Newsletter: The Essential Politics guide to the Republican National Convention

I’m Christina Bellantoni. Welcome to a special convention edition of Essential Politics.

For the next two weeks, we’ll be doing this a little different because we know time is short and you’ve got floor proceedings to watch. We’ll have you covered, with a gavel-to-gavel livestream that will go live here at 10 a.m. Pacific. and robust live coverage round-the-clock on Trail Guide. Don’t miss a moment.

The shooting Sunday in Baton Rouge, La., and horrific attack in Nice last week only underscore the imperative pressing on Donald Trump in coming days: to convince Americans that he can keep them safe, both domestically and abroad, Cathleen Decker writes for today’s front page. Can the convention accomplish Trump’s goal, specifically labeled in the theme for its first night: “Make America safe again?” That rests on two things that are uncontrollable by Trump aides or event organizers: an outbreak of violence in Cleveland or elsewhere, and Trump himself.

As Lisa Mascaro puts it, Trump’s brash brand of reality-TV politics is expected to produce a crowd-pleasing four days in Cleveland. It’s sure to capture the populist sentiment that propelled his rise, but will be absent the pageantry of party elders and statesmen giving approval to a presidential hopeful the Republican establishment has been slow to embrace.

Those two pieces serve as good primers for the day. I’ll present the best of the rest with a series of headlines.

YOUR POLITICAL CONVENTION GUIDE

People hate political parties, except when they’re voting. That’s one thing Trump and Clinton can celebrate

In a time of tumult, Trump and Clinton compete to be seen as the better leader

For Donald Trump to become president, the difficult road begins at the Republican convention

YOUR CONVENTION PROTEST GUIDE

You can’t bring a water gun to protest the RNC, but you can bring an AK-47

Guns are a concern as Republican National Convention protests begin

These are some of the controversial extremists expected to be outside the convention

YOUR CALIFORNIA CONVENTION GUIDE

The California delegation is staying 59.6 miles from the convention site

And their hotel is a little bizarre

But they get good floor seats to make up for it

Meet the Orange County woman organizing the convention

Two San Diego Trump delegates say gays ‘can be cured’

Who is Jamiel Shaw, and why is he speaking in prime time at the Republican National Convention?

YOUR GUIDE TO CONVENTION CONTEXT

1976 Convention flashback: Why Donald Trump is no Ronald Reagan

The program: How Trump plans to make conventions great again

Some top Republicans are skipping the convention

From fly-fishing to campaigning, here are all the reasons they won’t be there (VIDEO)

Photos from Cleveland

Again, we’ll cover every twist and turn this week and next Trail Guide. Make sure to follow @latimespolitics if you like your news by 140 characters.

MIKE PENCE IS TRUMP’S RUNNING MATE

Trump made history on Friday as the first presidential candidate ever to announce his VP pick on Twitter. But in other ways, the digital roll-out of the Trump-Pence ticket was marked by omissions and missteps, including a logo that some viewers considered to be inadvertently suggestive. Melanie Mason writes on how the haphazard unveiling by Team Trump contrasted with the Clinton campaign’s quick and thorough response to the news, underscoring just how different these two campaigns are.

The press conference was a bit strange, too.

We took a look at how Pence stirred public concern after the 2001 anthrax letter attacks by asserting — without any scientific evidence — that the material had been “genetically modified” to make it more deadly.

And here is Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential short list.

GUN ADVOCATES SEEK TO OVERTURN NEW LAWS BY REFERENDUM

The owner of a San Diego tech business is leading an effort to overturn six new gun control laws by enlisting the state’s more than 2,000 gun shops to circulate petitions of referenda.

Patrick McGreevy reports that Barry Bahrami said he realizes it will be difficult to collect 365,000 signatures on each of the six referendum petitions in the next two and a half months, but said opponents of the laws are serious about trying.

“By my math we can do it if we hustle,” he told reporters. “We will be leveraging these gun stores and numerous volunteers from the communities to get the petitions signed.”

He filed paperwork Friday outlining the six laws he wants to overturn.

SENATE HOPEFULS OWN PROPERTY IN PALOS VERDES ESTATES AND BRENTWOOD

U.S. Senate candidates Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez may not be in the same league financially as multimillionaire politicians such as Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), but the two Democrats live more comfortably than the average Californian. Phil Willon sorted through the financial disclosures filed by Harris and Sanchez and found that both likely have a net worth that registers in the millions.

PODCAST: CLEVELAND BOUND

As California Republicans begin their week in Cleveland, this week’s California Politics Podcast examines the high political stakes in the Golden State when it comes to the Trump candidacy. John Myers also leads a discussion on the decision by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to lead the charge against Gov. Jerry Brown’s parole ballot measure, Proposition 57.

Keep an eye on our Essential Politics news feed for any California political news over the next two weeks.

SAVE THE DATES: WATCH THE CONVENTIONS WITH THE L.A. TIMES

Join me, Sacramento bureau chief John Myers and columnist Robin Abcarian at free convention watch parties on Thursday and again on July 28 in downtown Los Angeles. The free events will run from 6 to 9 p.m. Pacific. RSVP here.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

-- How the left wants to keep Clinton to her progressive promises.

-- Rep. Brad Sherman faced some criticism over a tweet many read as sympathetic to the military members who launched a coup attempt in Turkey on Friday night. Sherman told Sarah Wire he was trying to express his view that the Turkish government doesn’t reflect democratic ideals. “It’s hard to be as nuanced as you want to be about foreign policy in 140 characters,” Sherman said. “I’m not pro-coup, but I’m not pro-Erdogan either.”

-- First-time Democratic candidate Doug Applegate turned heads when he came out of nowhere and finished just five points behind Issa in the June primary. Javier Panzar reports that the lawyer and retired Marine colonel is now starting to get support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and even managed to raise more money than the Vista congressman in the last federal reporting period. Applegate is going to need all the help he can get: Issa already has $3.7 million in the bank for the November election. And, of course, he happens to be the richest member of Congress.

-- Panzar notes that embattled Assemblyman and congressional hopeful Roger Hernández has more troubles in addition to being slapped with a domestic violence restraining order and losing many of his endorsers: His fundraising efforts seem to have cratered. He raised only $8,849 last quarter and has just $60,000 in cash on hand with which to challenge nine-term Rep. Grace Napolitano.

-- Secretary of State Alex Padilla certified the results of the June 7 primary Friday. Almost 48% of the state’s registered voters turned out, but that is lower than voter participation during the presidential primaries of 2008 and 2000.

-- Drew Carey will host a fundraiser for Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson.

-- It was only a matter of time before Pokemon and politics would converge. Chris Megerian explains how the game is helping register voters.

-- Brown will lead the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention.

-- Sen. Bernie Sanders is writing a book.

-- Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom told me Friday at The Times Energy Summit he would keep aggressive goals to cut carbon usage and that he believes California can be a global leader on climate change.

-- As thousands of journalists descend on Cleveland, Colleen Shalby talked to some experts about how Trump’s actions relate to the 1st Amendment.

-- Who will win the November election? Give our Electoral College map a spin.

LOGISTICS

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