First shots in the American media election battle

Well it has started.

The New York Times has choosen today to publish on its front page allegations of John McCain and improper relations(to use an old phrase) with a lobbyist more than 30 years his junior

According to the paper

Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship.

and it continues

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity

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So why publish now?

Editor and publisher reports that the Times had the story back in December

The rumours last December had died down after other reports suggested that that McCain and the unnamed woman had hired Washington lawyer/fixer Bob Bennett to strong arm the Times. Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post reported then that Bennett had dealt with specific issues raised in the reporting. Whatever went down, the story never ran. Until tonight

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Interesting back in December of course McCain was far from being the Republican candidate.Enough said?

The Huffington Post has a number of theories

They range from the generous -- the paper could simply have thought it unfair to publish the story on the eve of a slew or presidential primaries -- to the nefarious -- the Times was waiting to unload on McCain only after he secured the nomination."

Anyway Senator McCain has called a press conference this morning in Ohio in which he refutes the claims

I’m very disappointed in the New York Times piece. It’s not true. "

and his campaign team issued the following

It is a shame that The New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit-and-run smear campaign. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election

The blogsphere is alive with comment not suprisingly.

Check out this post from Gabriel Sherman at New Republic who says

what's most remarkable about the article is that it appeared in the paper at all: The new information it reveals focuses on the private matters of the candidate, and relies entirely on the anecdotal evidence of McCain's former staffers to justify the piece--both personal and anecdotal elements unusual in the Gray Lady. The story is filled with awkward journalistic moves--the piece contains a collection of decade-old stories about McCain and Iseman appearing at functions together and concerns voiced by McCain's aides that the Senator shouldn't be seen in public with Iseman--and departs from the Times' usual authoritative voice.

The Booman Tribune says

What is significant is that the sources for this article are former McCain staffers that contacted the Times in December, before the primaries started. They clearly intended to derail his nomination not destroy the candidacy of the Republican nominee, which is what this article threatens to do now.