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By Alexander Burns (@aburnspolitico, aburns@politico.com )


FIRST IN SCORE - STEERING THE RSLC: The Republican State Leadership Committee will announce this morning that Chris Jankowski, who led the group's REDMAP redistricting project through the 2010 cycle, is taking over as RSLC president heading into the 2011 and 2012 elections. Jankowski will be joined at the RSLC by two prominent state GOP leaders: Ambassador David Wilkins, a former South Carolina state House speaker, and former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who are both joining the RSLC's board. From the announcement: "As President of the RSLC, Jankowski will manage the day-to-day operations of the committee including overseeing a political operation that has a proven record of winning state-level races across the country since its 2002 inception. ... The RSLC raised more than $30 million for the 2009-2010 cycle as part of an effort that picked up 20 legislative chambers, six Attorneys General, three Lieutenant Governors and seven Secretaries of State." Jankowski is replacing outgoing RSLC president Scott Ward, who will continue to serve as outside counsel to the committee.


MORE - GILLESPIE'S WELCOME - RSLC Chairman Ed Gillespie touted Jankowski's appointment in a statement: "Chris was instrumental in the RSLC's success in 2010 ... Under Chris's leadership, the RSLC hits the ground running in the 2011 election states and will continue its work with state caucuses, preparing for the 2012 elections and ensuring those states have the resources they need to continue Republican momentum." And Gillespie praised the addition of Wilkins and McCollum to the RSLC team, saying "these two leaders will strengthen our oversight of the Committee's activities and be a source of great advice and strategy for the RSLC."


As Paul Bennecke hangs out a shingle, Woody Johnson gets 2012 buzz and David Rivera's problems - unbelievably - keep getting worse, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.


MONDAY STAKES - The celebration of Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday is over. The first presidential debate, scheduled to take place at the Reagan Library, is less than three months away. Here's Morning Score's list of the candidates and other politicos who have the most to gain or lose in the week ahead:


(1) Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who waved off a Boston Globe column last week suggesting that he was angling for the job of secretary of state, but whose stature will only grow if he handles himself well during the crisis in Egypt; (2) Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who's traveling in Israel at a moment when a presidential hopeful with light foreign policy credentials could gain a lot from a successful visit; (3) Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who has to throw his reelection campaign into high gear as quickly as possible if he wants to survive a challenge from GOP Rep. Denny Rehberg, the most formidable challenger who could have entered the race against him; (4) North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue, who needs to make sure that her own legal problems - related to travel during her 2008 campaign - don't end up becoming an embarrassing distraction for the newly announced Democratic convention in Charlotte; (5) U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, who's welcoming his sometime nemesis - President Barack Obama - to give a speech to the Chamber later today, and will almost certainly gain swat if the event goes off smoothly. (Here's AP's curtain-raiser for the speech: http://apne.ws/ihZR04 )


BENNECKE IN BUSINESS: Paul Bennecke, the former political director and deputy executive director for the Republican Governors Association, is pivoting off the RGA's strong 2010 cycle to open his own consulting firm. Red Clay Strategies will advise Republican candidates and committees, as well as corporate clients, on media outreach, public relations and grassroots campaigning. Bennecke was previously executive director and political director for the Georgia Republican Party and political director of Gov. Sonny Perdue's 2002 campaign, which resulted in an upset victory over incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes.


THE 2012 SCORE - NOT JUST AMES: Illinois Republicans will hold a presidential straw poll on Nov. 5, adding an unpredictable hurdle to the GOP's nominating contest in the months before primary voting actually begins. The Chicago Tribune: "[T]he fluidity of the early Republican presidential jockeying makes it likely that a combative nominating process could put Illinois in play when its nominating primary returns to a March date next year. Illinois Republicans [will] hold a presidential preference straw poll at fundraisers held across the state. 'It will put us in play, as well as the people in Iowa and New Hampshire,' [Sen. Mark] Kirk said." Florida Republicans have also taken steps toward organizing a 2012 straw poll for next fall, in a challenge to the influence of the traditional early states at the front of the primary calendar. http://bit.ly/fnF3q4 and http://bit.ly/eS2skg


SPEAKING OF WHICH - TODAY IN IOWA: Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will become the first Republican to participate in the Family Leader's presidential lecture series - a set of events hosted by the Iowa social conservative group to showcase potential 2012 candidates. Pawlenty will speak for 25 minutes, according to a release from the group, and then sit for a question-and-answer session led by Family Leader president and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats. Plus - looking ahead: "Congresswoman Bachmann is scheduled to join the series line-up on April 11. Former Senator Rick Santorum will be the lecturer on May 2. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and radio talk show host Herman Cain have committed to participate." http://bit.ly/hqgiGq THUNE UPDATE - MORE COLD WATER - In a Sunday snapshot of where the 2012 race stands a year before the Iowa caucuses, the Des Moines Register reported that John Thune isn't just taking a low-key stance toward Iowa - he's actively avoiding it. From the paper: "The South Dakota senator recently declined an invitation to speak at a Pottawattamie County Republican event, and has done little outreach in Iowa. But, he plans to speak at the CPAC conference, along with other 2012 prospects." http://bit.ly/hYDPVp


