GOP eyes Obama-Trump districts – POLITICO

With Zach Montellaro 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. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

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PAINT IT RED — “GOP eyes Obama-Trump districts despite national headwinds,” by Campaign Pro’s Elena Schneider: “When Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright woke up on Nov. 8, 2016, he represented a safe blue Pennsylvania district. But by the time he went to sleep that night, Donald Trump had painted Cartwright’s turf red beneath his feet.

Cartwright still won a third term, but Republicans hope to follow up on Trump’s top-of-the-ticket success by targeting Cartwright and 11 other House Democrats in Trump districts in 2018. A well-funded Republican jumped in to oppose Cartwright for the first time, while Rep. Cheri Bustos — the only Midwesterner in House Democratic leadership — has also drawn a stronger challenger than last year. Other Trump-district Democrats in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are also top Republican targets, as are open seats in the Las Vegas suburbs and southern New Hampshire.” Full story here.

DRUMROLL, PLEASE — New disclosure from pro-Jones super PAC reveals… almost nothing: Highway 31, the mysterious new pro-Doug Jones super PAC that has recently spent close to $2 million in Alabama filed its first disclosure documents with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. But the report, which spans Nov. 6-22, doesn’t list any contributions from donors or organizations funding the PAC. Instead, Highway 31 disclosed spending itself into $1.1 million in debt — all of it to high-profile political firms for ad production and placement — and raising no money at all. The next disclosure won’t happen until after the election, so voters in Alabama won’t know who has been funding the ads when they go to vote.

Washington Democrats say they aren’t the source of the funds for Highway 31. But it is worth noting that several firms with histories of doing high-profile work for national Democrats are working for the super PAC. Among them is Waterfront Strategies, a media buyer that has done work for House Majority PAC and Senate Majority PAC in the past. See the filing here.

BARTON IS DONE — “Barton to retire after nude selfie fallout,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney: “Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced Thursday that he won’t run for reelection in 2018, following a string of stories about him sending lewd texts and nude photos and videos to women. Barton, the ninth-most senior member of the House, told the Dallas Morning news in an interview, ‘There are enough people who lost faith in me that it’s time to step aside.’ Local GOP leaders had begun calling for Barton to step down in recent days.” Full story.

Days until the 2018 election: 339

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RUNNING BUDDIES — “Jon Husted will be Mike DeWine’s running mate,” Cleveland.com’s Jeremy Pelzer reports: “Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted will end his gubernatorial campaign to become primary rival and Attorney General Mike DeWine’s running mate, according to reliable sources tied to the candidates. The decision looks to be a game-changer in the race for Ohio governor in 2018, creating a Republican team with political and financial clout and turning one of DeWine’s major challengers into an ally.” Full story here.

NEW ENTRY — Dallas County sheriff will resign to run for governor, via WFAA: “Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez will resign her office so she can challenge Greg Abbott in 2018, according to Dallas County Democratic Chairwoman Carol Donovan. … Donovan told WFAA that Valdez will resign effective next Friday, Dec. 8. The deadline to file to be a candidate is Dec. 11.” Full story here.

RATINGS ALERT — “House 2018: Less Than a Year Out, Race for Control Is a Coin Flip,” by Sabato’s Crystal Ball’s Kyle Kondik: “We’re a little bit past the halfway point between the last national election, in 2016, and the next national election, in 2018. In that time, the Democrats’ chances of winning the House have only seemed to rise, based on a number of indicators. … Put it all together, and the battle for control of the House looks something like a coin flip, with Democrats having a very real chance to net the 24 seats they need to win a majority. In fact, the big-picture indicators might suggest the Democrats should be favored to win the House. But we’re not willing to go that far, at least at the moment.” Full story.

AIR WAR — NARAL hits Democrat Lipinski for opposing gay marriage: NARAL Pro-Choice America is out with a TV ad that attacks Illinois Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski for “opposing same-sex marriage” and “extended background checks to all gun sales.” NARAL, along with several other progressive groups, has endorsed Lipinski’s primary opponent, Marie Newman. Watch the ad here.

CANDIDATE PUSHBACK — McCready pens indictment of both parties: Democrat Dan McCready, who’s vying to challenge North Carolina Rep. Robert Pittenger, wrote an op-ed in the Charlotte Observer slamming both parties for their handling of sexual harassment cases. McCready directly went after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for using “moves from the Bill Clinton-era playbook, initially defending [Rep. John] Conyers instead of condemning sexual assault.” Read the op-ed here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I think it’s time for both of them to go,” New York Rep. Joe Crowley, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said of Sen. Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers on Thursday. Crowley is the highest-ranking Democrat to say both lawmakers should resign.

