Evan Bayh visits Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

THE BIG IDEA: One of the many reasons that so many of his Democratic colleagues did not like Evan Bayh during his tenure in the Senate was his excessive caution. The hyper-ambitious, always-privileged and ever-calculating son of a senator long dreamed of becoming president, and he represented a conservative-leaning state. So he was perennially nervous about taking tough votes or courageous stands. He often seemed to waffle and have his finger in the wind. As it started to become clear that Democrats would get buffeted by rough electoral headwinds in 2010, Bayh announced his retirement.

Yesterday, though, we found out that the 60-year-old plans to try winning back the Senate seat that he gave up. Sources say he’ll make his announcement soon. The Democratic nominee, former Rep. Baron Hill, has already withdrawn to clear the field for him. The surprise comes after Bayh rejected years of entreaties from leaders in his party.

Considering his disposition, the decision to jump into the race in July speaks volumes about the growing confidence on the left that Democrats are going to have a red-letter year in congressional elections because of Donald Trump.

It’s all the more remarkable because Indiana has trended red since Barack Obama carried it in 2008, and the Republican establishment got Todd Young—its favored, more moderate choice—out of a competitive primary. (The GOP incumbent, Dan Coats, is retiring.) Before yesterday, Indiana was considered a pretty safe Republican hold. Responding to the Bayh news, the Cook Political Report changed its rating to “toss-up.” Strategists in both parties agree he is the only Democrat who could beat Young.

-- Bigger picture, Bayh getting in the race significantly increases the likelihood Democrats will pick up the four seats needed to regain control of the upper chamber. (They need five if Trump is elected.)

-- This is a coup for Chuck Schumer, who will succeed Harry Reid as Democratic leader. We don’t know what the New York senator promised to entice his old friend, who he was elected with in 1998, but we do know that Bayh would be the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee had he stuck around. (Another factor: Bayh still has $9.3 million cash left in his campaign account from his previous races. Young has $1.2 million.)

-- On the other side, many Senate Republicans increasingly believe they can distance themselves enough from Trump to survive. Marco Rubio, another hyper-ambitious and ever-calculating politician, knows that the GOP will probably have a bad year, but he decided to jump back into the Florida Senate race anyway, judging that he could effectively run as a check-and-balance on Trump and Hillary Clinton.

-- Bayh is so confident that Trump is toxic for Republicans that he’s willing to put up with months of attacks over his fancy lifestyle in D.C. and work for special interests on K Street. “In the spring of 2015 Bayh purchased his second home in Washington, a $2.9 million Georgetown six-bedroom home that he described as his way of ‘downsizing,’” Paul Kane notes. The AP notes that he bought a $3.9 million oceanfront condo in Florida in 2013.

-- Flashback: The media pilloried Bayh for rank hypocrisy as he cashed in after leaving office. Here are two classics of the genre from March 2011:

• “The sad, hypocritical retirement of Evan Bayh,” by Ezra Klein on Wonkblog
• “Dudley Do-Right does well,” by Alexander Burns in Politico

As today’s Huffington Post puts it: “Corporate Lobbyist Jumps Into Senate Race To Replace Retiring Lobbyist. And it’s good news for Democrats.”

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

Hillary Clinton checks her mobile phone in London before a March 2011 event. (Stefan Rousseau/Reuters File)

-- Republican Reps. Jason Chaffetz and Bob Goodlatte formally requested that the U.S. Attorney for the District investigate whether Hillary Clinton perjured herself during congressional testimony about her use of a private email server. From Matt Zapotosky: In a letter, the chairmen of the Oversight and Judiciary committees “assert that evidence collected by the FBI during its investigation involving Clinton’s email practices ‘appears to directly contradict several aspects of her sworn testimony’ and asks federal authorities to ‘investigate and determine whether to prosecute Secretary Clinton for violating statutes that prohibit perjury and false statements to Congress, or any other relevant statutes.’” The letter comes ahead of today's appearance by Attorney General Loretta Lynch before the House Judiciary Committee.

-- Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, meanwhile, slapped down Paul Ryan’s request to deny Clinton classified security briefings. “I do not intend to withhold briefings from any officially nominated, eligible candidate,” he wrote the Speaker, per the Wall Street Journal’s Damian Paletta.

Protesters in the Philippines throw flowers while chanting anti-Chinese slogans during a rally in Manila a few minutes ago. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

-- An international tribunal has ruled that China does not have historic rights to justify its expansive claims to the South China Sea, a major blow to Beijing. From Simon Denyer and Emily Rauhala: “China has repeatedly made it clear it will not accept, recognize nor implement Tuesday’s ruling on the South China Sea, the hotly contested waterway that contains some of the world’s busiest shipping routes. But the verdict, which came in strongly in favor of the Philippines and against China, will nevertheless undermine its claim to sovereignty under the nine-dash line which it draws around most of the South China Sea. The United States has been leading international calls for China to respect the tribunal’s decision, and the issue has become a key test of its ability to maintain its leading role in Asian security in the face of China’s rising power."

