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DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: RICK SCOTT FLUSTERED OVER FLAWED CANDIDATES – DEMS HIT ROJO OUT THE GATE – PA DOCTORS REJECT OZ

LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER – NRSC CHAIR RICK SCOTT FLOUNDERS WHEN PRESSED ON FLAWED GOP SENATE CANDIDATES. News coverage panned Rick Scott’s disastrous interview with CBS Face The Nation host Margaret Brennan – highlighting how he “completely cowered when asked if he would personally hire” the GOP’s “scandal-plagued” Senate nominees and that “even he can’t make a positive case for his candidates.”

… AND IF IT’S A DAY THAT ENDS IN Y, YOU CAN BE SURE GOP SENATE CANDIDATES ARE FACING BRUTAL PRESS COVERAGE.  Flawed GOP Senate Candidates continue to face a barrage of negative news coverage highlighting how their vulnerabilities and out of touch positions will be front and center in Senate campaigns from now until November.

  • Washington Examiner: Trump-backed candidates stumble out of the gate, raising Democratic hopes for November. “‘We are just beginning to communicate about the deep flaws that their roster of candidates brings to these races,’ said David Bergstein, the spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. ‘Their personal and political vulnerabilities are going to continue to be a centerpiece of these Senate campaigns in the months ahead.’”
  • Wall Street Journal (Opinion): The Not Ready for Prime Time Republicans. “The party’s nominees for Senate in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania have never held elective office. Nor has its likely candidate in New Hampshire… As it stands this diet of dilettantes does not look promising.”
  • New York Times: How a New Class of Republicans Could Push America to the Right.Across a range of policy issues, including abortion, climate change, same-sex marriage and education, Trump’s MAGA warriors have taken positions that put them on the fringes of the Republican Party — let alone the nation as a whole.”

RO-JO & RUBIO “IN FAVOR OF EXPENSIVE INSULIN.” Senate Republicans like Ron Johnson and Marco Rubio voted to block the “cap on insulin costs for millions of patients” – and were “immediately attacked” for siding with Big Pharma.

  • MSNBC: Senate Republicans derail insulin price cap for many consumers. “Among the 43 were quite a few senators who are up for re-election this year, including Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, Florida’s Marco Rubio, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, and Utah’s Mike Lee — each of whom could’ve done the popular thing to help consumers, but they chose not to.”
  • Axios: Drug prices could give Democrats a midterms lifeline. “Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), talked about the prescription drug provisions and how it will lower costs for Medicare patients and consumers at an event with the AARP in New Hampshire on Tuesday.”

GAME ON, RONJOHN – DEMOCRATS CHARGE OUT THE GATE WITH AD CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHNSON. Democrats are “charging out the gate with ads targeting Ron Johnson” as “an out-of-touch politician” – hitting him hard on his “votes for Trump-era tax breaks and opposition to abortion rights” and ensuring voters know that “the businessman who promised change in 2010 has instead hurt Wisconsin by becoming part of the Washington establishment.”

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… IF YOU THOUGHT THE ADS WERE BLISTERING, WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE ROJO’S NEWS COVERAGE. Johnson stumbled into the general election dogged by  a wave of bad stories after he proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare and voted against lower insulin costs.

  • The Cap Times: Ron Johnson didn’t subpoena a drug manufacturer. Then it donated to his campaign. “Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, while serving as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in 2018, declined to subpoena Teva Pharmaceuticals as part of a Democrat-led investigation of the drugmaker’s role in the opioid epidemic. In the months to follow, Teva would donate to both Johnson’s campaign and an affiliated PAC.”

DOC HOLLYWOOD AND HIS VERY OWN EMERALD CITY. $50,000: That’s the annual tax break Republican Mehmet Oz is receiving on his $3.1 million home in Pennsylvania — which he’s still not living in.

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW – PA DOCTORS SLAM OZ AS A QUACK & A FRAUD. Pennsylvania doctors slammed Mehmet Oz “for promoting dubious medical treatments during his years as a celebrity physician on daytime television” – calling him “a fraud,” a “threat to public health,” and “the wrong prescription for Pennsylvania.”

Reporter: In Philadelphia today, doctors rallying against the famous doctor in Pennsylvania’s Senate race. Arkoosh: Dr. Oz is a fraud. Reporter: The Fetterman campaign organizing this event focused on their Republican opponent.

→ MUST READ: DEADLINE: ‘DOC HOLLYWOOD’: IN A TWIST, DEMOCRATS ATTACK A SENATE CANDIDATE, MEHMET OZ, FOR HIS SHOWBIZ TIES.

→ ICYMI: AMERICAN INDEPENDENT: MEHMET OZ FLOATS BIZARRE IDEA TO FORCE VETERANS INTO PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGES

CRUDE LIKE OIL – LAXALT PUSHES BIG OIL TALKING POINTS. New reporting from the Nevada Independent shows that Laxalt went on to spread doubts about the impact of climate change, echoing Big Oil talking points used to protect the industry, while he has personally made millions working for a longtime DC lobbyist at a firm that represents Chevron and Shell.

RENO POLICE CHIEF CROSSES AISLE TO SUPPORT CORTEZ MASTO – “NO ONE HAS DONE MORE THAN CATHERINE.” Senator Cortez Masto continues to earn the support of a broad and impressive coalition of Nevadans.

