OFF TO THE RACES: Clinton is ahead by 5 Points
From our new poll out on Sunday: "Democrat Hillary Clinton holds a five-point advantage over Republican Donald Trump after becoming her party's presumptive presidential nominee, according to the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Forty-six percent of registered voters back Clinton, versus 41 percent who support Trump — slightly up from Clinton's three-point lead in May, 46 percent to 43 percent."
The candidates and political parties are still deeply unpopular, while controversial groups like the NRA and Planned Parenthood are viewed more positively.
A Washington Post/ABC poll found Clinton with a wider lead.
Who will Clinton and Trump pick as their running mates? We take a look here and here.
From Leigh Ann Caldwell: "Freedom Partners Action Fund, a super PAC financed by the Charles and David Koch network, announced a $2.7 million television and digital ad buy in Ohio's Senate race. The announcement comes just two days after the group announced it was placing $1.2 million worth of advertising in Nevada's Senate race. The weekend's $3.7 million ad buy brings the group's spending to $19.3 million in a handful of states with contentious Senate races, nearly half of the $42 million budget."
CLINTON: She's hitting Trump's reaction to Brexit in a new ad.
Elizabeth Warren is joining Clinton on the campaign trail for the first time. From the AP: "For Warren, the appearance may be more like an audition, closely watched for any sign of chemistry between the two politicians. She's currently being vetted by lawyers involved in Clinton's vice presidential search, and they've asked Warren for documents and to complete a questionnaire. The next step: a private interview with Clinton."
Huffington Post: “The RNC Plans To Turn Bernie Backers Against Hillary Clinton’s VP Pick.”
SANDERS: The Washington Post: "[A]s he ponders his next moves, and the fate of perhaps the biggest donor list in politics, Sanders is facing a challenge almost as steep as a presidential campaign. How does a revolutionary persuade his supporters to continue the revolution with someone else? Can he maintain the enthusiasm of followers who were new to politics after falling in the primaries to establishment stalwart Hillary Clinton? Can he transfer his popularity to relatively unknown figures? And has Sanders frittered away the leverage he built by remaining an active candidate when most of the party has moved on to a bruising fall battle against Donald Trump?"
TRUMP: From the New York Times: "The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are moving quickly and aggressively to head off the fledgling effort to stage a revolt at their convention next month in Cleveland, hoping to spare the party an embarrassing spectacle that could deeply wound the presumptive nominee. They are employing hard-nosed tactics, warning delegates that attempting to undermine Donald J. Trump’s claim to the nomination violates party rules, and threatening to deny speaking slots to Republicans they deem disloyal for not backing him."
Campaign manager Paul Manafort told one of us(!) the campaign is "getting organized."
ICYMI: George Will is leaving the GOP.
From POLITICO: "With the convention less than a month away, POLITICO contacted more than 50 prominent governors, senators, and House members to gauge their interest in speaking. Only a few said they were open to it — and everyone else said they either weren’t planning on it, didn’t want to, weren’t going to Cleveland at all, or simply didn’t respond."
OBAMA AGENDA: Public is lukewarm to sweeping gun regulations
The New York Times notes that when the Supreme Court avoids deadlocks, it tends to lean left.
From our new NBC/WSJ poll: "With gun policy taking center stage on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Americans still remain lukewarm to sweeping gun control compared to the mid-1990s, when public opinion propelled a 10-year assault weapons ban into law. Fifty percent of voters say that they are concerned that the government will go too far in restricting the rights of citizens to own guns, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, while 47 percent said they were more concerned that authorities would not do enough to regulate access to firearms."