-- At least 12 were killed and dozens more injured after two passenger trains collided head-on in southern Italy. The two trains were on a single-line track at the time of the crash, which occurred in Puglia. Italy's prime minister called the train crash "a moment of tears" and vowed to investigate the cause until blame is assigned. (AP)

Ash Carter walks with Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi into the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad on Monday. (AP Photo)

GET SMART FAST:​​

1. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the U.S. will send an additional 560 troops into Iraq. (Dan Lamothe and Loveday Morris)
2. House and Senate Republicans are demanding that the administration request additional funding to pay for the deployment, arguing that the president cannot conduct the operation without seeking an appropriation from Congress. (Karoun Demirjian)
3. Scientists have identified a second U.S. patient infected with bacteria that is “resistant to antibiotics of last resort.” Researchers said the new case involves a patient in New York, who is believed to have contacted the superbug more than a year ago. (Lena H. Sun)
4. Two bailiffs were killed and a deputy sheriff wounded at a Michigan courthouse, after an inmate who was being transferred out of a jail cell grabbed a gun and opened fire. The prisoner was being held for “severe felony charges” but did not appear to be handcuffed at the time of the attack. (Mark Guarino, Mark Berman and Elahe Izadi)
5. A New York man was sentenced to 24 months in prison for his role in a computer hacking group that targeted celebrities and other prominent figures. The 22-year-old was convicted of placing at least 20 fake 911 calls to draw SWAT teams to the doors of prominent figures, including CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre, a federal cybercrime prosecutor in Massachusetts and members of Congress. (Spencer S. Hsu)
6. The U.S. transferred two Guantanamo detainees to Serbia, the first such resettlement to the Balkan nation. (Missy Ryan)
7. Two sets of siblings appeared in court over accusations that include plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy in South African and “various” Jewish institutions in the country. The four allegedly planned to fly to Syria for training before returning to carry out the terrorist attacks. (AP)
8. Iran has indicted three dual-national prisoners over the last two weeks, including a U.S. businessman and a Lebanese citizen on contract for the U.S. State Department. The regime has not disclosed the charges.(Carol Morello)
9. Anti-Muslim views have risen in Europe over the past year. A Pew Research Center poll finds that unfavorable views of Muslims spiked at least seven points in Britain, Spain and Italy, and by 12 points in Greece. Six in 10 across the surveyed countries said an increase in refugees would “increase the likelihood of terrorism” in their country. (Adam Taylor)
10. Egypt's president sent his foreign minister to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stoking speculation that long-tabled peace talks between Israel and Palestine could finally be moving forward. (William Booth and Ruth Eglash)
11. Israel passed a controversial law that increases regulations on many human rights organizations, targeting groups that receive more than half of their funding from foreign governments or political organizations. The law is expected to effect liberal groups almost exclusively, since many hawkish groups are backed by individual donors and therefore exempt. (AP)
12. Pope Francis appointed former Fox News correspondent Greg Burke to serve as his chief spokesman and director of the Vatican press office, the first American to hold that role. The pope also appointed a Spanish journalist to serve as deputy spokesperson, the highest spot a woman has held in the church’s communications power structure. (Michelle Boorstein)
13. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written a book arguing that his cousin Michael Skakel was “framed” and did not actually kill Martha Moxley in 1975. (People Magazine)
14. A classmate of 43 Mexican students who disappeared in 2014 “had been tortured” before his body was found the following day. A new autopsy determined that the 22-year-old student suffered 64 fractures in 40 bones and likely died of brain injuries. (AP)
15. Starbucks announced it will give pay increases of at least 5 percent to all of its U.S. workers and managers. The move is aimed at limiting attrition in a steadily improving labor market. (Sarah Halzack)
16. A CEO in Seattle who set a minimum salary of $70,000 for all his employees won a lawsuit, filed by his brother, that challenged the arrangement. (New York Times)

Dallas Police Chief David Brown speaks to reporters yesterday. (Photo by Stewart F. House/Getty Images)

THE LONG, HOT SUMMER OF DISCORD AND DISCONTENT DRAGS ON:

-- “The emotional aftershocks from the nation’s recent spate of fatal shootings by and of police intensified Monday, with the Dallas police chief revealing that he and his family have received death threats ever since a gunman killed five officers there last week,” Jerry Markon, Keith L. Alexander and Mark Berman report. “On the eve of [today's] memorial service for those slain officers, Chief David Brown turned highly personal at a news briefing, speaking of the toll the violence is taking on his department. ‘We’re all on edge,’ he said. ‘My brain is fried. I’m running on fumes … We’re asking cops to do too much in this country.’” Both President Obama and former President George W. Bush will speak at the memorial.

