McCain and Lobbyists

There were contrasting columns in the nation's leading newspapers today. In the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne agrees with Clark Hoyt, the New York Times' public editor, that the Times disastrously and unprofessionally injected unproven allegations of a sex scandal into its quad-authored story about John McCain's ties to a telecom lobbyist. But Dionne goes on to say, again echoing Hoyt, that the Times was onto an important story -- what the headline writer calls McCain's "lobbyist baggage". Writes Dionne: "It's...perfectly reasonable for journalists to explore how McCain's strong words about lobbyists square with how he's actually dealt with them."

Dionne is right; we should and will pour over McCain's record in the Senate, including his years as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, looking for inconsistencies between the actions he took and his image as an anti-lobbyist reformer. But in the Times, David Brooks is also right when he reminds readers that McCain's record is replete with examples of him stiffing lobbyists from major moneyed interests, including ones closely tied to the GOP. It is simply a fact that no other member of Congress has, over the past dozen years, engaged in so many high profile battles with well-funded special interests, often in direct conflict with his own party.

That record of reform will likely be an asset for McCain with independent voters in the general election. I suspect that by going after McCain's strength, Democrats are not really expecting to erase that history so much as they are hoping to muddy it. The larger goal will be to portray McCain, age 71, as part of the past, a practicioner of the old ways of doing business in Washington, while Obama, 46, comes off as the future, the change agent unsullied by the old Washington battles. The argument will be that McCain's rhetoric about lobbyists doesn't match his record. The problem with that line of attack is....McCain's record. As Joan Claybrook of Public Citizen -- an organization rarely allied with Republicans -- writes in a press release she issued today, and which the McCain campaign eagerly emailed around:

We are compelled to note something that has been lost in the recent criticism of Sen. McCain's association with lobbyists: Regardless of how many lobbyists are working on his campaign or raising money for him, John McCain fought for 14 long, hard years for reforms that seriously limit lobbyists power. He has fought for campaign finance reform, limits on gifts and travel from lobbyists, and extensive public disclosure of lobbyists activities - all of which limit the influence of lobbyists and the companies that hire lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

McCain's record will be scoured; something may be uncovered that is more damning than his less-than-meets-the-eye letters on behalf of Paxson Communications to the FCC nearly a decade ago. If not, the attempt to portray McCain as a hypocrite on lobbying and lobbyists will fail. And his record on this subject is better known -- and far better -- than most.

Instead, I suspect the race will turn on two factors more central to voters' concerns, at least for now -- the economy and Iraq.