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Barack Obama has flexed his fundraising muscle with an impressive $52 million June haul, liberal bloggers declare, while the opening of 3.9 million Alaskan acres to oil drilling has conservatives praising the Bush administration.

Obama

With both Barack Obama and John McCain's campaigns complaining about the media, bloggers suggest that they get over it. The controversy over The New Yorker's Obama cover bared double standards and a new difficulty for political cartoonists, according to a discussion on The Plank. Bloggers on both sides also jump up on the latest statements by two surrogates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and Obama backer Roland Martin, hoping to turn them into advantages for their candidates.

Though McCain's team is complaining about the extensive network news coverage for Obama's trip abroad, the greater amount of coverage of the Democrat is a function mainly of excitement around his candidacy and not just because of support in the media, writes TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall. But while Obama criticized the right-wing media for driving down his wife's approval rating, Obama should instead consider the statement she has made about not being proud about her country, according to Townhall's Amanda Carpenter.

The dust-up over The New Yorker's cartoon, which depicted Obama in Muslim garb, reveals political cartoonists' inexperience in drawing a black candidate, writes Dayo Olopade at The Plank. A cartoon in Rolling Stone depicting McCain in a cage and surrounded by zealous Viet Cong members is more offensive than the Obama cartoon, since it lampoons the candidate and his wartime service, writes The Plank's James Kirchick, who hasn't heard much outrage over the McCain drawing.

Romney (R) suggested that McCain "authored" the "philosophy" of the U.S. troop surge, notes Marshall. But it was really Fred Kagan and other neo-conservatives who came up with the strategy, according to The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins. Conservatives should take a suggestion by Martin that McCain is right when it comes to supporting vouchers and use it to revive an urban agenda that Republicans have ignored, suggests The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini.

FROM THE BLOGS:
McCain's Aggressive Whining About Coverage - J. Marshall, TPM
Obama Trashes Right for Attacking Michelle - A. Carpenter, Townhall
It's The Chin, Stupid - Dayo Olopade, The Plank
Drawings and Double Standards - James Kirchick, The Plank
McCain Redraws EU Borders - Plutonium Page, Daily Kos
Mitt: McCain Invented Counterinsurg. Doctrine - J. Marshall, TPM
Key Obama Flack: McCain Right on Vouchers - P. Ruffini, Next Right
Pie in the Sky - Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState
$5,000 Golf Gets President's OK - Meteor Blades, Daily Kos
McCain Adopts Afghan Policy, No One Notices - T. Beeton, MyDD
Are Jews Really Down on Obama? - Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Re: McCain's Trigger Finger - Mark Krikorian, The Corner
McCain's Trigger Finger - Ramesh Ponnuru, The Corner
Congratulations RedState - Donald H. Rumsfeld, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Fed's Crisis Role Spurs Questions of Overreach - Wash. Post
Admin. Wanted Loyalist as Justice Dept. Legal Adviser - Wash. Post
In Iraq, Mixed Feelings About Obama and Troop Proposal - NYT
Federal Deficit Soars - The Hill

The White House citing executive privilege when refusing to release FBI interviews of Vice President Dick Cheney surprises few bloggers Wednesday. John McCain

Congress

While new polls show Barack Obama leading nationally and doing well in red states, he may have to worry about his fundraising and his online support, according to bloggers Wednesday. Obama and John McCain jousted Tuesday over who had the best plan to quell violence in Afghanistan, but liberal bloggers point out that McCain is merely parroting the Democrat on the issue. And though a southern congressman won a primary fight by sticking to his conservative values, a GOP senator from the South is taking heat for using a photo of a French jet in a television spot, the bloggers write.

Obama leads McCain 50 percent to 42 percent among all registered voters in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, notes Daily Kos's DemFromCT. The Democrat barely trails McCain in a Public Policy Polling survey of South Carolina, which has the Republican leading 45 percent to 39 percent, writes MyDD's Jonathan Singer. But Obama may have damaged his brand by shifting his position on Iraq and telecom immunity, according to a Democratic source who voices concern to The Corner's Byron York about donors' dampened enthusiasm. Obama could help his cause online by being happy about getting bloggers' votes, writes MyDD's Jerome Armstrong, who noted that Obama singled out the blogosphere for having "raised hackles" over his rejection of public campaign funds.

While McCain is following Obama's lead by proposing that U.S. troops be moved to Afghanistan, the Republican is poised to get much of the credit because he's calling his plan a "surge," just like the one he championed in Iraq, writes The Plank's Dayo Olopade. McCain, however, offered multiple positions on his Afghan "surge" Tuesday, first calling for an increase in American troops, then an increase in NATO troops, and finally a deployment that involved a combination of the two, writes Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) won his primary 71 percent to 29 percent, crushing a candidate who ran to his left and thereby showing Republicans that they can win by being a champion of limited government and greater freedom, according to RedState's Jeff Emanuel. But Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.) showed she's out of touch by trying to take credit for saving her state's military bases with an ad that uses images of a French fighter jet, writes MyDD's Todd Beeton, who links to The Hill's story about the Dole's television spot.

