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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The thought process seems a tad counterintuitive:

Journalists, for instance, have become partners with the Clinton campaign in pretending that the contest is closer than it really is. Most coverage breathlessly portrays the race as a down-to-the-wire sprint between two well-matched candidates, one only slightly better situated than the other to win in August at the national convention in Denver.

[snip]

One important, if subliminal, reason is self-interest. Reporters and editors love a close race — it’s more fun and it’s good for business.

The media are also enamored of the almost mystical ability of the Clintons to work their way out of tight jams, as they have done for 16 years at the national level. That explains why some reporters are inclined to believe the Clinton campaign when it talks about how she’s going to win on the third ballot at the Democratic National Convention in August.

That’s certainly possible — and, to be clear, we’d love to see the race last that long — but it’s folly to write about this as if it is likely.

What do you think?

P.S. Matt Drudge is already linking to the Politico’s story.

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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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“Tonight from 7-7:30 p.m. EST, Hillary will appear live on TV on ABC7 and News Channel 8 in the Washington, DC metropolitan area,” according to a news release from the Clinton camp. “Voters nationwide can see Hillary live on Politico.com. The appearance was initially intended to be a debate sponsored by The Politico and ABC7, but Sen. Obama refused to debate Hillary.”

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“We had literally just gotten our drinks of white Chimay!” Politico reporter Helena Andrews tells the City Paper regarding her recent night out inside a smoldering (literally) D.C. bar.

“They were humongous. We were downing our glasses. They were trying to kick us out, but we had just gotten our drinks, and we were going to finish them. And we did.”

It’s unknown just how many drinks Andrews had had up to that point.

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We’re not understanding the causation thesis put forward here by Politico’s Anne Schroeder Mullins. Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time she’s utterly confused us.

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And, for once, it isn’t us saying it.

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We assume they can all afford their own cars. But maybe Anne Schroeder Mullins, the gossip over at the Politico, knows something we don’t?

Earlier: Aoife McCarthy Should Replace Anne Schroeder?

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Reporting news is becoming ever more tricky for the liberal Huffington Post blog. One of their writers has dissected a recent piece in the Politico, saying that the words the authors of the piece use to write about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama indicate a conservative bias. The words, in fact, do support that contention, a contention that we’ve made several times in the past. But the Huffington Post noting that a publication is biased is just another pot calling a kettle black, and will give conservatives fodder to ignore and even mock the serious allegations.

By calling itself liberal from the outset and now attempting to beef up its reporting of serious journalism, the Huffington Post leaves itself open to criticism. Why Arianna Huffington, a longtime conservative who only converted to being a Democrat after her Republican politician husband admitted he was gay, felt it was necessary to become a publisher of a liberal blog is an issue that deserves more exploration. Still, maybe the issue can be summed up best with one word: opportunism. And that’s sad, because Huffington’s opportunism now casts a serious shadow over all of her staff’s work.

Earlier: ABC News Now Works With the Huffington Post

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