Yes, that’s the Politico’s Jonathan Martin cozying up to Meghan McCain. The daughter of John McCain recently posted the picture on her blog.

Meghan also recently shared a tale about Martin cooking ribs with her dad and bringing her mom, Cindy, flowers when he visited the family’s Arizona ranch.

Is this journalism or a courtship?

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Must-read background info on John McCain’s precious baby girl here.

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Sen. John McCain’s daughter, Meghan, has posted the following video on her blog, in which she says that Politico reporters brought her mom, Cindy, a bouquet of flowers when they visited the McCain Sedona ranch and cabin this past weekend for a big Spring Break-style party.

Journalists giving presents to their interview subjects is generally frowned upon.

Newsweek’s Holly Bailey is also shown in the video with a wine glass in hand, swinging playfully on a tire swing on the McCain estate. Megan says, too, that Politico’s Jonathan Martin helped her dad barbecue some of his “famous ribs” during the soiree.

“This is much better than Washington, D.C.,” Cindy McCain is heard saying in the video.

Yeah, we bet. But, jeez, haven’t average non-elite Americans been complaining for ages that the glitzy D.C. press has gotten much too close to the politicos they cover? This Sedona Spring Break romp will do little to ease their fears.

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In yet another aesthetically unpleasing redesign (this year alone), Nick Denton, publisher of Wonkette, has decided to change the site. With its numbers dropping dramatically since Ana Marie Cox left to work for Time almost two years ago, Denton doesn’t seem to understand that it’s not the background fonts, colors and graphics that are the problem. It’s the writers he’s chosen to replace Cox. Starting with Alex Pareene and continuing through to the latest new batch of editors, they don’t really seem to know or care what they’re writing about. They’re just trying to get page views, since that’s the way they get bonuses, and the site is hurting because of it.

Case in point: We’ve had more sex scandals in Washington since Cox left than the whole length of her tenure. And yet, she made more out of so much less. She helped the desperate Jessica Cutler to become a household name in a way that her replacements never could. The biggest story reported on Wonkette this year was, of course, the dirty David Phillips relationship with Sen. Larry Craig — but even that was contributed by a freelancer — a freelancer who told Big Head DC he received only $12 for the post.

Why has Wonkette fallen so sharply, so fast? Some will say it’s because the majority of the Cox replacements have been men, and they seemed to think that readers would just be bowled over by their use of words like “Cocktober” as literary devices. But we think not. The right cock could have definitely built a platform on top of Cox’ shaft.

Megan Carpentier, one of the latest new Wonkette writers, may be able to do something there, as she’s shown the most promise. But too often her voice is lost because the other writers are trying to promote their work, and her items gets pushed down the page, hard to find. It’s a problem that Cox never had to deal with. Her work always stood at attention.

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Her dad, after all, will be the first Republican candidate to participate in MySpace and MTV’s presidential dialogue series tonight at 7:00 pm ET from Southern New Hampshire University.

Our sources close to the political daughter tell us that Meghan would love nothing more than to land a gig as an MTV News correspondant. Expect her to get all gussied up to chat with MTV’s Gideon Yago and John Norris, as well as with washingtonpost.com’s “The Fix” columnist Chris Cillizza, who will all moderate the series.

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“Arizona senator John McCain’s mother was forced to retract a statement she made Friday about Mitt Romney, a rival for her son’s presidential aspirations,” Radar reports. “Appearing on MSNBC, Mom McCain blamed ‘the Mormons’ for the scandals surrounding the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.”

Now, the only question remains: Is Mother McCain crazier than daughter Meghan is sexy?

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Newsweek’s Andrew Romano is saying that Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain, has definitely got the most potential to be a White House wild child, if her dad is elected to the presidency. And he should know! Young Meghan was once an intern at Newsweek. She must have done something pretty nasty! Tipsters?

Earlier: Cindy McCain: Bush Spread Rumors That John Fathered Black Child Out of Wedlock

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Members of the McCain family last evening detailed on Nightline how hard it has been to raise a black child in a very white home, as well as in a political climate that has seen political foes challenge her birthright.

Mom Cindy McCain shared that, due to an addiction to painkillers, she had previously not been able to protect her younger daughter Bridget from brutal politically-motivated racial attacks on the campaign trail. Leading up to the 2000 South Carolina Republican presidential primary, opponents spread false rumors that John McCain had fathered his then-7-year-old daughter out of wedlock with a black mother. In fact, the McCains adopted Bridget from Bangladesh in 1991.

The senator and his wife have now come to believe the Bush campaign used push-polling to make voters think that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock.

Read more…

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That’s Meghan McCain (left) and Bridget McCain on the campaign trail this weekend in Arizona with their pappy.

And here’s one of Meghan with her dad. Hot! (And she’s not so bad herself.)

Related: Caroline Giuliani’s Underage Drunk Pics Revealed

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