Rough Week Continues for McCain

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2008— -- Just when John McCain may have been breathing a sigh of relief, his campaign woke up to a new round of negative headlines -- this time, suggesting that in defending himself against The New York Times this week, he had misrepresented some facts.

In an effort to refute the Times story implying the senator had an inappropriate relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, McCain's campaign stated unequivocally on Thursday that he had never held a meeting with Iseman and her client, broadcaster Lowell Paxson, about letters he sent to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf in 1999.

But it turns out, McCain did sit down with the two of them, and he himself admitted to the meeting in a 2002 deposition.

Today, McCain's lawyer says the campaign got its facts about the meeting wrong, but insists the underlying point remains the same.

"He didn't do anything improper," McCain attorney Bob Bennett said. "Members of Congress all the time make calls to nudge action. Where it gets to be improper is when you start to weigh in too heavily as to what the action should be."

In this case, Bennett said, McCain explicitly did not do that. In the letters, McCain urged the FCC to come to a decision regarding Paxson's attempt to acquire a Pittsburgh television station, but he did not press them to rule one way or the other.

All in all, it's been been one of the roughest weeks of McCain's political career. So far, he appears to have survived it -- and in some ways, may have emerged even stronger. Many conservatives are now rallying behind him in opposition to the Times.

Conservative talk radio has been come down particularly hard on the Times: Rush Limbaugh this week called the story "drive-by media."

Today, the Times's own public editor criticized his paper's piece, writing: "If you cannot provide readers with some independent evidence, I think it is wrong to report the suppositions or concerns of anonymous aides."

But there may also be lingering scars for McCain.

One of the pillars of the senator presidential campaign is his reputation as a crusader for ethics reform. If new details continue to emerge about his dealings with lobbyists, that reputation could be jeopardized.

This week, he took another hit on that front, after he received a letter from the Federal Election Commission saying he may not be allowed to withdraw from the public financing system -- and then said he would do so anyway.

The move may be necessary for McCain's political viability, because he would be unable to keep pace financially with either of his likely Democratic opponents, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, under the constraints of the public financing system.

Since the FEC currently doesn't have enough commissioners to form a quorum, there isn't much it can do to stop him from withdrawing. But the move could cost him the moral high ground.

"He's a campaign-finance reformer, but he finds himself in a position of possibly competing against a man who is raising funds at a record pace," said Georgetown political science professor Clyde Wilcox, referring to Obama's record-setting fundraising. "You have to almost feel sorry for the guy, because he believes in this system, [but he may] be running against someone who raised $36 million last month alone."