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DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: COLLINS “GROUSED” ABOUT WHATCHANGEDSUSAN.COM—MCSALLY CAUGHT ON TAPE: “WE PRAY” STRUGGLING CAMPAIGN GETS HELP—GARDNER “MUM”

DSCC LAUNCHED WHATCHANGEDSUSAN.COM. SENATOR COLLINS DIDN’T LIKE IT. 

A new website we launched this week – WhatChangedSusan.com – features Senator Collins *in her own words* on impeachment in 1999 and now. Spoiler: She refuses to live up to the standards she set then and is siding with Mitch McConnell’s proposal to move forward without any “commitment to calling witnesses or admitting new evidence.” 

Senator Collins didn’t like the website and actually pointed to it as a reason why she will not demand witnesses or evidence. From Politico

“I don’t think Chuck Schumer is very interested in my opinion since he’s just launched a website in Maine and just committed an additional $700,000 in additional negative advertising from the Majority Forward PAC,” Collins groused about Democrats’ drive to deny her a fifth term in November.

MCSALLY CAUGHT ON TAPE: “WE PRAY” STRUGGLING CAMPAIGN GETS OUTSIDE HELP. Unelected Senator Martha McSally was caught on tape pleading for outside groups to start spending money in Arizona and lie about her toxic record of voting to tear down the health care law and its protections for pre-existing conditions. In the audio, McSally said: “We need close air support to show up. There’s outside groups… we pray for them every day. We need conservative outside groups… [to] start muddying up the landscape.” Read more: 

FRONT PAGE NEWS: GARDNER “MUM,” DUCKS AND DODGES ON TRUMP AND IMPEACHMENT. Senator Cory Gardner continues to do what he does best: avoid his constituents and refuse to answer questions from reporters. The Denver Post published a front page story on Gardner’s months-long silence on the upcoming impeachment proceedings and his refusal to commit to a fair trial or answer basic questions about the president’s conduct.

POLLING: “VOTERS WANT TO SEE MORE WITNESSES.” Every single vulnerable Senate Republican is siding with McConnell to support a sham process that does not include any “commitment to calling witnesses or admitting new evidence.” That’s despite the fact that new polling this week shows voters — including many Republicans and independents in battlegrounds like Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and North Carolina — want to see a fair hearing with more witnesses.

FIRST WEEK FLOP: LOEFFLER’S ETHICAL ENTANGLEMENTS GROW. Kelly Loeffler’s temporary appointment in the U.S. Senate is already running into trouble as she faced scrutiny for being assigned to the committee that oversees the regulator of her husband’s company. With this new committee assignment creating more “cause for concern,” Loeffler keeps adding to her growing list of ethical conflicts of interest.

ANOTHER WEEK, MORE SILENCE FROM JOHN JAMES. The failed Senate candidate once again refused to come out of hiding to tell Michiganders where he stands. This time, it was his refusal to comment on the conflict in Iran.

  • MLive: “The campaign for… John James, did not respond to a request for comment on the situation in Iran Thursday.”
  • FOX 2 Detroit: “FOX 2 reached out to [John James’] campaign to get his response to the conflict in Iran but were told he was not available.”

FUNDRAISING ROUNDUP

IA – Iowa Starting Line: IA-Sen: Greenfield Raises Record-Breaking Numbers In Q4

  • “Democrat Theresa Greenfield raised more money in the last off-year fundraising quarter than any previous Iowa U.S. Senate challenger… raised more than $1.6 million between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31. The campaign ended the fourth quarter with more than $2.1 million in cash-on-hand. It was the second time in 2019 the campaign topped $1 million raised in a quarter, bringing in $1,113,761 in Q3.”

KS – Kansas City Star: Kansas Democrat Bollier raises more than $1 million; Senate race heats up without Pompeo

  • “Democrat Barbara Bollier’s campaign announced Tuesday it raised more than $1.1 million in the final three months of 2019, a record for a Kansas Democrat and a signal that the party leaders regard the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Pat Roberts as in play.”

MI – Michigan Advance: Peters raises $2.5M in 4Q, has $8M in the bank

  • “Freshman U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.), who Republicans are heavily targeting in this year’s election, says he has a record amount of cash on hand going into 2020.”

NC – Raleigh News & Observer: A big fundraising quarter for Democrat who wants to take on Tillis in NC Senate race

  • “Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham will report raising $1.6 million in the final three months of 2019, far outpacing what North Carolina’s last two Senate challengers raised in the same time period of their races. Cunningham, a former state senator and Army veteran, has raised $3.1 million since entering the race in June.”

SC – Post & Courier: SC Democrat continues record-breaking fundraising against Lindsey Graham with $3.5M

  • “Democrat Jaime Harrison raised more campaign funds for his underdog bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham over the last three months of 2019 than any candidate has brought in for a single quarter in South Carolina history. The intake even topped the record Graham himself set in the previous quarter.”

MEMO: DSCC LEADS PUSH TO PROTECT VOTING RIGHTS. The DSCC and DCCC released a memo Wednesday detailing their legal work with other key partners to protect the integrity of American elections and expand the right to vote to young people, communities of color, and rural voters in key battleground states. The DSCC and DCCC have invested millions of dollars in legal efforts in Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas to counteract arbitrary partisan advantage, end obvious voter suppression, and expand access to the ballot. Read the full memo on this eight-figure investment here.

IN THE STATES

AZ – The Hill: Poll: Democrat Mark Kelly leads incumbent McSally in Arizona Senate race

  • “Democratic candidate Mark Kelly is leading Republican Sen. Martha McSally among Arizona voters, according to a new poll. Kelly, a former astronaut and U.S. Navy captain, has a 4-point lead over the incumbent Republican, according to a poll by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling.”

CO – AP: On impeachment, pressure on Colorado senator is from right

  • “Gardner has carefully limited his statements on impeachment, sparking headlines in October when he refused to say that a politician should not solicit foreign help in an election. The dodge includes a defense of the president, suggesting Trump is the victim of partisanship.”

CO – 9News: Gardner defends Trump administration’s Iran explanation (VIDEO)

  • “Some GOP senators criticized the Trump administration’s briefing on Iran and Soleimani’s death. Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner is not one of them.”

GA – Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “A pair of polls… point to challenges ahead for Georgia’s new U.S. senator”

  • “A Mason-Dixon poll found no consensus on Gov. Brian Kemp’s pick of Kelly Loeffler for the vaunted seat… A survey of Republican voters by Public Policy Polling dug a little deeper… In a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, the Gainesville congressman [Doug Collins] bested Loeffler by a 56-16% margin.”

ME – TPM: Collins Takes McConnell Line On Impeachment Trial

  • “Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) would not say on Monday whether she supported sending a subpoena to former National Security Advisor John Bolton in the upcoming impeachment trial of President Trump.”

NC – Charlotte Observer (Editorial): Thom Tillis’ birthday blunder embarrasses NC

  • “Do voters want a U.S. senator who understands that it is sometimes his or her uncomfortable duty to question a president, especially one who so regularly threatens constitutional boundaries and historical norms? Or do we want a senator so consumed with currying favor from Donald Trump that he embarrasses himself and the state he represents?”

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Lauren Passalacqua
@laurenvpass

Stewart Boss
@stew_boss

Izzi Levy
@chevytothe_levy

Regina Anderson
@reginasopinion

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What They’re Saying: “Purely Political” Senator Collins Now Taking “McConnell Line” On Impeachment Trial Without Witnesses

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