• “Brown said he and other officers were frustrated by what police are being forced to do while lawmakers fail to seek solutions to the country’s violence. While he called for laws and policies that could make people safer, Brown did not specify what he supports, other than to say that ‘something on guns’ has to be done. [He] later leveled a direct challenge to demonstrators: ‘We’re hiring. Get off that protest line and put an application in.’” (Brady Dennis, Mark Berman and Elahe Izadi)
• The chief also said nine police officers were injured due to the Dallas gunfire — two more than police had previously disclosed. A total of 13 officers used force against the gunman, he said.
• The cop killer's parents broke their public silence in an interview with the Blaze, saying Micah Xavier Johnson's behavior changed after he was discharged from the Army in 2015. “Delphine Johnson said her son had previously been fun-loving but became a ‘hermit’ after his six-year service, which included a deployment to Afghanistan. ‘The military was not what Micah thought it would be,’ Delphine Johnson said. ‘He was very disappointed. ... He wanted to protect his country.’”

-- Four off-duty police officers who were providing security at a Minnesota Lynx game walked off the job last night, afterteam members warmed up in shirts with messages supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. The Minneapolis police union president praised their decision, and suggested other officers may do the same. (Des Bieler)

-- Detroit police arrested four people who praised the actions of the Dallas gunman on Facebook, accusing them of threatening to kill police officers. (The Detroit News)

-- Obama met for nearly two hours with leaders of eight law enforcement groups yesterday. Juliet Eilperin reports that he told them he considers the killing of the five cops in Dallas “a hate crime” and promised that he would “work actively to serve as an intermediary between minority activists and police. “‘I’m your best hope,’ Obama remarked at one point, according to the Fraternal Order of Police’s James O. Pasco. Another attendee, the National Association of Police Organizations’ executive director, William Johnson, last week accused Obama of being ‘the Neville Chamberlain’ in the ‘war on cops’ that is underway in America. The president took on that criticism directly, Johnson said, saying he was not encouraging violence against law enforcement and had publicly criticized anyone who encouraged such action over the weekend while he was traveling in Spain.”

With just six months left in office and a decentralized U.S. policing system, there is little Obama can do legislatively to change the way law enforcement operates, Juliet explains. “But as the shootings have raised questions about both police misconduct and the risks law enforcement officers face during protests, Obama is hoping to leverage his position to highlight them in ways that allow Americans, in his words, ‘to wrestle with these issues and try to come up with practical solutions.’”

-- Trump predicted more protest violence will come this summer: He told the AP in an interview after his Virginia Beach rally that relations between police and African Americans are “far worse” than most people think. He added that this weekend’s protests “might be just the beginning for this summer.” He also denounced the name of “Black Lives Matter” as “a very divisive term.” “When President Obama said the other day that he doesn’t think it’s as bad as people think, I think it’s far worse and certainly far worse than he believes it is,” Trump said. “We are in a divided nation. I looked two nights ago and you were having trouble in 11 different cities, big, big trouble. And the press actually plays it down.”

-- Baton Rouge police said they observed the butt of a gun in Alton Sterling’s front pants pocket and saw him “reach for it” before they opened fire, according to a newly-released affidavit. This is the first account from police on what happened before last week’s fatal shooting outside a convenience store, Elahe Izadi explains. Meanwhile, the Baton Rogue D.A. assigned to the case recused himself, citing his relationship with the parents of one of the officers involved in the shooting. State officials noted that the Justice Department has taken over the investigation, per Mark Berman.

-- A digital staffer at the Democratic National Committee, Seth Rich, was fatally shot in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of D.C. Police are looking into whether the 27-year-old might have been killed in an attempted robbery. (Peter Hermann and Clarence Williams)

Trump speaks to Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., in Virginia Beach. (AP/Steve Helber)

THE LATEST ON THE VEEPSTAKES:

-- Trump has narrowed his short list to just three names: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, sources tell Robert Costa and Philip Rucker. “Trump demonstrated an easy rapport with Gingrich on the campaign trail last week, leading close observers to think he would be the pick. But people close to Trump said that Christie and Pence’s stock has been rising as well."

-- Christie met privately with Trump’s vetting lawyer A.B. Culvahouse Jr. over the weekend to discuss his record in New Jersey, including the controversial bridge-closing scandal of 2013. A source described the session as an “informal interview” sand said it was the last part of Christie’s vetting. Campaigning with Trump in Virginia Beach yesterday, Christie “enthusiastically played the role of attack dog," ripping into Clinton and showing that he would bring law-and-order machismo to the Trump ticket. 

