MORNING READ

The suggestion by Barack Obama’s campaign that John McCain didn’t play by the rules at Saturday’s Saddleback Forum has tweaked conservative bloggers. The Republican may have been less than truthful in telling one of his most powerful stories, according to his liberal critics online. And McCain is gaining on the Democrat in a big swing state, Ohio, according to a new poll picked up by bloggers.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that Obama aides are concerned that McCain unfairly heard questions posed by moderator Rick Warren at Saturday’s event before he had to answer them. That amounts to an accusation that McCain “cheated,” according to Newsbusters’ D.S. Hube. There’s no proof McCain knew the questions, and Mitchell should do more investigating to see whether the accusations are true, writes Townhall’s Amanda Carpenter. McCain, however, was not in the designated “cone of silence” aimed at preventing him from hearing the queries, so his campaign’s letter blasting NBC comes off as “defensive and prickly,” writes Andrew Sullivan.

McCain’s story from his time as a prisoner of war about a Vietnamese guard drawing a cross in the dirt sounds awfully similar to one written by author Alexander Solzhensityn, whom McCain has praised before, write Daily Kos’s rickrocket and Sullivan. But people shouldn’t be shocked that there are similarities between a novel about real-life horrors and the actual experiences of a POW, writes The Corner’s Kathryn Jean Lopez.

A new Public Policy Polling survey shows McCain pulling even with Obama in the Buckeye State due largely to unhappiness among Democrats with their presidential candidate. Gains by McCain have erased the advantages Obama held in the Electoral College map, even though the Democrat still has a slight edge in the national popular vote, writes FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver.

FROM THE BLOGS:
NBC’s Mitchell Floats Idea McCain Cheated – D.S. Hube, Newsbusters
The ‘McCain Cheated!’ Rumor – Amanda Carpenter, Townhall
The Moral of Saddleback – Taylor Marsh
Did McCain Just Pop Off – Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish
‘Cross In The Dirt’ Story Stolen – rickrocket, Daily Kos
McCain’s ‘Cross In the Dirt’ Story – A. Sulllivan, The Daily Dish
Stolen from Solzhenitsyn? – Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner
McCain Pulls Even in Ohio – T. Jensen, Public Policy Polling
Buckeye Blues – Nate Silver, The Plank
Obama Is Not Underperforming – Adam C, RedState
No One Is Safe – Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner
The Obama Veep Position – Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner
Obama’s Veep Week – Ed Kilgore, Democratic Strategist

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
For Convention, Obama’s Image is All-American – New York Times
Voter Registration Key to Obama’s Efforts in Va. – Washington Post
As Running Mate, Biden Offers F.P. Heft but Insider Image – NYT
No More Hugs as Obama Tears Into McCain – Associated Press