MCCONNELL ON HR 1. WP. “From the First Amendment to your ballot box, Democrats want to rewrite the rules to favor themselves and their friends. Upending the FEC, squeezing taxpayers, attacking privacy and jeopardizing our elections are a price they’ll happily pay for this partisan power grab.”

WHAT DOES HAPPEN TO THE MONEY? KFOX. “A KFOX14 viewer named Perla sent me this question: ‘What happens to all the money that candidates raise during political campaigns?'”

SMALL DONORS RISING. WSJ. “Grass-roots support has taken on such importance in Democratic politics that for the first time the Democratic National Committee expects to include some kind of small-money metric in its debate qualifications, though precise rules haven’t been set, party officials have said….”

SKADDEN SETTLES. ST. “A law firm tied to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s international consulting work has agreed to pay $4.6 million and register as a foreign agent.” More in the DOJ Release.

LATEST ON COLLUSION ALLEGATIONS. POL. “Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, said Wednesday night that there could have been ‘collusion’ between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials, but if it did happen, Trump didn’t do it.”

CA: FUNDS REMAIN. SB. “Gov. Jerry Brown is leaving, but he has plenty of political money to take with him. He’s sitting on $15 million in his campaign account.”

MT: LIMITS SURVIVE. MS. “Eight years of litigation to abolish Montana’s campaign contribution limits ended Monday with two words from the U.S. Supreme Court: certiorari denied.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.