I got a call last night from Ron Wade, our Sunday editor who was sitting in as night news editor yesterday. Ron wanted to discuss a story about John McCain and his ties to a lobbyist in 1999. The story, written by the Washington Post, appeared in this morning’s Post-Dispatch on Page A3.

(The text appears below. Already on STLtoday and other media, the version we ran has been overtaken by stories about McCain’s denial of any sort of romantic relationship with the lobbyist.)

The New York Times ran a much longer — about 100 inches — version on its front-page and web site that quickly alluded to romance. Despite denials from McCain and the lobbyist, the Times’ story mentioned romance in the third sentence.

Ron and I discussed the Times story and decided that we should publish a more politically-oriented version — with on-the-record sourcing — from the Washington Post.

We knew we couldn’t ignore the story. It was certain to create a national buzz, and it has.  But we also didn’t feel comfortable in using the Times story. It purports to be about ethics, but anonymous aides’ references to romance are liberally sprinkled within it.

Today, of course, comes the denial from McCain. And the story takes on a whole new life, fairly or unfairly.  And the discussion Wade and I had last night now seems so outdated and futile.

Here’s the sanitized story we published today:

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post
WASHINGTON • Aides to Sen. John McCain confronted a female telecommunications lobbyist in late 1999 and asked her to distance herself from the senator during the presidential campaign he was about to launch, according to one of McCain’s longest-serving political strategists.
John Weaver, who served as McCain’s closest confidant until leaving his current campaign last year, said he met with the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, and urged her to stay away from McCain. Association with a lobbyist would undermine his image as an opponent of special interests, aides had concluded.
Members of the senator’s small circle of advisers also confronted McCain directly, according to sources, warning him that his continued relationship with a lobbyist who had business before the powerful Commerce Committee he chaired threatened to derail his presidential ambitions.
The New York Times published a lengthy story on its website Wednesday night detailing McCain’s ties to Iseman.
“It’s a shame that the New York Times has chosen to smear John McCain like this,” said Charles R. Black Jr., a top adviser to McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and the head of a Washington lobbying firm called BKSH & Associates. “Neither Senator McCain nor the campaign will dignify false rumors and gossip by responding to them. John McCain has never done favors for anyone, not lobbyists or any special interest. That’s a clear 24-year record.”
The McCain campaign put out a statement Wednesday night decrying “gutter politics” and saying the story — which had been reported on the Drudge Report website in December — was “a hit-and-run smear campaign.”
Iseman, 40, who joined the firm of Alcalde & Fay, based in Arlington, Va., as a secretary and rose to partner within a few years, often touted her access to the Senate Commerce chairman as she worked on behalf of clients such as Cablevision, Echostar, Tribune Broadcasting and Paxson Communications, according to several other lobbyists who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
McCain’s reputation as a crusader for Washington reform — forged during almost 30 years in the Senate — is largely based on his stinging critiques of the role played by lobbyists. He routinely decries earmarks or special projects inserted into legislation. He has claimed repeatedly that he has “never, ever” done a favor for anyone. It was this reputation that McCain’s closest aides sought to protect.
“We were running a campaign about reforming Washington, and her showing up at events and saying she had close ties to McCain was harmful,” said one aide.
The Times reported that Iseman said she never received special treatment from McCain or his office.
Three telecom lobbyists and a former McCain aide, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Iseman spoke up regularly at meetings of telecom lobbyists in Washington, extolling her connections to McCain and his office. She would regularly volunteer at those meetings to be the point person for the telecom industry in dealing with McCain’s office.