated Press's Scott Bauer: "Republican U.S. Senate candidates Leah Vukmir and Kevin Nicholson clashed during closing statements at the end of an otherwise staid first debate Thursday, with former Democrat Nicholson defending his conservative credentials while Vukmir said her record in the Legislature proves she can be trusted." Full story.

- "GOP Senate candidates jab over endorsements, residency," by The AP's Matt Volz: "The Republican candidates in Montana's U.S. Senate election threw gentle jabs at each other over questionable endorsements and what it means to be a Montanan." Full story.

UMM - "Democratic Party-backed candidate leaves groggy voicemail warning for opponent: 'I'm gonna go negative on you,'" by The Intercept's David Dayen and Ryan Grim: "It was a groggy-sounding voice, leaving a short but to-the-point message for her husband, Andy, who is running for Congress in California's 39th District. 'Hi Andy. It's Gil Cisneros. I'm gonna go negative on you,' ... Cisneros's campaign manager, Orrin Evans, said after publication that the voicemail 'is clearly not Gil' and the campaign sent a letter from an attorney calling the claim 'defamatory.'" Full story.

ON THE LEFT - "The Center For American Progress Staff Was Shocked After Neera Tanden Named The Anonymous Harassment Victim In An All-Staff Meeting," by BuzzFeed News' Sarah Mimms: "Two days after BuzzFeed News unveiled allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation at one of the nation's top liberal think tanks, the Center for American Progress's president, Neera Tanden, met with staff to restore confidence in the organization's ability to handle the issue and ensure that employees feel safe. But during the meeting Wednesday afternoon, Tanden named the anonymous victim at the center of that story - a revelation that a CAP spokesperson said was unintentional - and what began as a tense
meeting became what three staffers in the room described as a textbook example of the organization's failures to appropriately handle sexual harassment cases." Full story.

FOX & ENEMIES - American Bridge takes to "Fox and Friends" to needle Trump over Scott Pruitt: The Democratic outside group is set to air a 60-second TV ad during the 7 a.m. hour this morning replaying clips of criticism of the EPA administrator's scandals (and a clip of Pruitt criticizing Trump in 2016, saying that Trump "in the White House would be more abusive to the Constitution than Barack Obama"). The ad closes by asking "what's Trump so afraid of" when it comes to firing Pruitt. See it here.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "@KimKardashian are we still doing dinner Friday or no lol." - Chrissy Teigen tweeted. Don't get it? HuffPo will explain.

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