McCain on tape: Trump hurts my reelection hopes Presented by the United States Postal Service

With Kevin Robillard, Scott Bland and Elena Schneider

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. (https://subscriber.politicopro.com/proinfo)


DOWN-BALLOT DISCORD — "McCain on tape: Trump damages my reelection hopes,” by POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim: Publicly, John McCain insists Donald Trump will have a negligible effect on his campaign for reelection. But behind closed doors at a fundraiser in Arizona last month, the Republican senator and two-time presidential hopeful offered a far more dire assessment to his supporters. “If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30 percent of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life,” McCain said, according to a recording of the event obtained by POLITICO. “If you listen or watch Hispanic media in the state and in the country, you will see that it is all anti-Trump. The Hispanic community is roused and angry in a way that I've never seen in 30 years.”

— “The 2008 GOP presidential nominee is certainly the favorite in his race to win a sixth term in the Senate. But his remarks about the party’s presumptive nominee exposes a deep well of concern about how Trump might damage the GOP’s chances in the battle for Senate control — especially in states like Arizona, Nevada and Florida, where Latinos make up a big chunk of voters. … McCain has said he'll support the nominee, and he is in better shape to hold onto his seat than many of his vulnerable Republican colleagues. But if Trump’s nomination turns out to be more than a minor drag on down-ballot Republicans, McCain — who’s expected to face Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a credible Democratic challenger — could easily become a top target.” http://politi.co/1OfjAiG

— Ellmers, facing a tough primary, doubles down on Trump: Donald Trump's "latest Hill converts are trying to counter the conventional Beltway wisdom that the billionaire tycoon would put their House and Senate majorities at risk," POLITICO's Jake Sherman and Rachael Bade report. "'I think the exact opposite. I think Donald Trump being the nominee is going to help our numbers keep the majority in the House and Senate because he's bringing people to the polls who haven't voted in years or even never voted,' [GOP Rep. Renee] Ellmers said in a brief interview." Ellmers, who's facing a tough member-on-member primary battle against fellow GOP Rep. George Holding next month, "even threw an elbow at her D.C. colleagues who still fear Trump: "I think there are just a lot of members who lack vision and courage when it comes to things like this. And they tend to go with status quo and business as usual." Holding has not endorsed Trump. http://politi.co/1SPuSMr

— GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, who's face a tough reelection fight in New York's 1st District, endorsed Trump on Wednesday, Newsday reports. http://nwsdy.li/1T2KRMA

— GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, meanwhile, is walking a fine line, saying she'll "support" Trump but not "endorse" him, WMUR reports. http://bit.ly/1UyG4Si

ACCESS DENIED (FOR NOW) — Republicans Robert Blaha and Ryan Frazier "remain just short of the signatures needed to qualify" for their Colorado Senate primary after a court ruling, the Denver Post's John Frank reports. BUT: "Both campaigns plan to challenge the ruling. Blaha is seeking clarification on his order and his status remains uncertain. Frazier announced plans to appeal the ruling in his case. ... The candidates need the judge to allow signatures collected by one staffer who worked for both campaigns, but whose voter registration was canceled midway through his tenure because he forgot to list an apartment number. James Day was a registered voter while collecting signatures for Blaha, but his registration was invalid when he worked for Frazier. The judge explicitly rejected the 45 signatures Day collected for Frazier, but left open the question as it applies to Blaha. Even what Day collected is counted, Frazier remains about two dozen signatures short." http://dpo.st/1Tug05U

Days until the Nebraska and West Virginia primaries: 5. Days until the 2016 election: 187.

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AIR WAR — DCCC starting ads in top-two CA-24 primary: http://politico.pro/1X9yka4

— Gregg debuts first TV ad of Indiana governor’s race: Democrat John Gregg is out with a 30-second TV ad, the first of his race against GOP Gov. Mike Pence. “I believe Democrats, Republicans and Independents all have good ideas,” Gregg says, never specifically identifying himself as a Democrat. “I believe in hard work and higher take-home pay, not higher taxes and in helping those who need and deserve it. https://youtu.be/UkCGybBHIjc

— Senate Majority PAC to hit Heck: The Democratic super PAC will start a $450,000 buy against Nevada GOP Rep. Joe Heck on Friday, per Jon Ralston, following Freedom Partners Action Fund's announcement earlier this week that it is spending $1 million to attack Heck's Democratic opponent for the open Senate seat, Catherine Cortez Masto.

