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03/08/2019 10:00 AM EDT

By ZACH MONTELLARO ([email protected]; @ZachMontellaro)


Editor's Note: This edition of Morning Score is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Campaign subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here.
QUICK FIX
- Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown became the latest Democrat to pass on a White House run. He told reporters that former Vice President Joe Biden's possible candidacy had no impact on his decision.

- The main pro-GOP House super PAC released a memo laying out its path to retaking the majority, while the DCCC is making early investments on the ground in battleground districts.

- Club for Growth, which has traditionally sought to wield most of its influence in Republican primaries, is increasingly turning its attention to general elections, promising to spend to retake VA-07.

Happy Friday! Elect. More. Goats. Email me at [email protected] or DM me at @ZachMontellaro.

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Days until the NC-09 primary election: 67

Days until the Kentucky and Mississippi general elections: 242

Days until the 2020 election: 606
THE TOPLINES
ONE FEWER CANDIDATE - Brown is the latest Senate Democrat to pass on a presidential run. "Brown said in a statement that he was confident other candidates would adopt his political mantra - 'the dignity of work' - and that he would continue working against President Donald Trump in the Senate instead of joining the crowded Democratic primary field," Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss reported. Brown said that Biden (more on him below) had no effect on his decision.

Brown told reporters that he's not likely to leave the Senate to be vice president, per the San Francisco Chronicle's Tal Kopan. That would come as a relief to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: If Brown were to give up his seat, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine would get to appoint a temporary replacement, which would eventually be followed by a special election in a state where Democrats have struggled recently.

But Brown is still likely be a coveted endorsement and surrogate on the campaign trail (he said he was nowhere close to endorsing a 2020 candidate) because he has figured out something that other Democrats have not: How to win in Ohio. Outside of Brown's reelection by a 7-point margin, Republicans carried all statewide elections in 2018, from governor to auditor, and his Senate compatriot, Rob Portman, is a Republican. Democrats didn't pick up a single House seat in a wave midterm - and Trump famously carried the Buckeye State on this way to the White House in 2016.

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IN THE TRENCHES
PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - Former Vice President Joe Biden is inching closer to a presidential run. "His nucleus of advisers has begun offering campaign positions to seasoned Democratic strategists," The New York Times' Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns report. "They are eyeing a headquarters in Delaware or nearby Philadelphia and a launch date in the beginning of April. ... And in recent weeks, Mr. Biden's strategist, Steve Ricchetti, has called a handful of would-be candidates and their aides to signal that the former vice president is likely to enter the race".

If Biden runs, he will have to grapple with his history of opposing school busing after "speaking out repeatedly and forcefully against sending white children to majority-black schools and black children to majority-white schools" in the 1970s, The Washington Post's Matt Viser reported. "He played down the persistence of overt racism and suggested that the government should have a limited role in integration."

- New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has yet to pick up any congressional endorsements from her home state, but she's trying to change that. "Gillibrand is having lunch with House members - some for the first time - and hosting informal drinks with the state delegation next week," POLITICO's Elena Schneider and Laura Barrón-López reported. "She's made phone calls to them and asked others for help in shoring up endorsements. But, so far, no one has jumped on board."

- Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has hired veteran Democratic operative Jenn Ridder to work at his PAC, a sign he is considering a run, Daniel and Elena reported.

- In the sure, "why not?" category of potential candidates: California Rep. Eric Swalwell. "The motivation for a Swalwell run is entirely self-generated," the Los Angeles Times' Mark Barabak wrote. "Rather, there is Swalwell's professed impatience: With the status quo, with Democratic Party elders, with the political sump hole that is Washington today."

- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) came out strongly in support for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) when the House voted on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism. "No other presidential contender came out as quickly - or as forcefully - as Sanders, who laid down a clear line in the crowded Democratic field between those running as true progressives on foreign policy and those who support an existing U.S. policy that tends to favor Israel over Palestine," POLITICO's Marc Caputo and Holly Otterbein wrote.

- If Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) ultimately runs for president, he would run on a national security heavy platform. "I'm also quietly confident that I can beat [Trump], and I don't think it'll be the hardest thing that I do in my life," he told The Atlantic's Edward-Isaac Dovere.

- Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper formally kicked off his campaign with a Denver rally, The Denver Post's Nic Garcia reported.

THE HOUSE BATTLEGROUND - Congressional Leadership Fund, the chief House Republican super PAC, is out with a memo detailing what it sees as the "offensive battleground" in 2020. The CLF says 55 Democratic seats are up for grabs, split into two buckets: "Trump country" and "opportunity districts". Trump country encompasses the 31 districts the president won in 2016 (including 13 he won by at least six points), while the opportunity districts are 24 seats that are largely "outside major cities with high average median incomes and higher than average levels of college education."

- The DCCC is ramping up its efforts to protect its majority. The group is sending out organizers "to 33 Republican-held or open districts and protecting newly elected Democrats in at least 14 states," NBC News' Heidi Przybyla reported.

THE PRESIDENT'S REELECT - Trump's advisers are trying to keep him in the White House and away from the rallies he loves. "For now, Trump's Republican allies and campaign officials believe an early re-election strategy built around his role as chief executive in dignified settings like the Oval Office and the Rose Garden will carry more weight with voters than his signature freewheeling arena speeches," POLITICO's Gabby Orr reported.

CHANGE OF STRATEGY - The Club for Growth, which has long focused on Republican primaries in safe red seats, is increasingly turning its attention to battleground districts' general elections. "It is especially excited about state Del. Nick Freitas in Virginia's 7th District" to challenge Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Roll Call's Simone Pathé reported. "If he decides to run, we will invest more money there than any House race in the history of the club," Tom Schultz, the Club's vice president of campaigns, told Pathé.

THE BIG DAY FOR H.R. 1 - House Democrats are expected to pass H.R. 1 today, largely on a party-line vote. A moderate House Democrat, granted anonymity to speak candidly about his colleagues, told Score he was hopeful at least a few Republicans would cross the aisle, but said "being associated with this is like the kiss of death for some Republicans." Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), one of the chief critics, said he wasn't sure if any Republicans would defect, but said many have been vocal about their opposition. Check out POLITICO after the vote today for a full story on the bill from me (and reminder: It's DOA in the Senate).

FIRST IN SCORE - ENDORSEMENT CORNER - The abortion rights group NARAL is endorsing 34 members of the DCCC's Frontline program for incumbents in battleground districts. The list includes Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11), Xochitl Torres Small (NM-02) and Anthony Brindisi (NY-22).

NOT IN - Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) has flirted with a statewide run before. But he's not thinking of challenging to Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). "I'm enjoying being in the majority and the ability, from that perspective, to represent my constituents," he told The Denver Post's Nic Garcia.

TO MAR-A-LAGO - The president will headline the RNC spring retreat this weekend at Mar-a-Lago, POLITICO's Nancy Cook reported in Playbook. He's scheduled to give a speech tonight. On Saturday, there will be panels about campaigning in 2020 and the GOP response to ActBlue.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "There may still be some doubt in his mind but there's no doubt in my mind," Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) on whether Biden will run for president, to The New York TImes.

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