-- Trump heads to California on Wednesday for a string of fundraisers, and Friday is considered a possible date for a vice-presidential announcement, although advisers said Trump could reveal his choice at any point this week," per Costa and Rucker.

-- In an interview with The Fix’s Chris Cillizza, Trump all but ruled out Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, saying he is leaning toward a "political" pick rather than a "military" one. Trump was “careful not to eliminate Flynn,” but seems to feel as if he needs less help in the military/national security arena. “I have such great respect for the general, but believe it or not, that will be one of my strong suits,” he said. Trump also said he sees picking a political figure as the best way to unify the GOP ahead of the fall contest: “I don’t need two anti-establishment people,” Trump said. “Someone respected by the establishment and liked by the establishment would be good for unification.”

Trump cited “great chemistry” and a running-mate “who can help you win” as major factors in his selection process. Even so, he downplayed any influence his VP might have. "History has said nobody ever helps," said Trump, citing the selection of Lyndon Johnson as John F. Kennedy's running-mate as the last VP pick that truly mattered. "I've never seen anybody that’s helped."

-- Even as he appeared to move out of contention, Flynn flip-flopped on abortion to try staying in the mix: It’s funny how politics works – and how easily some people are willing to change their views on important issues in the pursuit of their ambition for power. After social conservatives said the retired general disqualified himself by outlining his support for a woman’s right to choose, he told Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin yesterday that he’s actually “a pro-life Democrat” after all. “This pro-choice issue is a legal issue that should be decided by the courts,” he said. “I believe in law. If people want to change the law, they should vote so that we can appoint pro-life judges. I believe the law should be changed.”

-- Could this be a way of letting Newt down gently? Bloomberg reports that, if Trump does not pick Gingrich, he would still put him in a top national security post. “A national-security role in a potential Trump administration could be a good fit for Gingrich,” Mark Halperin and two other reporters write. “He holds a doctorate in European history and is known for his intellectual curiosity. In Congress, he immersed himself in military affairs and intelligence issues, and in 2001 he was named by then-President George W. Bush to serve as a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board.”

-- Pence gets another tryout today. He will stump alongside Trump at an Indianapolis-area fundraiser. Ahead of that, two conservative thought leaders have pretty brutal takes about what he'd add to the ticket:

The Resurgent’s Erick Erickson, who “very much wanted” Pence to run for president in 2012, questions his effectiveness as a governor and his backbone to make courageous political decisions: “Pence would actually be the perfect vice presidential pick for Trump because he lacks the courage of his convictions and would absolutely not overshadow Trump. … He gives Trump the veneer of conservatism without anyone ever having to worry that he’d actually fight for those principles.”

National Review Editor Rich Lowry does not think he's up for what the #2 role would entail: “I understand the impulse for Trump to pick Pence — an experienced pol, in good standing with conservatives, and not much of a lightning rod … But Trump’s running-mate will have to be extremely deft at explaining away and deflecting Trump controversies. There is no reason to believe that Pence will be good at this, and I’m guessing he won’t be. Christie (comfortable at defending anything) and especially Newt (one of the most glib politicians of the last 30 years) would be much better by this metric. They both have downsides. No one will be excited by Christie, certainly not conservatives. Newt is famously ill-disciplined. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Trump team thinks it’s getting a safe choice in Pence and then when he inevitably has trouble defending Trump (he has never operated on this kind of national stage), it won’t look so safe anymore.”

Quicken Loans Arena is decorated to welcome the Republican National Convention. (Photo by Angelo Merendino/Getty Images)

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM:

-- Trump is “a distant presence” during the debate over the party's governing policy document in Cleveland, Ed O’Keefe, Dan Balz and David Weigel report. “The opening day saw delegates on one subcommittee modify draft language on trade, a key issue on which Trump has been at odds with years of Republican doctrine in favor of free-trade agreements. The change moved the party closer to its historical position. The draft also included opposition to a vote on the Trans Pacific Partnership for the duration of President Obama’s term. But that language was struck during a subcommittee meeting — a move that spared pro-TPP Republicans and also prevented Republicans from outflanking the Democrats on the left.” (More detail on the final trade language.)

-- Why isn't there more of a fight over Trumpism in the platform committee? 1) Trump doesn’t particularly care about policy. 2) His campaign is taking a hands-off approach to the platform process because they recognize it does not really matter. 3) Movement conservatives, especially evangelicals, are determined to show Trump has not hijacked the party from them in the long term.

-- The Republican Party maintained its long-standing opposition to same-sex marriage. The final version of the platform calls for rolling back the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing such unions: “Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society. . . . We do not accept the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal, whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states.”

