MORNING READ

Despite claims in the traditional media that the presidential race is a toss-up, the evidence now shows that Barack Obama has built a significant lead, according to his blogging backers. Obama and John McCain are scrutinized for past comments on the U.S. military surge as both talk about a withdrawal from Iraq. And with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) starting a fight over the measures Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has blocked, Coburn has taken to the blogs to accuse Reid of distracting the chamber.

State polls show that Obama could win the election without winning a single swing state, but political scientists are split over whether Obama is poised to win handily or if the race is too close to call, writes Thomas B. Edsall in the Huffington Post. Obama leads by nine percentage points in the latest Gallup tracking poll, making Atrios question the narrative that the Democrat isn’t winning by enough. Obama has a “clear, if modest, lead” and has received a “significant, if modest” bounce from his trip abroad, writes Daily Kos’s DemFromCT, who is still waiting for others to report those facts.

Though McCain has touted his decision to support the surge as evidence of his good judgment, the Republican had hedged his bets by raising questions over its execution back when it began, TalkingPointsMemo’s Josh Marshall reminds readers. But unless Obama acknowledges the positive results of the surge, he shouldn’t argue that his withdrawal plan is correct, writes RedState’s Pejman Yousefzadeh.

Coburn writes on RedState that Reid’s $10 million spending bill made up of 35 measures Coburn has blocked merely encourages a less transparent lawmaking process and is distracting the Senate from debating a comprehensive energy plan. But while Coburn may be acting on his fiscal principles, he is the one who has brought the Senate to a screeching halt, writes The New Argument’s Joshua Gottesman.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Obama-McCain: Blowout or Trench Warfare? – T. Edsall, HuffPo
But He Should Be Up By 20! – Atrios, Eschaton
Media Narrative: Dead Heat, Damn the Facts – DemFromCT, DKos
Hug For Obama, Handshake for McCain – J. Harwood, The Caucus
Did McCain Hedge Bets on Surge? – Josh Marshall, TPM
Obama Shouldn’t Use Surge for Advantage – Yousefzadeh, RedState
Obama: Just a Bit Patronizing? – Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall.com
Welcome News from VP Search? – desmoinesdem, MyDD
Sen. Reid Offers Excuses Not Solutions – Sen. Tom Coburn, RedState
Harry Reid’s Dr. No – Joshua Gottesman, The New Argument
GOP To Make Oil, Energy Central Message – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Democrats Try To Break Grip of Senate’s Dr. No – New York Times
Record Deficit Expected in 2009 – USA Today
Iraq Clings to Rickety Calm Between War and Peace – L.A. Times
For Obama, Hurdles in Expanding Black Vote – Washington Post