(salon.com) - In December of last year, Matt Drudge reported that John McCain -- who was then in the midst of a surprising comeback in the Republican presidential race -- was desperately trying to convince the New York Times to kill a story about "charges of giving special treatment to a lobbyist," and that McCain had hired a prominent attorney to work on his behalf. For the Arizona senator, who has built a good part of his reputation as a straight talker on his efforts toward campaign finance reform and cleaning up the lobbying culture in Washington, D.C., such a story could theoretically prove quite damaging.

Well, apparently we'll see just what kind of harm the story will do to McCain's campaign, as on Wednesday evening the Times published the article on its Web site. The Times piece, written by a team of reporters, suggests not just special treatment for the lobbyist in question -- Vicki Iseman, 40 -- but the possibility of a romantic relationship between the two, beginning in 1999. Read More