'The question is whether they have unwarranted access or interest and certainly no one ever has.'|

'I have many friends who represent various interests ranging from the firemen to politics to senior citizens,' he said. He insisted that he was not unduly influenced by any of his contacts with lobbyists in Washington. McCain denied any knowledge of such concern among his aides today, or of any such meeting with Iseman. Iseman's involvement in the campaign, it was felt by us, could undermine that effort.' 'Our political messaging during that time period centered around taking on the special interests and placing the nation's interests before either personal or special interest,' the newspaper quoted Weaver saying. It quoted a former strategist for McCain, John Weaver, as saying in an email that he had arranged a meeting between an aide and Iseman at Washington's Union Station to ask her to stay away from the campaign. The newspaper said Iseman was a frequent visitor to McCain's Senate office and that he had flown with her on a corporate jet belonging to her client, Paxson communications. But he insisted today he did not advocate on behalf of Iseman's client, but merely pressed the FCC to speed up its process. McCain wrote two letters urging the Federal Communications Commission, the regulatory authority, to issue a decision. Iseman was working on behalf of a small media chain which was seeking support from Congress for its purchase of a Pittsburgh television station. The newspaper said McCain had complained about its investigation during a telephone call with its executive editor, Bill Keller, in which the senator had also denied an affair with Iseman.Īt the time of the alleged affair, McCain was chairman of the Senate's powerful commerce committee. The Times had been pursuing the story for months and by the time it published today, other news organisations, including the New Republic, had their own versions of the relationship between McCain and Iseman. In 2000, McCain put his opposition to corporate interests at the centre of his failed campaign for the Republican nomination against George Bush. The Vietnam war hero has built his candidacy around his reputation as a crusader against Washington's monied interests, as symbolised by his campaign bus, which he calls the Straight Talk Express. In addition to allegations of an affair, the suggestion of overly close links to lobbyists have the potential to damage McCain. However, despite an insurmountable lead in the delegate race, McCain has yet to win the trust of the conservative wing of his party. After hauling his campaign back from the brink of collapse last summer, he is virtually assured of winning the Republican nomination against Mike Huckabee.

McCain's wife preserved the measured tone, stepping up only briefly to the microphone to say: 'My children and I not only trust my husband but, more importantly, know that he would never do anything to disappoint our family and more importantly disappoint America.'Īs McCain himself acknowledged today, the allegations appear at a delicate time.

Although McCain has a reputation on Capitol Hill as a man with an explosive temper, he spoke in a quiet voice and repeatedly emphasised his 'disappointment' with the Times. This morning's appearance brought a decidedly muted response from McCain only hours after his aides railed against the story as 'gutter politics' and a 'smear campaign'. The newspaper had reported that aides to McCain had confronted Iseman in 1999 and told her to stay away from McCain because they were concerned that the tie to the lobbyist could hurt his political career.

Viki iseman