DANIELS STEPS OUT: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels takes aim at the national health care reform law in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today, writing that for anyone who isn't "in favor of a fully nationalized health-care system, the president's health-care reform law is a massive mistake." He argues that Republicans should try to blunt objectionable parts of the law in case it can't be repealed or struck down in court, and proposes a series of revisions to the system of state-based health care exchanges: "[T]he system we are proposing requires Washington to abandon most of the command-and-control aspects of the law as written. It steers away from nanny-state paternalism by assuming, recognizing and reinforcing the dignity of all our citizens and their right to make health care's highly personal decisions for themselves." http://on.wsj.com/hbvSDq


WHERE'S THE LOVE FOR NEVADA? POLITICO's Molly Ball reports that 2012-ers are steering clear of the newest early presidential state and Republicans there aren't happy about it: "The prospective presidential candidates have been ramping up their schedules in recent weeks, but the only one to visit Nevada since the new year is Sarah Palin ... The Nevada presidential scene could still heat up. But if it doesn't, the reasons would be partly logistical: no other early state requires a five-hour flight from the East Coast. It also would be partly political: If Mitt Romney runs, the other candidates would have a hard time challenging his deep base of support in the state he won by more than 40 points in 2008. But if they don't play, Romney's win will look like a gimme." http://politi.co/hYs2Cr


PALIN'S CPAC EXCUSE - In an interview with CBN's David Brody, the former Alaska governor played down her decision not to attend the conservative confab that starts this Thursday in Washington. Palin: "Well, I've never attended a CPAC conference ever so I was a little taken aback this go around when I couldn't make it to this one either and then there was a speculation well I either agree or disagree with some of the groups or issues that CPAC is discussing. It really is a matter of time for me." http://bit.ly/dFF334


S.C. MUST-READ - "Endangered species: White S.C. Democrats" - From The State's Gina Smith: "Twenty years ago, white Democrats like [state Rep. Harry] Ott, a St. Matthews farmer with a Southern drawl as thick as syrup, controlled the House. Today, Ott is an anomaly. White Democrats are a nearly extinct breed in the House. Of 124 House members, only 19 are white Democrats. A 20th, state Rep. Cathy Harvin, who represented Clarendon and Williamsburg counties, died in December. When redistricting, the once-in-a-decade redrawing of state House and Senate district lines, happens later this year, many lawmakers predict white House Democrats will number fewer than 10. ... The plummeting number of white Democrats in the House has Democrats - white and black - mulling a question that would have been unthinkable 50 years ago: Can their party save its last white members?" Read on: http://bit.ly/e2ZRrr


MOURDOCK'S TIMELINE: Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock told Republicans in his home state over the weekend that he will launch his primary challenge to Sen. Richard Lugar on Feb. 22. The Lafayette Journal and Courier: "He surprised many on Saturday at a gathering of the Tippecanoe County Republican Women's Club by saying, 'I've made the decision.' ... Mourdock seemed to choke up when speaking of Lugar. 'Let me start simply by saying there's no one in the state of Indiana that has a greater respect for Sen. Lugar,' he said. 'He is an honorable man and has served us all honorably. ... We believe in competition in the marketplace and competition in the market of ideas. The competition in Republicanism is equally important." http://bit.ly/hiLlwf


DAVID RIVERA WATCH - THE HITS KEEP COMING: The first-term Florida congressman is already under investigation for a host of dubious financial dealings. Now, the Miami Herald is raising questions about a huge cash payment the Miami-Dade GOP made to one of Rivera's allies: "In the final weeks before Election Day last fall, the Miami-Dade Republican Party paid $150,000 to a political consultant with close ties to the party's then-chairman, U.S. Rep. David Rivera. But party officials cannot explain exactly what they got for the money. ... The party's executive director, J.C. Hernandez, said that money was supposed to pay for air time on two Spanish-language radio stations in the weeks leading up to the election. But the Miami-Dade GOP's air time on WAQI-710 AM, known as Radio Mambí, and its sister station, WQBA-1140 AM, cost just $34,500, records show." http://bit.ly/go1znq


SUPER BOWL SPECIAL - JOHNSON FOR SENATE? The Star-Ledger reports that some Republicans hope New York Jets owner Woody Johnson will challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez in 2012. Johnson's already deeply involved in the 2012 cycle, the paper notes: "[T]he Jets owner dined with Gov. Chris Christie and likely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney when they had their confab at Drumthwacket two weeks ago.The Auditor is told Johnson, a major donor to Republicans, was there as a Romney supporter. But Johnson - full name Robert Wood Johnson IV - has been talked up lately as a potential challenger to Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez in 2012. Johnson has two things that the Republicans, who have not won a Senate race in New Jersey since 1972, would love: ready-made name recognition and lots of money." http://bit.ly/ebeHuM


PLUS - BREES RULES IT IN: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is interested in running for office "at some point," he told Reuters over the weekend. "Definitely, politics fascinates me, I find it very interesting," he said. "I guess, when you look at all the issues and certainly in the current economic times, at times you hate to see both parties going at each other like they do." http://reut.rs/gNwbfL


CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I'm single. ... I get little notes, so-and-so wants to go out to dinner. That's it." - New York Rep. Michael Grimm, who occupies Vito Fossella's old House seat, on the up side to being a member of Congress http://bit.ly/eVezqF

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