MORNING READ

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