In a new piece sure to be the talk of the airwaves tonight and tomorrow the New York Times suggests that McCain may have had a romantic affair with 40-year-old lobbyist Vicki Iseman eight years ago. Both deny that an affair had taken place.

From the piece:

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s client, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

For more information on Vicki Iseman check out this piece at Huffington Post. Mark Halperin also looks at the questions this piece raises.

The NYT piece also goes after McCain’s history of being a foe of corporate lobbyists, pointing to what it sees as a long trail of contradictions that have often given McCain “cozy ties” with the very kinds of people he is known for fighting against.

Mr. McCain promised, for example, never to fly directly from Washington to Phoenix, his hometown, to avoid the impression of self-interest because he sponsored a law that opened the route nearly a decade ago. But like other lawmakers, he often flew on the corporate jets of business executives seeking his support, including the media moguls Rupert Murdoch, Michael R. Bloomberg and Lowell W. Paxson, Ms. Iseman’s client. (Last year he voted to end the practice.)