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Millennial Hopes Trumpism Is Winning Ticket

Ohio state Representative Christina Hagan is not even 30 yet, but she has already set her sights on becoming the Buckeye State’s youngest member of Congress on a Trumpist platform.

Hagan was the youngest person ever seated in the Ohio House of Representatives at 22 when she was appointed to the seat she still holds in 2011. Now she hopes to succeed Republican Rep. Jim Renacci, who is stepping down to run for governor, as the representative for Ohio’s 16th congressional district.

The 28-year-old Hagan is positioning herself as the candidate most closely-aligned with the president in the race. She recently spoke with The Daily Caller on how she lives up to that position.

“I come from the middle class, and I believe that the middle class elected Donald Trump to president,” she told TheDC in a phone interview. “The people in Washington that are there now have not looked out for the best interests of the middle class and lower income Americans. They have absolutely fought for the elite in this country, and as somebody who waited tables for 15 years, when I met President Donald Trump as a candidate, and he took the time to listen to me and discuss issues with me and realize I had a valuable story to tell as a young legislator I knew he wasn’t your average politician.”

“I think we have that in common,” she added, “and we both know and understand the policies, like illegal immigration — just allowing for immigrants to flow over our borders without any merit-based or any type of stringent policy, we know that that is a hindrance to the middle class.”

Immigration is one of the key issues associated with Trump, and Hagan fully supports the White House-backed RAISE Act, which aims to reduce legal immigration and make it more merit-based.

“The RAISE Act is necessary immediately in my opinion. It’s only prudent to reform our legal immigration system and ensure that there is a merit-base for how we’re bringing people into the United States. They should be helping us to contribute to our economy and not displacing middle-class Americans,” the congressional hopeful said.

On the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that Trump has ended and sent to Congress for a legislative solution, Hagan appeared open to the idea of Republicans compromising on but insisted “amnesty is not the solution because people have broken our laws.”

Hagan argues that Congress’s biggest problem is “they are 100% out of touch with the average person. They respond only to the big dollar donors that send them there.”

“The American people sent a message loud and clear that they wanted change. That they wanted the power restored to the people,” she continued. “The same men and women that were sent to get the job done are absolutely falling flat on their faces to help the president accomplish this.”

On foreign policy, Hagan, who was recently endorsed by former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka, strongly echoes the non-interventionist stances the president expressed during the 2016 campaign.

“When we are failing our foster children and we have hundreds of thousands of children in our care at the state because of an opioid epidemic, and we’re spending globally to democratize nations that have no interest in being democratized, we are simply robbing from the people in our country who need us most,” the Republican told TheDC.

As a specific policy, she supports withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan, saying, “There is no reason for us to be sending men and women into this hostile zone any longer.”

The young state representative isn’t the only Republican candidate in the field to be the next congressman of the 16th district. One candidate who is attracting a fair amount of attention is former NFL player Anthony Gonzalez. Gonzalez has attracted the support of powerful players in the Ohio GOP, as well as that of retired football star Peyton Manning and Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.

Hagan says she isn’t fazed by this challenge, claiming it just bolsters her anti-establishment credentials among the contenders.

“Anthony has ran plays on the field. I have actually fought and debated on behalf of my constituents and the legislature, so I’ve already been up against the establishment, and I’ve been fighting them since day one. So these guys that are getting in the race, they have an idea about Washington being broken, but they’ve never experienced it,” she said.

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Venezuela detains Ramirez relative in Andorra corruption probe

FILE PHOTO – Venezuela’s Chief Prosecutor Tarek William Saab talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

December 1, 2017

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s state prosecutor Tarek Saab said on Friday night that Diego Salazar, a relative of former oil czar Rafael Ramirez, had been detained as part of an investigation into a corruption scandal involving Andorra.

(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Chris Reese)

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POLITICO Playbook: TAX DEBATE scheduled to resume at 11 a.m.

Scientists identify remains of 88 Argentine soldiers on Falklands

Argentine Falklands War veterans visit Darwin cemetery, where Argentine soldiers who died during the war were buried, in the Falkland Islands, March 12, 2012. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

December 1, 2017

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Forensic scientists have identified the remains of 88 Argentine soldiers buried in anonymous graves on the Falkland Islands after the country’s 1982 conflict with Britain, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday.

The results were presented to Argentine and British delegations, and Argentine authorities would inform the families of the soldiers “directly and confidentially,” the ICRC said in a statement.

There are 123 graves marked ‘Argentine soldier only known to God’ in the Darwin Cemetery in the South Atlantic, one of which contains multiple bodies. The ICRC has been interviewing families of dead Argentine soldiers since 2012 and around 100 have consented to DNA testing.

