What Was McCain's Response?

Q. As the story was being prepared, but before it appeared, did The Times offer Senator McCain or his staff an opportunity to comment? If so, what was the response?

-- Alan Bliss, Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

A. The reporting team had various conversations and e-mail exchanges with Senator McCain's representatives throughout the process. The campaign denied several requests for interviews with the senator.

As the story noted, Mr. McCain contacted the newspaper once, calling Mr. Keller to complain about the reporters' inquiries, in December. The first extensive interview between Mr. McCain's representatives and the reporting team took place at the lobbying offices of Charles Black, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain, on Dec. 14. In that session, the New York Times reporters requested various documentation, including phone records, office schedules and airplane manifests dating to the 1990s. The reporters followed up with several questions about Ms. Iseman's lobbying efforts before the senator and his committee. Mr. McCain's aides agreed to provide as much of the requested information as possible, but noted that this would take some time (they ultimately said they could not locate some of the documentation). Three of the reporters also met with Mr. McCain's attorney, Robert S. Bennett, at his offices later in December.

The exchange of questions and answers continued off and on until Wednesday, when the newspaper submitted another request for an interview with Senator McCain. That request was denied. And, through Mr. Black, Mr. McCain declined to comment on former associates' accounts of meetings in which he was confronted with their concerns about his ties to Ms. Iseman.

The Times also made repeated efforts to seek Ms. Iseman's comments and responses to questions. Beginning in December, she answered some questions by e-mail, though she declined to speak to reporters on the phone. She again declined a phone interview the day of publication.

-- Jim Rutenberg, Washington correspondent

The pity of it is that, without the sex, The Times was on to a good story. McCain, who was reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee in 1991 for exercising "poor judgment" by intervening with federal regulators on behalf of a corrupt savings and loan executive, recast himself as a crusader against special interests and the corrupting influence of money in politics. Yet he has continued to maintain complex relationships with lobbyists like Iseman, at whose request he wrote to the Federal Communications Commission to urge a speed-up on a decision affecting one of her clients.

Much of that story has been reported over the years, but it was still worth pulling together to help voters in 2008 better understand the John McCain who might be their next president.

All a pretty lobbyist needs to do is smile, have insinuating body language, get a little closer than needed with teasing, insinuating language which promises more than she delivers.  It easily could be more than enough.

Really no need to actually go to bed.  Aides think afairs are going on because McCain and Iseman behaved just as I described above and did that in front of them. We all know what we've such just the same kind of flirtatious behavior...

So did that mean her clients got attention from McCain? Indeed the record seems to support the idea that McCain actually helped those clients.