This evening the New York Times posted a 3,000 word takedown of Senator John McCain's ethics—and a possibly inappropriate relationship with a female lobbyist—after rival publications became aware of the details of the story, which the newspaper had been holding back.

Carrying the bylines of Jim Rutenberg, Marilyn W. Thompson, David D. Kirkpatrick, and Stephen Labaton, the article describes the efforts of McCain aides, during his first presidential run eight years ago, to separate the senator from a then-32-year-old lobbyist named Vicki Iseman, who they feared might have started a romantic relationship with McCain. Iseman and McCain both denied such a relationship to the Times. While McCain refused to be interviewed by any of the Times reporters, he did telephone Executive Editor Bill Keller to deny that particular allegation.

Michael Isikoff of Newsweek and Michael Calderone of Politico were two of the reporters at rival publications who were chasing the Times story. Calderone was particularly well informed about the details of the Times investigation. Marc Santora, who had been covering the McCain campaign for the paper, reportedly left the beat, in part because of McCain's unhappiness with the pursuit of this story by Ruttenberg and his Times colleagues.

The story also recounts McCain's use of lobbyists in his campaign, and his frequent trips on corporate jets, until the law was changed to prohibit them. (McCain voted for the change in the law.) Keith Olbermann was among the first to discuss the article on MSNBC toight.