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By Maggie Severns | 04/20/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Daniel Strauss, Scott Bland, Elena Schneider and Steven Shepard

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)

SMOKY MOUNTAIN WOES - "Democrats meddle in West Virginia's GOP Senate primary," by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "National Democrats launched a campaign Thursday to intervene in the upcoming West Virginia Senate GOP primary - an effort that could be designed to help recently imprisoned coal baron Don Blankenship win the Republican nomination. Duty and Country, a Washington-based Super PAC, began airing TV and web ads savaging the two mainstream Republican candidates, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who are competing in the May 8 primary. Left off the group's target list, however, was Blankenship. ... In propping up Blankenship, the Democratic Party is wading into
an intensifying GOP civil war.

"The Democratic group is spending over $380,000 to air the commercials. One of the TV spots says that as the former head of West Virginia State Medical Association, Jenkins pushed doctors to use an insurance company that overcharged, allowing his organization to profit. Another ad describes Morrisey as a carpetbagger, calling him a 'millionaire New Yorker and former lobbyist who came down here and ran for office with no idea of the real challenges West Virginians face.'" Full story.

FIRST IN SCORE - DSCC raised $6.38 million in March: The DSCC raised $6.38 million in March and ended the month with $29.9 million cash on hand, according to fundraising numbers provided to POLITICO. The NRSC has not announced its latest fundraising numbers. In February the NRSC raised $5.1 million.

- NRCC raised $10.5M in March to DCCC's $14.3M: "The NRCC raised $10.5 million last month, according to a party committee aide. But the DCCC topped its Republican counterpart in March, bringing in $3.8 million more than the NRCC last month. The NRCC continues to lead in cash on hand with $58.8 million to the DCCC's $57 million." Full story.

McDANIEL BOON - Poll finds Republicans would risk losing Mississippi seat if McDaniel makes runoff this fall: A new Mason-Dixon poll in Mississippi shows appointed GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith would be favored to keep the seat of former Sen. Thad Cochran in Republican hands this fall. The poll shows Hyde-Smith leading former Democratic Rep. Mike Espy in a potential special election runoff, 46 percent to 34 percent.

- But Republicans would be at risk of losing the seat if state Sen. Chris McDaniel makes the runoff, the poll shows: Espy has a 2-point lead over McDaniel, 42 percent to 40 percent. Espy would increase his vote shares among Republicans (from 2 percent to 12 percent) and white voters (from 13 percent to 22 percent) if matched up with McDaniel instead of Espy.

- The poll, conducted April 12-14, did not test the candidates together on one ballot, as they will run on Election Day. Results here.

- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is airing a new ad in Mississippi that attacks McDaniel's history as a trial lawyer. "Think you know Chris McDaniel? Think again," the narrator says in the ad.

Days until the 2018 election: 200

Upcoming election dates - AZ-08 special election: April 24 - 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 - Michigan: April 24 - Florida: May 4 - Massachusetts: May 8 - Washington: May 18 - Arizona: May 30.

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GETTING THE NOD - "Trump endorses Blackburn in Tennessee Senate race," by POLITICO's Rebecca Morin: "Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) got an executive endorsement on Thursday from President Donald Trump, who added that he would campaign for her in the race for Sen. Bob Corker's seat.'" Full story.

FIRST IN SCORE - EMILY'S List endorses two House Democratic challengers: EMILY's List is backing two new candidates, Madeleine Dean (PA-04) and Leslie Cockburn (VA-05). EMILY's List's WOMEN VOTE! is also launching a seven-piece mail program to boost Dean ahead of her May primary.

- CHC BOLD PAC endorses two House Democratic challengers: CHC BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, endorsed two more House Democratic challengers, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (NM-1) and Juanita Perez Williams (NY-24).

PRIMARY TO WATCH - Ex-Rep. Pat Tiberi endorses Balderson to succeed him in crowded OH-12 special: Tiberi lends his name recognition to GOP state Sen. Troy Balderson in a new TV ad paid for by Tiberi's old campaign committee, the Columbus Dispatch reports. And Tiberi was not shy about raising the prospect of Democrats snatching his seat if the nominee isn't right: "Balderson ... is a proven conservative who has a track record of getting things done and who has the best chance to hold this seat in an August general election," Tiberi told the Dispatch. "We just saw last month in Western Pennsylvania a seat that Donald Trump won by twice as many votes (in 2016) go to a Democrat because the
Republican was too conservative for the district."