-- D.C. delegate Rachel Hoff became the first openly-gay person to serve on the Republican platform Committee. “Facing overwhelming opposition and fighting back tears as she spoke to the committee, Ms. Hoff … offered an amendment of a few paragraphs to the Republican platform that would have encouraged a ‘thoughtful conversation’ within the party on same-sex marriage," the New York Times’s Jeremy Peters reports. "In the end, her amendment received only about 30 votes from the 112-member group.”

-- GOP officials also voted to reaffirm the party’s opposition to gay adoption and to add language supporting restrictions on transgender bathroom use. From the Huffington Post’s Igor Bobic: “The subcommittee decided to keep language in two separate amendments that calls for legislation to keep transgender people from using public restrooms that align with their gender identity ― a nod to over 200 bills targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals that were introduced in the 2016 legislative session nationwide.”

-- But, but, but: There will be a plank calling for a border wall, after all. “The Republican Party is set to give a formal endorsement to the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border espoused by Trump,” according to CNN’s Tal Kopan. “Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Amy Carnevale of Massachusetts…successfully petitioned to have the language in the draft platform given to delegates changed to include mention of a wall during subcommittee meetings Monday morning. After saying securing borders is of the ‘highest priority,’ the new language makes clear the party seeks a wall. ‘That is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protect if all ports of entry,’ the new language reads, according to Kobach. ‘The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.’ That was stronger and more in line with Trump's repeated calls for a wall than the version of the platform that was distributed to delegates as a jumping off point Sunday night.”

-- Rick Perry, meanwhile, says Trump’s proposal for a Mexican wall will actually be a “digital” or “technological” barrier, rather than a physical one: "There are some that hear this is going to be 1,200 miles from Brownsville to El Paso, 30 foot high, and listen, I know you can’t do that,” the former Texas governor told Peter Hamby on "Good Luck America."

-- Keep reading into the social media section for more color from the platform fight...

Hillary in Philadelphia (AP/Matt Rourke)

TODAY IS THE FINAL DAY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY RACE:

-- Bernie Sanders will deliver his formal endorsement of Clinton in Portsmouth, N.H., following a month of courting from his former rival. “But much remains unknown about how — and whether — the political marriage being unveiled will actually work," John Wagner and Abby Phillip report. "While they have a common enemy … Clinton and Sanders don’t have much of a personal or professional relationship. And many of their supporters remain deeply suspicious of the other candidate. Sanders diehards remain skeptical that Clinton ... will embrace the agenda of a candidate who promised a political revolution. And Clinton boosters are wary of a longtime independent who questioned Clinton’s judgment and was slow to accept defeat.”

Still, the reunion is a happy one and both will smile on stage: "Sanders supporters say the past month has been about ensuring that he can make a credible case that his 'revolution' will continue, though perhaps not at the same pace if he were the nominee. He can now promise, they say, that Clinton will carry the torch on key issues he championed during his surprisingly strong bid, including making college tuition free for many families and moving the country closer to universal health care. Clinton, meanwhile, can head into the Democratic convention in Philadelphia able to project an image of party unity, as she stands arm in arm with her sometimes pesky rival in the primaries.”

-- The Boston Globe notes that Sen. Jeanne Shaheen got booed by Bernie supporters the last time Clinton and Sanders shared a stage in the state, at a party function in the days before the February primary. She will warm up the crowd today, per James Pindell.

-- “A collection of Clinton’s top aides have also gone out of their way to personally speak with Sanders’ convention delegates,” Politico’s Gabriel Debenedetti reports. Campaign manager Robby “Mook sat down with the Vermont contingent during a late June trip to Burlington to meet with members of Sanders’ brain trust and negotiate his campaign wind-down. Elsewhere, some of the Clinton campaign’s more prominent local advocates have been dispatched to help out on the ground. In New Hampshire, for example, former state House Speaker Terie Norelli estimated she has held roughly two dozen one-on-one meetings with Sanders delegates and steering committee members.”

-- How the endorsement news is playing this morning:

• Two progressive groups that backed Sanders in the primaries formally endorsed Clinton: The Communications Workers of America and the Progressive Action PAC. (John Wagner and Abby Phillip)
• “Sanders Won By Waiting to Endorse Clinton” (Time Magazine’s Sam Frizell)
• “Sanders’s Philosophical Victory: He may have lost the Democratic nomination, but only in the narrowest of senses can his campaign be considered a failure.” (The New Yorker’s John Cassidy)
• “Sanders sells out” is the headline on an editorial in the conservative Union Leader (the Granite State’s biggest paper).

