MORNING READ

It may be time for Barack Obama to dial down those lofty fundraising expectations, according to bloggers on both sides who note John McCain’s strong war chest raised in June. McCain needed to distance himself from the latest comments by one of his economic advisers, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), bloggers write. Democrats in the Senate and the next Democrat in the White House should go back and fix the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), suggest the Daily Kos bloggers upset at the this week’s FISA overhaul.

While McCain has announced his $22 million fundraising haul for June, Obama has yet to declare his, which may portend a weak showing, according to The Next Right’s Sean Oxendine. If Obama is to gain the fundraising advantage he had hoped for when he rejected public financing, he needs to raise more money quickly, suggests TalkingPointsMemo’s Josh Marshall and MyDD’s Todd Beeton. McCain’s campaign says it has used the new cash to triple Obama’s spending on early television advertisements in swing states, notes TPM’s David Kurtz.

Gramm, an economic adviser to McCain, called the United States a “nation of whiners” in a “mental recession,” prompting the candidate to say that he understands American workers’ struggles. McCain made the right political move, but he could still benefit from having Gramm, a former Senate Banking Committee chairman, in his corner, writes Morrissey. Gramm’s gaffe was one mistake of many this week for McCain’s team, which also had its candidate talk about “killing Iranians” and call Social Security a “disgrace,” notes The Huffington Post’s Max Bergmann.

Obama should have held his ground and opposed the FISA bill that included telecom immunity since his position ticked off supporters and left him open to “flip-flop” charges, writes smintheus at Daily Kos. If Obama becomes president, he should take up Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Russ Feingold’s (D-Wis.) suggestion to reopen FISA to strengthen the oversight provisions on intelligence agencies’ wiretapping, writes mcjoan, also at Daily Kos.

FROM THE BLOGS:
McCain Gets $22 Million in June – E. Morrissey, Hot Air
McCain Raises $22 Million in June – Todd Beeton, MyDD
Show Me The Money – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
McCain Outspending Obama on TV? – David Kurtz, TPM
Obama Fundraising, Ctd. – Sean Oxendine, The Next Right
McCain Rejects Gramm’s ‘Mental Recession’ – Morrissey, Hot Air
McCain’s Economic Narrative Problem – Chris Cillizza, The Fix
10 McCain Fiascoes in One Week – Max Bergmann, HuffPo
Obama’s FISA Sellout – smintheus, Daily Kos
FISA: What Happens Next? – mcjoan, Daily Kos
VP Line: Romney and Kaine on Top – C. Cillizza, The Fix
Obama/DODD? – Moe Lane, RedState
N.D. Is Swing State, Wis. Isn’t – Todd Beeton, MyDD
Kennedy’s Prescription for Change – J. Cohn, The Plank
Pulling a Dukakis, In a Good Way – N. Silver, The Plank
GOP=Open, Dem=Closed – P. Ruffini, Next Right
Tell Dems to Stop Trying to Block Comm. – Rep. Conaway, RedSt.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
U.S. Weighs Takeover of Mortgage Giants – NYT
Gramm Remark Adds to McCain’s Difficulty Over Econ. – WaPo
McCain Pegs War Chest at $400 Million
– Wall Street Journal
McCain’s Broken Marriage and Fractured Reagan Friendship – LAT

Tags Barack Obama Harry Reid John McCain

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