The New York Times wants to print an article accusing John McCain of letting an industry lawyer write parts of the telcom legislation. The McCain campaign is insisting that they don't.

McCain describes the timing as "interesting" which is an understatement considering that he's basically risen from the dead to become very competitive in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Yet the Times says its been working on the article for six weeks, before McCain started showing signs of life again.

I'm not sure why the McCain campaign is putting up such a fuss. It seems unlikely that the New York Times is all that interested in spiking their favorite Republican unless they are lending far more credence to poll matchups with Hillary that any sane and reasonable person should.

I am perplexed at the reasoning that goes into the McCain camps unwillingness to the see the article published--it will be published, and just before Christmas when few people are going to be paying attention seems an ideal time for it. It gives McCain time to formulate a response.

To wait after the initial primaries is problematic, because part of the story will be that McCain tried to squelch the story, If McCain manages to win in New Hampshire, this will effectively poison the victory.