Not all the Berniecrats are happy:

FRESH POLLING:

-- A slight majority of Americans agree that racial discrimination is a “serious problem,” according to a fresh NBC/SurveyMonkey poll. In the wake of last week’s shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota, 52 percent of registered voters agreed that racial discrimination “is an extremely or very serious problem.” But how to respond is much more divisive: 45 percent approve of the Black Lives Matter movement, and 42 percent disapprove.

• Republicans and Democrats remain starkly divided on the issue: “An overwhelming majority of Republicans, 70 percent, disapprove of the movement and a similar number of Democrats, 73 percent, approve.” Independents are split.
• 53 percent said they are “confident” in Obama’s ability to make the right decisions on race relations in the country, while 47 percent said the same of Clinton. Six in ten voters said they are NOT confident in Trump’s ability.

-- Clinton leads Trump by 11 points among college-educated white voters, according to a Bloomberg Politics survey: She’s ahead 48 percent to 37 percent among the group, which Mitt Romney won in 2012 and Republicans have carried for decades.

• HRC leads 54-32 among ALL college-educated likely voters, scoring a much larger margin than Obama’s 2-point advantage in 2012. And her lead widens among voters with graduate degrees (61-27).
• The former secretary of state now trails Trump by just one point among college educated white men (42-41). Among white women, Clinton outpaces Trump 54-33.
• “The findings suggest Trump is struggling to even rebuild the losing coalition Romney assembled, although other polls show the presumptive 2016 Republican nominee doing better among white voters without college degrees than Romney did,” Bloomberg’s John McCormick writes.

-- An outlier: Clinton is struggling to make inroads among young voters, according to a GenForward survey of 18-to-30-year-olds. “The majority of the nation's younger blacks and Asian-Americans have a favorable impression of Clinton, but (she) struggles with whites and Hispanics. Just 26 percent of young whites and 49 percent of Hispanics have a positive opinion ... Both groups overwhelmingly say she is not trustworthy.” And she continues to generate lukewarm enthusiasm from young Sanders supporters: Among the younger bloc of voters who previously backed the Vermont senator, only half said they were planning on supporting Clinton in the general election. A quarter said they won't support Clinton, while nearly a quarter say they're not sure.

-- Clinton’s lead in NEVADA is narrower than previously assumed. She’s up just 45 percent to 41 percent in a Monmouth University poll. Both get about 9 in 10 self-identified members of their party, and independents split.

-- In FLORIDA, an internal poll conducted by the Republican firm OnMessage puts Trump ahead of Clinton by 2 points (47-45), which is within the margin of error. OnMessage reps Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio primary challenger Carlos Beruff.

MORE OF THE DAILY DONALD -- Three worthwhile stories:

-- Associated Press, “A lot of holes in GOP presidential ground game in key states,” by Steve Peoples and Julie Bykowicz: Reince Priebus and his RNC have delivered only a fraction of the ground forces promised to state leaders earlier in the year. “OHIO Republicans thought they were going to see 220 paid staffers by May; in reality there are about 50. Plans for PENNSYLVANIA called for 190 paid staffers; there are about 60. IOWA’S planned ground force of 66 by May actually numbers between 25 and 30. In COLORADO, recent staff departures have left about two dozen employees, far short of the 80 that were to have been in place.”

-- Wall Street Journal A1, “Trump Said Hillary Clinton Would ‘Make a Good President’ in 2008,” by Michael Rothfeld and Mark Maremont: “In the midst of the 2008 Democratic primary race, he said she would ‘make a good president’ and a lot of people thought pairing her with Barack Obama would be a ‘dream ticket.’ His kind words for Mrs. Clinton came in a previously unreported clip from ‘Trumped!,’ a syndicated radio feature that aired from 2004 to 2008. … On the radio feature, a little-known chapter in Mr. Trump’s media career, he presented his thoughts about everything from tattoos … to Michael Jackson’s child-molestation trial, in which he sided with the late pop star. In comments that presage recent controversies over Mr. Trump’s attitude toward women, he suggested in the radio commentaries that marriage made a pop star less sexy, expressed incredulity over a college chastity club and said he was surprised to hear that most women disapproved of one-night stands. ‘I thought today’s women were independent and had a lot of sexual freedom,’ he said in April 2006. ‘Well, I guess they fooled me.’” (Listen to clips from the radio show here.)

