SUNDAY ROUNDUP

John McCain ran nearly even with Barack Obama in the May money race, showing Obama may not have as big of a general election fundraising advantage as previously thought, bloggers write Sunday. Most agree that NBC made the right choice in picking Tom Brokaw to head “Meet the Press” through the election and liberal bloggers applaud MoveOn.org for putting its foot down on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act overhaul.

Obama may not have made a good call in choosing to forgo public financing after his May fundraising slowed substantially, Matthew Yglesias writes. The blogger points out that Obama’s advantage among small donors may prove to be his undoing as a huge group of small donors are harder to rally in a crunch than a small group of big donors. But conservative blogger Patrick Ruffini was not put at ease by the numbers, worrying the slowdown is only the calm before the storm as Obama joins forces the with the Democratic National Committee and small donors start kicking in toward the general election.

Picking Brokaw to host “Meet the Press” is a temporary, but necessary, fix for NBC, TV Decoder writes. The blogger points out that Brokaw will keep the show on top of its competitors through the election and allow a permanent replacement to make his or her mark past the high tension of a presidential election. The Swamp agrees, writing that the easiest way to replace the irreplaceable Tim Russert is to not permanently replace him yet.

And MoveOn.org is flexing its political muscle against Obama, hoping to hold the Democratic standard-bearer to a pledge to work to strip telecommunications immunity from the FISA rewrite. MyDD’s Todd Beeton sides with MoveOn, arguing now is the time to hold Obama accountable to some of the liberal stances the Illinois senator took during the primary campaign.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Elian Gonzalez Haunts Obama – Top of the Ticket
MoveOn: Tell Obama to Filibuster FISA – Todd Beeton, MyDD
What Will Bill Clinton Do? – The Corner
Most Disagree with GITMO Decision – Allahpundit, Hot Air
The CIA’s Torture Hole in Poland – Jeralyn, TalkLeft
May Fundraising – Matthew Yglesias
McCain Nearly Outraises Obama in May – Patrick Ruffini
Brokaw on ‘Meet’ Through November – The Swamp
Brokaw to Host ‘Meet the Press’ – TV Decoder

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Inside a 9/11 Mastermind’s Interrogation – New York Times
U.S. TV Station Fails to Find Niche in Middle East – Washington Post
McCain, Obama Try to Stick Flip-Flop Label on Opponent – The Hill