MIDDAY ROUNDUP

Polls showing a tight presidential race have bloggers urging Barack Obama to hit back harder against John McCain. Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.), a white, Jewish Democrat facing a tough primary in a majority black district, gets some backup from bloggers over an attack ads they see as anti-Semitic. And the traditional press is finally focusing on reports of an affair involving former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) now the Democratic convention is approaching, their online critics note.

Obama, whose campaign is starting to concern Democrats, should try to undermine the perception of McCain as a maverick and swiftly counter Republican attacks to show that he’s tough, writes AMERICAblog’s John Aravosis. But if Obama buys into the narrative that he’s not “tough enough,” he may become distracted from addressing his policy and message problems and could harm his “New Politics” brand, writes Jennifer Rubin at Contentions. But Obama isn’t the “nice guy” the media makes out to be, as he already tried to play the “race card” against McCain, according to Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey.

Cohen was the target of a “race-baiting” and “Jew-baiting” ad by his Democratic primary opponent Nikki Tinker, according to TPM Election Central’s Eric Kleefeld, who takes issue with the ad’s reference to “our churches.” The ad is just one instance in a string of anti-Semitic attacks against Cohen, who has compiled a record Democrats should respect, writes MyDD’s BruinKid. Liberal blogs should blast the ad, but they shouldn’t be surprised to find that nasty campaign ads can come from both parties, writes The Corner’s Mark Hemingway.

The traditional media is finally asking about Edwards’s personal life, the subject of National Enquirer reports, now that Democrats have to decide whether to give him a convention speaking slot, writes Gawker’s Ryan Tate. The media, which reported on a sex scandal of evangelical leader Ted Haggard, showed it had a double standard by failing to cover reports about Edwards, writes RedState’s Erick Erickson.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Obama Hits Back Too Softly – J. Aravosis, AMERICAblog
That’s The Ticket – Jennifer Rubin, Contentions
Smearing McCain As Racist Isn’t Hitting Hard? – E. Morrissey, Hot Air
Nat’l Polls Still Show Obama Lead – DemFromCT, Daily Kos
Nasty Ad Hits Jewish Dem Congressman – Eric Kleefeld, TPM Election
Racist and Anti-Semitic Ads From a Dem? – BruinKid, MyDD
Nasty Dem Attacks? Impossible! – M. Hemingway, The Corner
Edwards: Please Phone Denver – Shaun Mullen, The Moderate Voice
John Edwards Creates Two Americas – Erick Erickson, RedState
Exploding The Edwards Mistress Scandal – Ryan Tate, Gawker
Dems Do What MSM Won’t – Don Surber

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Bush Lands in Beijing as China Bristles at Speech – Washington Post
Clinton Pledges to Unify Party for Fall Campaign – AP