-- USA Today A1, “Trump, Bill Maher and Miss Pennsylvania: The ‘I’ll sue you’ effect,” by Nick Penzenstadler: “Say something bad about Trump and he will frequently threaten to go to court. ‘I’ll sue you’ was a Trump mantra long before ‘Build a wall.’ But an analysis of about 4,000 lawsuits filed by and against Trump and his companies shows that he rarely follows through with lawsuits over people’s words. He has won only one such case, and the ultimate disposition of that is in dispute. The Republican has threatened political ad-makers, a rapper, documentary filmmakers, a Palm Beach civic club’s newsletter and the Better Business Bureau for lowering its rating of Trump University. … He didn’t follow through with any of those, though he did sue comedian Bill Maher, over a single line in a 276-page book, and Miss Pennsylvania.” The paper found only six instances in which the Trump team has formally claimed someone libeled, slandered or defamed him, and a few other court cases where he used other legal avenues to fight what someone said about him. At least one Trump target filed a counter-claim for harassment and won.”

Windows at the Cleveland Cavaliers shop are decorated for the Republican National Convention.(Angelo Merendino/Getty)

THE GOP CONVENTION STARTS IN SIX DAYS:

-- An anti-Trump Republican delegate in Virginia scored a symbolic legal win, as a federal judge blocked the state from enforcing a law that would require him to vote for Trump. The decision is unlikely to have a practical impact on the convention, however, which is governed by official party rules. (Jenna Portnoy and Ed O'Keefe)

-- House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan will both speak in Cleveland. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) are also slated to get good speaking slots. “McCarthy's speech is expected to focus on the House GOP's ‘Better Way’ agenda and on building party unity," per Sean Sullivan and Paul Kane.

-- John Kasich is playing hard to get, which only makes Republican leaders want him more. “RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has pressed Kasich allies, even promising that donors will spring to aid Kasich's future endeavors if he cooperates now," CNN’s Sara Murray reports. "Trump's top aide, Paul Manafort, has touted their increasingly professional campaign operation in the hopes of winning over the Ohio governor. Even vice presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is joining the mix, lobbing a last minute plea to Kasich's team to get the governor to back Trump.” Kasich still has no plans to set foot inside the convention center, but has a “robust” schedule at events in the area." One Kasich adviser pegged the odds of him appearing at the convention "somewhere between zilch and zero."

-- Bracketing: On Monday, the opening day of the RNC, Hillary will address the NAACP convention in Cincinnati. The conference’s theme is “Our Lives Matter, Our Votes Count.”

Theresa May celebrates with supporters and MPs from her party outside Parliament in London. (Jack Taylor/Getty)

BRITAIN'S NEW PRIME MINISTER OPPOSED BREXIT:

-- "Theresa May, the hard-charging home affairs secretary, was elevated to Britain’s top job when [rival] Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom preemptively dropped out of the contest to succeed outgoing leader David Cameron," Griff Witte reports from London. "By coalescing around May, her Conservative Party avoided what could have been a bruising months-long campaign that threatened to inflame the still-raw wounds of last month’s E.U. referendum. But the move is also likely to accelerate the pressure on Britain to exit the E.U. European leaders have said Britain must act as quickly as possible to get out." 

-- The key question now is when she will formally trigger the start of talks to exit the E.U. “She had earlier said she did not want to invoke Article 50 — the never-before-used mechanism for exiting the E.U. — until at least 2017," Griff explains. "Her reluctance to move faster has sparked speculation that she might try to find a way to avoid Brexit — a possibility she emphatically rejected Monday, saying that there would be ‘no attempts to remain inside the E.U., no attempts to rejoin it by the back door, and no second referendum.’” (Analysis from Anna Fifield: "Theresa May is boring and reliable -- and maybe just what Britain needs right now.")

-- The S&P 500 closed at a record high yesterday, a sign of U.S. investors’ willingness to shrug off recent global turmoil. (Renae Merle)

-- British Finance Minister George Osborne is traveling to Wall Street this week, hoping to soothe fears among American investors.  (Anna Fifield)

-- David Cameron does not appear to be at all upset about having to leave 10 Downing Street months earlier than expected. After announcing he would officially tender his resignation on Wednesday, the outgoing PM was caught on a hot mic humming a happy little tune. (Karla Adam)

WAPO HIGHLIGHT:

-- “Russia may have lied about losing a gunship to ISIS,” by Andrew Roth and Thomas Gibbons-Neff:  “It was a heroic and straightforward story, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. It also wasn’t true, say military analysts and news reports. Two Russian pilots were killed Friday in Syria when a Syrian Mi-25 helicopter was shot down by the Islamic State near the city of Palmyra, the ministry said. But according to newspaper and expert reports, the helicopter was not an Mi-25 (the export version of Russia’s old Mi-24 attack helicopter), but Russia’s new state-of-the-art Mi-35M helicopter, which first appeared in Syria in December and, crucially, is operated only by the Russian military. If the helicopter was an Mi-35M, it would indicate that the gunship was Russian, not Syrian, and likely on a combat mission, instead of a training run. The distinction would shed light on an ongoing dispute over Russia’s intervention in Syria: To what degree are Russian forces, including special forces and artillery, helping Syria’s battered military take back ground held by the Islamic State and other rebel groups, including those backed by the United States?”

