SUNDAY ROUNDUP

The newest polls show that the addition of Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) to the Democratic ticket has yet to make much of a difference for Barack Obama, bloggers note. With the veepstakes spotlight now on John McCain, bloggers don’t believe the possibility that the Republican could pick former Secretary of State Colin Powell. And McCain hears it from liberal bloggers for using his prisoner of war experience in his push back against criticism over his multiple homes.

The first Gallup tracking poll taken after the announcement of Biden as Obama’s running mate shows Obama tied with McCain. Perhaps Obama is losing ground because he didn’t pick Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), suggests The Next Right’s Sean Oxendine. With a Rasmussen poll showing that women voters are less enthralled with the pick than men, Clinton has the opportunity at the Democratic convention to shore up support for Obama and go after McCain, writes FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver.

Since Powell has made it clear he’s not interested in electoral politics, McCain’s campaign may be floating his name to counter reports that Powell could endorse Obama, writes Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey. The more likely pick for McCain is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who could help in his native state of Michigan and in Nevada, which has a large population of Mormons, writes Patterico.

McCain is risking “hyperinflation” by again turning to his experience as a prisoner of war in response to Biden’s crack about the Republican’s seven kitchen tables, writes TPM Election Central’s Greg Sargent. McCain seems willing to use his POW story to deflect questions about any topic, despite media reports that he’s loath to exploit it for political purposes, writes AMERICAblog’s John Aravosis.

FROM THE BLOGS:
The Biden Bump – Sean Oxendine, The Next Right
Rasmussen: Biden a Lukewarm Choice – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Is There a Clinton Backlash? – Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight
Why and How Obama Picked Biden – Jonathan Cohn, The Plank
The Democrats’ Glass Ceiling – William Kristol, Weekly Standard
Confident in His Charm? – Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall.com
The Powell Card, Redux – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
McCain Running Mate: Powell? – J. Gandelman, Moderate Voice
Colin Powell as GOP VP? – Justin Gardner, Donkelephant
Biden Makes Romney Most Beneficial Pick – Patterico’s Pontifications
McCain Invokes POW Past to Deflect Criticism – G. Sargent, TPM EC
McCain Plays POW Card Again – J. Aravosis, AMERICAblog

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
McCain Ad Says Obama Snubbed Clinton – Associated Press
In Obama’s Choice, a ‘Very Personal Decision’ – New York Times
The Year of the Political Blogger Has Arrived – New York Times