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By Daniel Strauss | 05/02/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Zach Montellaro, Elena Schneider and Maggie Severns

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)

THE TRUMP EFFECT - "Trump litmus test hits House GOP primaries" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "For years, opposing President Barack Obama was among the top issues in Republican primaries. Now, they hinge on supporting - or opposing - President Donald Trump. In California, a Republican opponent of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is calling him a 'hypocrite' on supporting Trump, as a super PAC runs digital ads using an old tape of Rohrabacher calling Trump 'a mean nasty SOB.' A Texas Republican in a runoff for an open, GOP-heavy seat is citing his opponent's old Facebook posts criticizing Trump.

"And in Indiana, Republican front-runner Mike Braun has given Rep. Todd Rokita a Trump-style nickname, 'Todd the Fraud,' for running as a Trump supporter after previously attacking the president. Hundreds of Republican primaries are just ahead on the 2018 calendar, and after watching Trump play a huge role in special primaries last year, GOP candidates have seen the power of dredging up an opponent's old comments opposing the president before he was the party standard bearer. It proved disastrous for GOP Rep. Mo Brooks' Senate campaign in Alabama, where super PACs like Senate Leadership Fund hammered his past statements on Trump and forced him into a third-place finish. And other candidates
think it could be a poison pill for their opponents, too." Full story.

HE'S BACK! - "Grayson says he'll challenge Soto in Florida's 9th," by POLITICO's Marc Caputo: "Former Rep. Alan Grayson announced Tuesday morning that he'll mount a primary challenge against his successor, Rep. Darren Michael Soto, setting up a major primary fight that Florida and Washington Democrats had hoped to avoid. Grayson, who had flirted with running for another congressional seat, indicated to WFTV in Orlando that he doesn't care what party elites think of his decision to run for the Democratic nomination in Florida's 9th congressional district in Orlando. 'I don't need anyone's permission to run for office. What I've done is ask the people,' Grayson told the station." Full story.

TALK THE TALK - "Indiana candidate's rhetoric, business record don't line up" by the Associated Press' Brian Slodysko: "... The multimillionaire who owns that business, former Indiana state Rep. Mike Braun, is locked in a bitter Republican primary with two congressmen for the right to challenge Democrat Joe Donnelly in one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races. Braun has blamed 'career politicians' for outsourcing good-paying jobs overseas, while pledging he'll help bring them back. Yet when it comes to his own businesses, Braun's record falls far short of his campaign rhetoric, a review by The Associated Press found. ... And lawsuits filed against his companies - backed up by
federal trucking and labor records - present a picture of a boss who has overworked and underpaid employees." Full story.

TURNOUT DRIVER? - House leadership gives to California gas-tax repeal effort: Without a viable gubernatorial or Senate candidate, California Republicans are leaning on a ballot measure to repeal a new gas tax to motivate supporters this fall. Want a sense of how important members think it is? Committees affiliated with the House GOP have now contributed over half of the nearly $2 million raised by "Give Voters a Voice," a committee backing the measure. The latest donations, per California Target Book, came from Speaker Paul Ryan's campaign committee ($50,000) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise's committee ($25,000). Rep. Mimi Walters, who is facing a battleground race in CA-45, has given the
effort $335,000 from her campaign committee and leadership PAC, per California campaign finance filings.

Days until the 2018 election: 188

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, 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.

ON THE AIRWAVES - Ashford touts newspaper endorsement in TV ad in NE-02: Democrat Brad Ashford touted his endorsement from The Omaha World-Herald as "the stronger candidate" with "a track record of significant accomplishments" in his newest TV ad. Watch the ad here.

- House Majority PAC hits Tenney in TV, digital ad: House Majority PAC released its second TV ad attacking New York Rep. Claudia Tenney for "taking big money from special interests and voted for the health care plan the AARP says would slap an 'age tax' on older Americans." Watch the ad here.

- Chamber of Commerce pops TV ad in OH-16: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's PAC is out with a TV ad in the open race to replace Rep. Jim Renacci, boosting Republican Anthony Gonzalez and calling him a "conservative hero." Watch the ad here.

OOPS - "Radio ad comparing Nicholson to Missouri governor pulled," by the Associated Press: "A super PAC supporting Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson sent more than 20 Wisconsin radio stations an ad that compared him with other Republicans who used to be Democrats, including Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who faces calls to resign amid a sex scandal. Americas PAC leader Tom Donelson said Monday he sent a replacement ad before the original was supposed to air last week, but some stations broadcast the one favorably comparing Nicholson and the embattled Greitens. ... 'I can only say it was one of those deals where a mistake was made,' he said." Full story.

MORE MISSOURI - A day after Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley's Senate campaign released a memo with polling numbers showing a matchup between Hawley and Sen. Claire McCaskill effectively tied, Missouri Rising Action released its own memo arguing the same thing. The memo reads, "The average of the recent independent polls has the race in a statistical tie. The most recent poll by Emerson College has the race deadlocked at 45%. Besides being too close to call, the one thing each poll has in common is Claire McCaskill is under the 50% ballot threshold, which is a sign of vulnerability for an incumbent. Clearly, Josh Hawley has an opportunity to pick up a seat for the Republicans in the
U.S. Senate in a state that Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 19-points (57% to 38%)." Read the full memo here.

BACK AGAIN - "Doug Lamborn, whose re-election bid was imperiled by a lawsuit, is back on the ballot" by The Denver Post's Mark Matthews: "U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn will get another chance at re-election after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the six-term lawmaker should be put back on the ballot - a turnabout from a Colorado Supreme Court decision last week. ... At issue was the method in which Lamborn qualified for the primary. Under Colorado law, prospective members of Congress can get their names on the ballot by gathering 1,000 signatures from fellow party members in the district they want to represent - so long as the campaign workers gathering the signatures are state residents." Full
story.

FEELING THE BERN - Sanders to rally for three candidates in Pennsylvania: Sen. Bernie Sanders is heading to Philadelphia at the end of this week to support lieutenant governor candidate John Fetterman and two candidates in Democratic House primaries: Greg Edwards (PA-07) and Jess King (PA-11). King is running to challenge GOP Rep. Lloyd Smucker, while Edwards is in the crowded primary for retiring GOP Rep. Charlie Dent's redrawn district. Sanders also sent an email to his list asking supporters to donate to Fetterman, King and Edwards.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "When you're in-cycle running, you're eating about 30 pounds of pork barbecue a week," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to Roll Call on his campaign diet.

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