- News of Tiberi's endorsement comes the same day as an ad featuring GOP Rep. Jim Jordan (and paid for by the Richard Uihlein-backed House Freedom Action super PAC), backing Melanie Leneghan. Nine Republicans filed to run for the seat. The primary is May 8 and the special general election is Aug. 7.

THREE'S COMPANY -"Illinois governor's race rattled by new candidate," by POLITICO's Natasha Korecki: "A Republican state senator launched a third party bid for governor Thursday in what could be a death knell for Illinois GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner's reelection bid. State Sen. Sam McCann is running as what he called an 'independent conservative,' telling POLITICO Thursday that he felt 'called to serve' to counter the prospect of having only two 'billionaires from Chicago' on the November ballot.

"McCann denied that his run is an effort to settle a score with Rauner and ensure the embattled first-term governor is defeated in November. 'I'm in this to win it. I've never run a race not to win it. I don't run against people, I run to win,' McCann said Thursday." Full story.

DEEP DIVE -"Luke Messer didn't disclose DUIs when he replaced lawmaker killed by drunken driver," by IndyStar: "In U.S. Senate candidate Luke Messer's first successful run for public office, he had to persuade a caucus of local party insiders that he was the right man to replace state Rep. Roland Stine, a beloved schoolteacher who was killed by a drunken driver less than a month earlier. ... Messer had a secret: He himself had two drunken driving convictions.

As he sought the state legislative seat in 2003, Messer decided against sharing that history with local Republican precinct leaders. ... Nor did he disclose it to county or district party leaders. In fact, many of those officials didn't know about Messer's DUIs until contacted this week by IndyStar." Full story.

- Messer's response, per IndyStar: "U.S. Senate candidate Luke Messer said Thursday he didn't try to hide his drunken driving history from precinct officials who selected him to replace a state lawmaker who was killed by a drunken driver. 'That just did not happen,' he told WIBC radio morning show host Tony Katz. ... Messer arranged the interview on the conservative talk radio station. ... Messer repeatedly has declined to discuss the issue with IndyStar." Full story.

AD WATCH - All-party primary heating up in Orange County: Keep an eye on the race to replace GOP Rep. Ed Royce in California's crowded 39th District, where the ads are starting to fly with six and a half weeks to go until the primary. Self-funding Democrats Andy Thorburn and Gil Cisneros are both out with ads today, as is Republican Young Kim. Kim's ad features an endorsement from Royce and her proclaiming that her family immigrated to the United States legally, while Cisneros promises to use Navy values to "stand up to D.C. politicians" and Thorburn says he'll support Medicare-for-all legislation in Congress.

- Meanwhile, in another crowded all-party primary, Republican Stelian Onufrei is pulling out of his bid against GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in California's 48th District - and throwing support to Republican Scott Baugh, the Orange County Register reported. Onufrei said he was doing it to increase the Republican Party's chances of putting two candidates in the general election in the district, which Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. "If I were to stay in the race, Scott would have had a much harder time to be able to make it to the (November) runoff against Dana and win," Onufrei told the Register.

- Hawley raised $1.5M during first quarter, per the Kansas City Star: "Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is the only Senate candidate President Donald Trump has helped with fundraising, but Hawley still only managed to raise less than half the amount raised by the Democrat he hopes to unseat, Sen. Claire McCaskill. Hawley reported raising $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2018, according to paperwork his campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission." Full story.

- "Democratic Attorneys General Association raised $2.7M in first quarter of 2018," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: "The Democratic Attorneys General Association raised $2.7 million in the first quarter of 2018 across all of its entities and has more than $3.4 million cash on hand, the group confirmed Thursday. That brings the umbrella Democratic group for attorneys general's total haul to $10.2 million for the 2018 cycle so far, about $1 million more than where the group was in 2017 at around the same time." Full story.

STAFFING UP - The Illinois Senate Victory Fund has hired Tom Elliott as communications director. Elliott recently served on the Democratic gubernatorial campaigns of Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar and state Sen. Daniel Biss.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "If he doesn't understand what he's doing to the nation by doing what he's doing, he's going to be a one-term president, plain and simple," North Dakota farmer Robert Runck told The New York Times' Jonathan Martin about Trump stoking a potential trade war with China.

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