The Note: Foley Video on the Campaign Trail

By CHRIS GOOD ( @c_good)

NOTABLES

  • SENATE CAMPAIGN USES PHOTO OF JAMES FOLEY'S EXECUTIONER. In a video posted to his campaign's YouTube account Monday, New Mexico Senate candidate Allen Weh uses a brief still image of American journalist James Foley's killer. The image of Foley's executioner, with a knife in his hand, is clearly recognizable from the video that shocked America and much of the West last week, prompting new calls for action against ISIS and a hunt for Foley's killer. The campaign of Weh's opponent, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., says the image is offensive. Weh's campaign says it's not because Foley himself wasn't pictured. http://abcn.ws/VOzMlL
  • PRIMARY NIGHT PRIMER ( MORE ON THESE RACES BELOW): It's time for another round of primaries, and ABC's Shushannah Walshe gives us a preview: It's the second-to-last primary day we have left, and it's the day we'll see Charlie Crist complete his political conversion, a former live-action vampire try to unset an incumbent in always-interesting Florida, a 14 for 14 race in Arizona that will likely see a female fighter pilot battle for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords former seat, and much more. http://abcn.ws/1APiHYH
  • DRONES OVER SYRIA? So reports The New York Times, whose Mark Landler and Helene Cooper write, "President Obama has authorized surveillance flights over Syria, a precursor to potential airstrikes there, but a mounting concern for the White House is how to target the Sunni extremists without helping President Bashar al-Assad." http://nyti.ms/1zuWQTX
  • ADMIN REAX: BORDERS 'DON'T RESTRICT' OUR OPTIONS. A senior administration official tells ABC's Mary Bruce: "We're not going to comment on intelligence or operational issues. As we've been saying, we'll use all the tools at our disposal. While the President has not made a decision to take additional military actions at this time, we don't restrict our options by geographic boundaries when it comes to the central mission of protecting our people."
  • OBAMA TO CHARLOTTE TODAY. The president heads to N.C. for a noon ET speech at the American Legion's 96th National Convention, where he will "announce a series of new executive actions to serve the military community, including new efforts to strengthen service members' access to mental health care, improve the transition between DoD and VA care for those leaving military service, and improve economic opportunity for our military families," the White House says.

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: The ad uses a too-blunt object, but it will get sharper going forward. Republican Senate candidate Allen Weh's use of a brief image from the James Foley execution video will draw widespread condemnation. Yet the ad's message is one we are almost certain to see again this midterm season. The other images - of a world aflame, and yes, of presidential golf - are too potent to ignore, even for a Republican Party that feels good about its current standing and isn't looking for new messaging. It's hard to argue how national security and foreign policy won't bubble into races across the country when voters start to bring some focus to the fall campaigns.

ABC/YAHOO! VIDEO: THE COMPUTER IN YOUR COCKPIT: COMPUTERS SET TO REPLACE PILOTS IN FUTURE OF FLIGHT? The next time you board a plane, computers might be flying it, ABC's Steven Ganyard tells Terry Moran from the cockpit of a new Boeing 787-9 at the Farnborough International Airshow. http://yhoo.it/1tZtz6i

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

VIDEO OF JOHN BOEHNER AND A WIND-UP MONKEY. You read that correctly: House Speaker John Boehner has recorded a video of himself hanging out with a wind-up monkey that sits in his office. "That's what I do all day," Boehner says, as the monkey claps its cymbals. Explanation from aide Caleb Smith, in the press release: "It all started in the fall of 2011, when Speaker Boehner joked in an interview that some days he felt like a windup toy because his jam-packed scheduled kept him so busy. So, as a light-hearted token of appreciation (and a less-than-subtle reminder to not use that metaphor again), Speaker Boehner's staff brought the monkey to the U.S. Capitol." http://youtu.be/CNmwnu4QzLg

14 for 14 RACE TONIGHT: PRIMARY IN GIFFORDS'S OLD DISTRICT. From ABC's ALEXANDRA DUKAKIS : If all goes as expected, retired Air Force Colonel Martha McSally will be the Republican Party's two-time nominee to challenge - and if she's successful unseat - incumbent Rep. Ron Barber in Arizona's second district. WHY IT MATTERS: An establishment favorite since her 2012 run for the seat - where she fell short by less than 2,500 votes - the former fighter pilot now has big guns like the Koch brothers and the NRCC pouring in cash to fuel her campaign like never before. Evidence suggests that her fellow rivals today, small business owner Shelley Kais and retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Chuck Wooten, the president and CEO of a consulting corporation, have failed to garner meaningful, viable votes from the district's Republicans, and McSally is expected to clinch the seat with ease. This is one of the few toss-up races of the midterm cycle and one of the most closely watched. Barber previously worked as a top staffer to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who held the seat before the January 2011 shooting that wounded Giffords (and Barber), and killed six others. After Giffords decided to leave office, Barber replaced her in a special election in 2012. http://abcn.ws/1APiHYH

