John McCain’s denials start to unravel in tale of the blonde lobbyist

The Times of London

The Republican saviour is looking rattled after claims of a sex for favours scandal
Sarah Baxter

If anything was going to derail John McCain’s White House bid, it was the fear that he was too old to be president, not the likelihood of being embroiled in a sex and favours scandal. But when the Arizona senator reached for the lawyer who steered Bill Clinton through his women troubles, it was a sign that he was seriously rattled.

At the moment that the race was shaping up to be an epic contest between Barack Obama and McCain – the future versus the past, as Obama would have it, or naivety versus experience, as McCain prefers to frame it – the scandal hit the newsstands. After an early, highly successful counterattack, McCain was accused this weekend of being economical with the truth as far as some aspects of the story were concerned.

The essence of the tale is fairly simple. Vicki Iseman, 40, a blonde telecommunications lobbyist, became friends with McCain, 71, eight years ago. Some advisers thought the relationship might be romantic.

There is no evidence of an affair but they were certainly cosy. Iseman accompanied him to fundraisers, travelled with him on a client’s jet and appeared to trade on her relationship with him to such an extent that McCain’s senior advisers warned her to back off.

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