FROM THE BLOGS:
ABC/WaPo: Obama By 8 With RVs - DemFromCT, Daily Kos
Obama Within Striking Distance in S.C. - J. Singer, MyDD
Obama and Damage to the Brand - Byron York, The Corner
BlogOsphere - Jerome Armstrong, MyDD
Obama Website Purging: Deja Vu - C.P. Liebau, Townhall
Obama Writes He Attended 'Muslim School' - M. Lewis, Townhall
McCain's Afg. Position in Progress - J. Marshall, TPM
Iraq: Whose Line Is It Anyway? - D. Olopade, The Plank
Congrats, Rep. Paul Broun - Jeff Emanuel, RedState
Why Does Sen. Dole Hate America? - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Fed to Bar Sketchy Lending Practices - MissLaura, Daily Kos
GOP, Online Politics and Regulation - M. Turk, Next Right

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Fed Chief Bleak on Economic Outlook - New York Times
Obama Leads By 8 Points in Poll - Washington Post
Poll Finds Obama's Run Isn't Closing Divide on Race - NYT
Housing Splits GOP and Bush - The Hill

The war in Afghanistan is emerging as a major campaign issue, bloggers find, as both Barack Obama and John McCain focus on the conflict there Tuesday. An attempt by a liberal political action committee to challenge rival Freedom

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) decision not to run for the U.S. Senate is good news for Democratic challenger Al Franken, liberal bloggers determine, while Barack Obama takes hits from conservatives for his campaign

John McCain said what he needed to say at the National Council of La Raza meeting Monday about securing the borders, according to one conservative blogger, but he may be guilty of pandering to Latino voters, according to others. Barack Obama's national lead in polls may be small, an Obama critic online notes, but he's still doing well in states where Democrats have struggled, according to bloggers on the left. And a new report revealed a "breezy" exchange between the Associated Press's Washington bureau chief and former White House aide Karl Rove, giving more ammunition to liberal bloggers miffed by the traditional media.

McCain got mixed reviews for his appearance before the Hispanic American group. McCain refused to budge on the immigration issue most important to conservative activists, securing the borders, which is what McCain pledged to do before seeking any further reforms, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air writes. But the Republican references to immigrants as "God's children" and his visit to a shrine in Mexico seemed a little much for Townhall's Amanda Carpenter. And though MyDD's Todd Beeton notes that McCain got a warm reception, particularly when he took more questions than the time allotted, he shifted positions when he said he would support the DREAM Act, failed legislation that would offer a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who attend college or join the military, as president -- even though McCain said he would have voted to filibuster the same legislation in the Senate.

Obama leads McCain by just 2.7 percentage points in the average of national polls, trailing leads that Bill Clinton and George W. Bush held in their victorious races for president, writes The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini. Obama is also struggling to please his Democrats on Capitol Hill who are seeking help in their own races, notes RedState's Erick Erickson, who suggests that Obama never learned how to work with a team during his previous campaigns. But the Illinois senator is doing well in places that President Bush won easily but are now the "new swing states," including South Dakota, where Obama trails McCain by just four percentage points in a new Rasmussen poll, writes Daily Kos's brownsox. Obama's strength in these areas may stem from his organization, which has far more field offices and volunteers than McCain's, writes MyDD's Jonathan Singer.

After ex-pro football player Pat Tillman was killed while serving in Afghanistan, the AP's Ron Fournier e-mailed Rove to urge him to "keep up the fight," notes TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall and The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins, who wonders what "fight" Fournier was talking about. Fournier, who recently wrote that Obama was "bordering on arrogance" and that McCain had "pragmatic resolve," has eschewed "just the facts" reporting for opinion and instant analysis, writes Firedoglake's Attaturk. Fournier wrote in a response to his e-mail's release that he regrets the "breezy nature of the correspondence."

FROM THE BLOGS:
McCain to La Raza: 'Borders Must Be Secured' - E. Morrissey, Hot Air
McCain's DREAM Act Flip - Todd Beeton, MyDD
McCain 'Pandery' at La Raza - Amanda Carpenter, Townhall
Obama's Nat'l Lead Cut in Half - P. Ruffini, The Next Right
Obama Down By Four Points in S.D. - brownsox, Daily Kos
McCain's Organization Gap Persists - Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Fournier to Rove: 'Keep Up The Fight' - Jason Linkins, HuffPo
Awesome Ron, Just Awesome - Attaturk, Firedoglake
The Latest Media Blind Spot - A. Huffington, Huffington Post
Homeland Sec. Adviser Pushing Access for $ - Tilghman, TPM EC
Surprise: Ventura Not Running for Sen. - Allahpundit, Hot Air
Dems Say Obama is Insular, Uncooperative - E. Erickson, RedState
President Calls Bluff on Offshore Drilling - E. Erickson, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Want Obama In Punch Line? First Find Joke - NYT
Bush, In New Tactic, Lifts Ban on Offshore Drilling - WSJ
Paulson Drove Plan to Shore Up Fannie, Freddie - WSJ
High Gear on Housing - The Hill