RADIO SILENCE — Club for Growth memo explains lack of support for Stutzman: The Club for Growth on Wednesday told donors that concerns about GOP Rep. Marlin Stutzman's campaign spending and consultants kept the group from spending to support his Indiana Senate bid. http://politico.pro/1TL38Lx

FIRST IN SCORE — Comer holds big KY-01 primary in second internal poll: Former state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer has a massive lead in the primary in the open seat in Kentucky’s 1st District, according to a new internal poll from his campaign ahead of the May 17 primary. Comer has the support of 57 percent of voters, according to the poll, compared to 10 percent for Mike Pape, the longtime district director for retiring GOP Rep. Ed Whitfield, and 6 percent for Jason Batts, the Hickman County attorney. Pape, in particular, has drawn attention in recent weeks by attacking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and airing a TV ad featuring actors who played illegal immigrants cutting through a border fence. But the poll showed Comer with a wider lead over Pape than he had in a previous internal poll released last month. Full results: http://politico.pro/1ZhEMdH

FIRST IN SCORE — GOP Senate candidate in deep-blue Maryland argues she has a chance: Kathy Szeliga, the GOP Senate nominee in Maryland, is putting out a new campaign memo, “The Purpling of Maryland: Why DC Democrats and the Mainstream Media Have It All Wrong.” The basic argument? Republicans are doing better in Maryland than anyone thinks, and her battle against Democrat Chris Van Hollen should be treated as a real race. Read the memo: http://bit.ly/24soZzJ

PRESIDENTIAL SPEED READ — “What the Kochs think about Trump now,” by POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt: “Republican donors want nothing to do with Donald Trump. On Wednesday morning, the newly crowned GOP nominee, who has largely self-financed his campaign so far, announced that he would be soliciting checks from small contributors and that he would soon make a decision about whether to accept big contributions from mega-donors. Yet in interviews with more than a dozen major GOP underwriters on Wednesday, not one would commit to donating to Trump. Some raised the possibility that they would focused solely on giving to House or Senate candidate. Others went further in expressing their discontent: Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialists who helped to bankroll the rise of the tea party, warned they could sit out the presidential campaign or even back Hillary Clinton.” http://politi.co/1WaWL8f

—The hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer is another top GOP donor still on the fence, The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker, Robert Costa and Jose A. DelReal report: Singer "supported an anti-Trump super PAC and has not come around to the real estate tycoon, according to a person familiar with his views. 'He’s starting in a hole,' GOP campaign finance attorney Charlie Spies said of Trump. 'He’s attacked all these people and said they are corrupt lobbyists.' Recent White House nominees began assembling their fundraising operations as much as two years before the general election. 'I don’t see any way they can raise the hard dollars to be competitive,' said Fred Malek, who served as Sen. John McCain’s national finance chairman in 2008." http://wapo.st/21yvgEG

— “Clinton’s dilemma: To punch or not to punch,” by POLITICO’s Annie Karni: "Top operatives in [Hillary] Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters have studied closely the various strategies deployed by the Republicans felled by Trump — including that of the former Florida governor, whose passivity in the face of Trump’s taunts and insults doomed his once-inevitable seeming campaign. They also took notes as Sen. Marco Rubio tried and failed to match Trump in an unflattering game of personal insults. 'She will not be passive, like we saw from so many of the Republicans he vanquished,' said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon. 'But she will also not follow him into the gutter. She can challenge him in the way the Republicans wouldn't — on the issues and on his hateful rhetoric.'" http://politi.co/1WKrLKw

— "Kasich drops out of presidential race," by POLITICO's Daniel Strauss: John Kasich's decision to end his campaign "appeared to be a rather quick change of heart, as Kasich on Wednesday morning released a vaguely Star Wars-themed ad touting his general election prospects against Hillary Clinton, and he had been slated to talk with reporters at Washington Dulles International Airport in the morning before embarking on what his campaign termed a full day of finance events in Maryland and Virginia. But the campaign later canceled the briefing and scheduled a news conference in Columbus, where he announced he would suspend his campaign." http://politi.co/1TmpqQv

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I assume this is a parody account?” — Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), responding to this tweet from @GOP yesterday: “Thank you to the entire Republican field for a hard fought race. The Party is better for your efforts.” (It’s not a parody account.) http://bit.ly/1WJBNvE

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