  • Reno Gazette Journal: Reno Police Chief Jason Soto endorses Cortez Masto in tight Senate race. “Soto, a registered Republican… said it’s the first time he’s ever endorsed a Democrat. ‘While some politicians claim they stand with police, Catherine Cortez Masto shows her support of police through action,’ Soto said in the statement. ‘No one has done more than Catherine to support law enforcement in the Senate.’”

YOU ARE THE COMPANY YOU KEEP – BLAKE MASTERS CAUGHT CHATTING WITH WHITE NATIONALIST. Blake Masters upset his close friend this week – the white nationalist CEO of Gab – by lying about having never met him when in fact they had spoken at length.

  • Jewish Insider: Audio contradicts Blake Masters’ claim he ‘never heard of’ Gab CEO. “The Anti-Defamation League has described Gab — whose users have included the gunman who killed 11 people and wounded six at the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh — as ‘rife with white supremacist’ and ‘antisemitic bigotry.’ In an interview with MSNBC last month, Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, said Torba ‘is one of the most toxic people in public life right now.’”
  • Rolling Stone: Blake Masters Caught Lying About Anti-Semitic Backer: Audio. “The pair had an extended exchange earlier this year on Twitter Spaces, in which Torba explained in detail how Gab had been booted from mainstream app stores, and Masters expressed sympathy for the right-wing entrepreneur.”

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS

→ Senate Democrats Pass The Inflation Reduction Act To Address Working Families’ Most Pressing Priorities. Senate Democrats have taken a historic step to lower costs like prescription drug prices, tackle inflation, and address working families’ most pressing concerns. Every Republican voted against the bill because it holds Big Oil, Big Pharma, and corporations that have been jacking up prices accountable, and finally makes them pay their fair share.

IN THE STATES

AZ- Arizona Republic (Opinion): Blake Masters isn’t just moderating on issues. He’s done a full 180. “With the primary election over, Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters isn’t just moving to the center. He’s outright flipping on several key issues to try to win over moderate voters.”

CO – Colorado Newsline: Mitch McConnell thinks Joe O’Dea is perfect. “Yes, this is the same Mitch McConnell who is responsible for stealing seats on the Supreme Court to overturn abortion access. The same Mitch McConnnell who cut taxes for the rich, while keeping prescription drug costs high for the rest of the country. And the same Mitch McConnell who responded year after year to mass shootings, including the one at King Soopers in Boulder, by blocking common sense gun regulations.”

FL – Florida Bulldog: After All These Years, Marco Rubio Still Hasn’t Figured Out How To Comply With Federal Campaign Fundraising Laws. “Republican Marco Rubio, Florida’s senior U.S. senator, has been in office for more than a decade. You’d think by now he and his minions would have read, understood and complied with federal campaign fundraising law. Nope.”

GA – Atlanta Journal Constitution: Warnock highlights law to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. “U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is promoting his support for a new law that expands medical benefits for veterans who were exposed to toxic open-air burning pits of trash on U.S. military bases. The Democrat launched a TV ad Friday that features Adam Tomblin, a Marine Corps veteran who praises Warnock for backing legislation that expands benefits for servicemembers exposed to fires at military bases where chemicals, electronic equipment and other toxins were burned.”

NC – Charlotte Observer: Polls show a tightening Senate race in NC. Will Cheri Beasley’s strategy work?“With three months until election day and a tightening race, the Democratic nominee has spent the past several weeks criss-crossing North Carolina.”

NV – Reno Gazette Journal (Opinion): Anti-abortion politicians like Laxalt must stop pretending they won’t have any power if elected.“While its true that in Nevada the right to abortion is protected in state statute because of a voter referendum in the ‘90s, it is not something that Nevadans should take for granted. For one, last time we checked, Laxalt was running for a Senate race and a federal abortion ban and other prohibitive acts have the potential to supersede state law.”

NH – Manchester Ink Link: Hassan joins local advocates in touting Inflation Reduction Act’s passage. “On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) held a press conference at Amoskeag Health with local healthcare advocates, medical professionals and area residents impacted by pharmaceutical costs to celebrate the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last weekend by the U.S. Senate.”

OH – Columbus Dispatch (Opinion): Don’t fall for fake ‘outsider.’ Vance using Ohio to make himself bigger. “He’s clearly using our state to make himself even bigger than he already is. If he’s an outsider, then he’s an outsider of Ohio, not of the gamesmanship and elitism that he pretends to criticize.”

WI – UpNorthNews: Rural Wisconsin Is Still Coping with Postal Service Slowdowns and Cutbacks Supported by Ron Johnson.“When Tina Pohlman of La Crosse has to send important documents to a colleague in California, Sen. Ron Johnson isn’t far from her mind—and not in any kind of good way. She holds him responsible for supporting cuts and slowdowns at the US Postal Service (USPS) that have impacted her efforts to raise funds for medical research.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK

David Bergstein
@DavidABergstein

Amanda Sherman
@asherman89

Pat Burgwinkle
@Burgwinkle

Nora Keefe
@norakatekeefe

Freedom Murphy
@F_AlexanderM

Eli Cousin
@elicousin

Claire Berry
@claireliseberry

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