In Britain’s two-month-long war to reclaim the Falklands, which Argentines still call the Malvinas, 255 British troops and about 650 Argentine soldiers died. While the South American country still claims the islands, President Mauricio Macri has adopted a softer tone than his predecessor Cristina Fernandez.

The two countries signed an agreement last December to try to identify the soldiers and split the $1.5 million costs. The team of ICRC forensic scientists, along with two experts each from Argentina and Britain, began their efforts in June.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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How A College QB Became Trump’s Body Man

A former college quarterback who became famous in the sports world for a miraculous Youtube trick shot video now serves as a close confidant and body man for President Donald Trump.

John McEntee, 27, joined Trump’s campaign on the ground floor as a volunteer but quickly ingratiated himself with the staff and Trump himself, developing a reputation as a team player willing to do any job. The University of Connecticut alumni worked briefly as a production assistant at Fox News before sending numerous emails to the Trump campaign offering his services free of charge.

“Johnny got it,” former Trump campaign chairman Corey Lewandowski told Politico Magazine. “Whatever we needed, it didn’t matter: He was on it.”

Despite the fact that he’s been in Trump’s inner circle for roughly two years, McEntee has managed to maintain an extremely low profile, often appearing in photos with Trump in which all parties are named in the caption except for him. In a testament to his low profile, he was misidentified in a CNN article about Trump’s first 10 months in office.

McEntee, who has very intimate access to the president of any White House staffer, has established himself as a loyal confidant, refusing to share details of his job with family members.

“He literally loves the president. Not even to me, he would never say anything negative, not in a million years,” his father, John, said. “He loves the president and that family. Jared and Ivanka, too.”

McEntee, who started one season for UConn, made a name for himself with a trick shot video featuring blindfolded throws and spectacular long range tosses from stadium nosebleed seats into garbage cans placed on the field. The video has 7 million views and gained the attention of NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

While Trump and McEntee often discuss sports during rare moments of down time, McEntee has characteristically avoided bringing up his trick shot video.

“I thought for sure, because it was so cool, they would have,” discussed the video, McEntee’s father said. “But he never brought it up. That’s Johnny.”

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Too cold for a theme park, Disney looks to toy stores in Russia

Children pose for a photo at the first Disney store opened on in Moscow, Russia December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

December 1, 2017

By Maria Kiselyova and Olga Sichkar

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Though too cold for a theme park, Russia’s underserved toy market makes it an attractive business prospect for Walt Disney Co <DIS.N>, the head of its Russian operations said on Friday.

Opening the U.S. group’s first toy store in the country, Marina Zhigalova-Ozkan said it planned at least five more, and was working with local manufacturers to keep prices competitive.

“We think that in Russia there aren’t too many toy shops … and we thought it would be interesting and complementary to what already exists in the market to open our own branded stores together with partners,” she said in an interview.

The new outlet occupies around 300 square meters in the central Moscow children’s department store, alongside British toy retailer Hamleys, which opened two years ago. Three more Disney stores are planned for Moscow, one in St Petersburg and one in Russia’s south this and next year, Zhigalova-Ozkan said.

Disney has teamed up with Russian company Ideas4Retail, which will run the stores and pay a royalty fee to Disney, with the two working together on product range and pricing.

Ideas4Retail also works with Hamleys as well as children-focused brands Imaginarium and Mamas & Papas in Russia.

Unlike Disney stores elsewhere, which also sell clothing and decor, shops in Russia will only sell toys and will represent the Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel franchises.

Disney’s current Russian business focuses on distributing and producing cartoons and movies, and licensing its brands for use on a wide range of consumer goods and in digital content.

It also has a joint venture with Russian company UTH, which owns Disney Channel in the country.

Merchandise for the stores will be supplied by local manufacturers with licensing agreements with Disney, while some will be imported from other countries. Disney has around 300 licensees in Russia, of which 136 manufacture goods in Russia.

Zhigalova-Ozkan said the company had been focusing on localizing production in recent years, and had stepped this up after the rouble fell sharply at the end of 2014.

“Because of the (exchange) rate differences many of the products that we were bringing in became out of reach for the Russian consumer,” she said.

“We have expanded the number of goods we sell at mid prices. We realize that the average spent may be lower but demand for children’s goods does not decline. Children want toys anyway.”

However, Disney has no plans for a theme park in Russia.

“Sadly, it’s cold in Russia. A theme park should work 12 months in a year. And in terms of number of people in Russia unfortunately it’s not very efficient,” Zhigalova-Ozkan said.

Disney does not break down its business figures by countries.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Olga Sichkar; Editing by Mark Potter)

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