The Islamic State posted a 30-second YouTube video with the helicopter going down:

وكالة أعماق التابعة لتنظيم داعش تبث فيديو مسجل للحظة استهداف وإسقاط مروحية عسكرية روسية بمدينة تدمر

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) attacked his former House colleague, Jason Chaffetz, for using a Gmail account on his congressional business card, posting a picture of it on his Facebook page. “As they say, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander," Heinrich wrote on his Facebook page. "This is just another example of Republican hypocrisy when it comes to investigating Hillary Clinton.”

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton's wife is pregnant with their second child:

Washington is already going way overboard on Pokemon Go:

Feeling left out of the Pokemon Go craze? Here's a quick guide to the basics and an accompanying video:

What you need to know about Pokemon Go, in 90 seconds

The Trump office in Sarasota is shutting down during the convention, which says something about the very thin GOP field operation:

This moment got plenty of play on Twitter:

Here are a few of the choicest moments from the RNC platform committee meeting:

That's ironic considering that the party's nominee proudly displays this framed magazine cover in his personal office:

Chris Hayes and the NRA are going at it on Twitter:

A post from our (white) colleague Erik Wemple:

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter is very much back on the Trump Train. This is the jacket of her forthcoming book:

A question for the media from Chuck Grassley:

Lisa Murkowski met these young businesswomen over the weekend:

Jason Chaffetz taught his mother-in-law to shoot a BB gun:

Eerie, stormy sky over Bismarck, captured by Kevin Cramer:

Finally, it might not be Washington, but here's a group of committed players in Central Park (click to watch):

DAYBOOK:

On the campaign trail: Clinton campaigns with Sanders in Portsmouth, N.H. and then attends a fundraiser in New York City (a showing of "Hamilton"). Trump is in Westfield, Ind., with Pence.

At the White House: In Dallas, Obama and Biden attend an interfaith memorial service and visit privately with the families of the slain police officers.

On Capitol Hill: The Senate meets at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of the Conference Report to accompany S.524, Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The House meets at noon for legislative business, including a suspension vote on the TALENT Act. Paul Ryan does a town hall on CNN at 9 p.m.

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

-- One more day of sunshine to enjoy before thunderstorms start heading our way! Per today’s Capital Weather Gang forecast: “Both humidity and temperatures advance a notch higher today, but they remain near normal for this time of year with highs in the middle to upper 80s under partly sunny skies. Light winds blow from the south.”

-- Montgomery County authorities are investigating two fatal emergencies that occurred during a two-hour outage of the 911 emergency hotline Sunday night. It remains unclear whether the  outage was linked to either death. (Martin Weil)

-- An FBI-issued vehicle was broken into over the weekend in Northeast D.C., and two bureau-issued guns were stolen from a lock box. (Victoria St. Martin)

-- Five were shot and wounded in Baltimore Monday evening while attending a vigil for a man who had been shot and killed just 24 hours before. (Martin Weil)

-- Two 20-year-olds were fired from a Boy Scout camp after attempting to rescue an injured bald eagle. The employees were berated for their decision to drive the injured bird to a wildlife rehabilitation clinic, which Scout leaders asserted had broken federal law. (Mary Hui)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

"I am the law and order candidate," Trump declared at his Virginia Beach rally yesterday. Check out Richard Nixon’s 1968 “law and order” TV ad:

1968, Nixon - The First Civil Right - political ad - closed captioned

(Courtesy of Michael Beschloss)

Very awkward timing: On the eve of their joint appearance, a Clinton attack ad against Sanders that never aired, over his opposition to the Export-Import Bank, accidentally became public on YouTube yesterday. The campaign quickly deleted the video, but we were able to download it before they could. Watch here:

Hillary for America: The Export-Import Bank | Campaign 2016

This clip of Trump once again refusing to apologize to John McCain is grabbing some attention:

Donald Trump refuses to apologize for insulting John McCain

People magazine rounded up the five times Lin-Manuel Miranda slayed the Internet:

WATCH: 5 Times 'Hamilton's' Lin-Manuel Miranda Slayed the Internet

In this sweet video, BuzzFeed asked Dallas-area parents how they’ve talked to their kids about the shootings:

Parents Explain The Tragedies In The U.S. To Their Kids

A survivor of the Dallas shooting said he's choosing to love the shooter:

Dallas shooting survivor: 'I'm going to love' shooter

#Grace

A Hawaiian volcano's lava flow engulfs a forest:

Watch: Hawaiian volcano's lava flow engulfs forest