LARPING VAMPIRE ON THE BALLOT IN FL. From ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: GOP incumbent and tea party favorite Ted Yoho is being challenged by attorney Jake Rush. The primary is expected to be low turn out so despite incumbency and Yoho's fundraising lead this is a primary to watch in this conservative, rural district. Yoho has been backed by Sen. Rand Paul and tea party groups like FreedomWorks. Despite his conservative stances, Yoho has crossed party lines to work with Democrats and Rush has tried to run to the right of Yoho, who he says has lost his way since going to Washington, DC. Yoho, a large-animal veterinarian, has made several eyebrow raising comments while in Congress earning him some late night show mentions. Before the campaign, Rush was most well known for successfully representing a client in a "Stand Your Ground" case. But, during the campaign his past as a live-action role-playing vampire named Chazz Darling was disclosed. Photographs in vampire dress came to light as well, which is thought to have hurt his upstart campaign. the winner will face Democrat Marihelen Wheeler and Howard Lawson, who lists no political affiliation, in November. http://abcn.ws/1APiHYH

CRIST TO COMPLETE HIS CONVERSION. From ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: The Florida governor's race is one of the most closely watched and tightest races this cycle, but before former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist can truly battle incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Scott, he needs to win the Democratic primary (now that he is a Democrat). WHY IT MATTERS: Crist is taking on former state senate Democratic leader Nan Rich from South Florida. Crist has completely ignored Rich, running his general election against Scott since the very beginning. Although there is little polling in the race, Crist is expected to beat Rich so why is this primary important? He needs to trounce her to prove Sunshine State Democrats are comfortable with his political metamorphosis. He will need them to throw out Scott, who is expected to out-raise Crist. No Democrat has won the governorship in the state since 1994 and Scott has the backing of former Gov. Jeb Bush. Rich is running as the "real Democrat" and has been reminding voters of the formerly conservative Crist and his earlier anti-abortion rights and anti-same sex marriage views, as well as anti-Obamacare statements. Crist has raised 10 times what Rich has and Rich has promised to back Crist if he is the victor today. Scott only has token primary opposition today and with polls showing Crist within striking distance the fight for Florida is on. http://abcn.ws/1APiHYH

THE BUZZ, with ABC's ERIN DOOLEY ( @erindooley1 )

HOUSE CLEARS UP TO $350K FOR LAWSUIT AGAINST OBAMA. The House of Representatives has hired Baker & Hostetler, one of America's largest law firms, to the tune of $500 an hour, but a total not to exceed $350,000, to represent the lower chamber in its lawsuit against President Obama, according to ABC's JOHN PARKINSON. In one of its final moves before the August recess, the House voted along partisan lines July 30 to approve a resolution to initiate litigation against the president, accusing him of overreaching his executive authority in regard to unilaterally delaying the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act. http://abcn.ws/1zvgRK3

BRITISH EMBASSY CELEBRATES BURNING THE WHITE HOUSE 200 YEARS AGO, APOLOGIZES. As it turns out, Americans don't like being reminded that British troops once set fire to the White House. After joking about the anniversary of British troops invading Washington, D.C., and burning the White House in 1814, the British embassy in D.C. apologized Sunday night, ABC's CHRIS GOOD notes. Of course, some people thought it was funny, and that the embassy shouldn't have caved to the politics of outrage. http://abcn.ws/1vgpUkb

OKLAHOMA SUED FOR DRAWING THE BLINDS ON BOTCHED EXECUTION. Prompted by the botched execution of Oklahoma death row inmate Clayton Lockett, the ACLU today filed a lawsuit alleging that state prison officials violated reporters' First Amendment rights when they drew the shade nearly 30 minutes before Lockett's death, ABC's ERIN DOOLEY reports. "When things go wrong, the state can't willy-nilly decide to close the proceedings. We're the public's eyes and ears," Oklahoma Observer editor Arnold Hamilton, a named plaintiff, said in a statement to ABC News. "The issue isn't whether you're for or against the death penalty. The issue is the public's right to know fully and completely how the death sentence is carried out." http://abcn.ws/YVUe6m

WHO'S TWEETING?

@chrisjohnson82 Waiting in line with other #MarriageEquality case aficionados to get into the #7thCircuit arguments. pic.twitter.com/A8W7mFyRul

@iswanTheHill @JTSTheHill looks at My Brother's Keeper, a big post-presidential initiative for Obama: http://bit.ly/1omWA3a

?@samsteinhp John Boehner, cementing his status as "that guy from the bar w an endless supply of 'i'm-tired-of-shit stories" http://bit.ly/VLGw3X

@Max_Fisher ISIS is more popular in France than it is in Gaza http://bit.ly/1pcHFhV

@TomBevanRCP Whoa: Hickenlooper, in yet-2b-aired TV intvw, sez he may grant clemency to killer Nathan Dunlap if he loses in Nov. http://dpo.st/1pC8knJ