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Only 20 days to go until the Republican National Convention begins in Cleveland. Our Cardboard Donald Trump is helping with the countdown, checking in today from U.S. 20, near the Cleveland Clinic.

(Robin Goist, cleveland.com)

Elizabeth Warren steps onto the campaign trail in the all-important Buckeye State. Donald Trump plans his first visit in months. And Vice President Joe Biden will do more than raise money for Ted Strickland when he comes to Cleveland. Read more in Ohio Politics Roundup.

Countdown to Cleveland: Only 20 days until the Republican National Convention begins. What do locals hope visitors learn about the Forest City? The Plain Dealer's Susan Glaser posed the question to participants in the RNC's "Faces of Cleveland" welcome campaign.

The Warren Way: Tis the season for vice presidential chatter. And nothing quite fans the flames like an appearance with the presumptive nominee in a critical battleground state.

Such was the case Monday when Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator and a hero on the left, campaigned for the first time with Democrat Hillary Clinton in Cincinnati.

Warren reportedly is on Clinton's shortlist. As cleveland.com's Jeremy Pelzer writes from the Queen City, she "fulfilled a key role a Democratic running mate will have to play this year: repeatedly going on the attack against Trump. 'Donald Trump says he'll make America great again. It's right there, stamped on the front of his goofy hat. You want to see goofy? Look at him in that hat,' Warren said, referring to Trump's repeated tweets calling her 'goofy.'"

Some strikes against Warren: She "doesn't bring any demographic or generational diversity to the ticket, comes from a solidly Democratic state in presidential elections," and hasn't been close with Clinton over the years, the team at the Cincinnati Enquirer observes.

Then there's the bigger-picture political risk in picking Warren. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, would pick Warren's short-term successor. Democrats have a shot at reclaiming the Senate this fall and probably can't afford to elevate any senator from a state where the GOP controls the replacement process. This logic also applies to Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a progressive who under different circumstances might be the ideal choice for Clinton.

Speaking of Warren successors and the veepstakes ... Pelzer notes that Clinton offered a shout-out Monday to Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general whom President Barack Obama appointed to succeed Warren as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

There has been small but noticeable effort in recent days to promote Cordray as a vice presidential prospect. Hard to tell who, precisely, is behind it. But several Ohio Democrats are calling attention to a Minneapolis Star-Tribune op-ed, written by a law professor who is familiar with Cordray's work in Washington. It all has the feel of a weak trial balloon.

Republicans ready to pounce: "The Republican National Committee is planning to cleave liberal voters away from Hillary Clinton as part of a campaign to counteract her forthcoming pick of a vice presidential running mate," the Huffington Post's Sam Stein reports.

"In a detailed memo outlining its strategy to combat Clinton's VP choice, the committee says it will frame the selection as both a cynical play to certain constituencies and as an emotional letdown for voters who backed" Sanders, the Vermont senator, in the primaries.

"Titled 'Project Pander,' the RNC's strategy memo also reveals which candidates the committee views as most likely to be selected. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), HUD Secretary Julian Castro and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) occupy the top tier; Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) are in the second."

As for the sitting VP ... Vice President Joe Biden has added a stop to his Thursday schedule in Cleveland, cleveland.com's Sabrina Eaton reports. Biden already had been set to attend a fundraiser for Ted Strickland, who is running to unseat Republican Sen. Rob Portman. Now Biden also will speak at the Cleveland Clinic's Langston Hughes Center.

Long time, no see: Trump will return to Ohio tonight for the first time since the Buckeye State's March primary. The wealthy New Yorker will hold a rally in St. Clairsville, part of the Eastern Ohio ring of white, working-class voters that could turn out big for him in the fall.

The region also is in the heart of Ohio's coal country, a key battleground in the Senate race between Portman and Strickland. Trump's new Ohio director, Bob Paduchik, managed Portman's 2010 campaign and once worked for a "clean coal" organization.

Counting her Monday visit, Clinton has been in the state three times in two weeks. Trump will be back again next week for a Cincinnati fundraiser, the Enquirer's Chrissie Thompson reports.

Long time, no see, Part II: Former President George W. Bush will headline a private fundraiser for Portman in August at Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark, the Enquirer's Jason Williams reports. Portman served in several high-profile roles during Bush's administration.

More camp from the Strickland camp: Strickland's team is out with a new web video today, part of a digital series that pokes fun at Portman's relatively low name-recognition. About a third of respondents in a recent poll said they didn't know enough to have an opinion of him.

"The Least Known Man in Ohio" parodies Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World" ads. "I don't always abandon the Constitution," an actor costumed as Portman says in the latest edition. "But when I do, it's to let Donald Trump reshape the Supreme Court for generations."

You can see the ad here.

Meanwhile ... "A conservative super PAC says it is dropping another $2.7 million on a new negative ad campaign" aimed at Strickland, cleveland.com's Pelzer reports.

"The ad, from the Koch Brothers-funded Freedom Partners Action Fund, hits Strickland on his economic record as governor of Ohio. It includes claims ... that [Strickland] left the governor's office with 89 cents in the state's rainy-day fund and a $6 billion budget shortfall."

John Kasich goes to bat for NRCC: "I'm reaching out to you today regarding a very serious issue," the Ohio governor and former Republican presidential candidate, writes in a fundraising pitch emailed Monday by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"Nancy Pelosi has her sights set on becoming Speaker again," Kasich adds. "It seemed nearly impossible just a few months ago, but now our Republican majority in Congress is in danger."

The email is the latest example of the how Kasich is trying to carve out a role for himself in a Trump-led GOP. The governor hopes to be helpful when it comes to broader party-building interests but isn't likely to have much, if any, supportive role in the Trump campaign.

More signals that Kasich won't speak at the convention: As we've noted before, a prominent role for Kasich at the convention is likely contingent on him endorsing Trump.

"We have not asked for a speaking slot and have zero expectations of receiving one," John Weaver, who served as chief strategist on Kasich's presidential campaign, tells the Guardian's Ben Jacobs. "Governor Kasich will have a full schedule of events around the convention aimed at helping Republicans keep control of Congress and winning down ballot. Of course, this will be on top of his responsibilities as governor in regard to security issues in Cleveland."

Dump Trump descends on Cleveland: "Anti-Donald Trump forces will be sending an "advance team" to Cleveland this week to begin preparing their effort to strip the Republican presidential nomination from Donald Trump," Politico's Kyle Cheney reports.

"In a Sunday night conference call with allies around the country, the leaders of the effort described a slow-building organization that would begin setting up a command center outside the arena where the Republican National Convention will be held next month."

A convention supergroup: CQ Roll Call is joining with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer for joint coverage during the GOP convention. "We'll have an army of reporters on the ground that week, and Roll Call's expertise and access to newsmakers will be a huge boost to the coverage we plan," Chris Quinn, our vice president of content, said in Monday's announcement.

Texas abortion case has Ohio implications: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a law in Texas that would have shuttered many of the state's abortion clinics by restricting their operations," cleveland.com's Eaton writes. "The decision is likely to thwart restrictions imposed by Ohio and other states that clinic operators insist are meant to stop abortions. ...

"Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis said his organization is reviewing the Supreme Court's decision. ... He believes the state's law might be safe because it imposes the same standards on all ambulatory care facilities, whether they perform abortions or laser eye surgery."

Monday's decision, Eaton writes, "has emboldened activists who will use it to challenge restrictions that threaten to close several abortion clinics in Ohio."

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