I saw someone at the Huffington Post (sorry, I didn't save the link) describe the recent article about McCain as their gift to him. It sounds strange but this is probably correct.
The Huffer pointed out that the timing was favorable to McCain. The story has been floating around as a rumor since December. By running it now it can't hurt McCain's primary campaign. While he doesn't have the magic number of delegates yet, he is so close that no one else can stop him. Also voters will have forgotten it by November.
The article helped McCain in other ways. Nothing endears you to conservatives than the feeling that the New York Times is picking on you unfairly. By running a poorly sourced story about something that may or may not have happened in 1999 the Times has outraged conservatives. Fund raising is up. Instead of complaining about McCain not being conservative enough, Rush Limbaugh and other radio hosts are now defending him. This in turn has change how the McCain campaign is being reported. Until now the main story was conservatives rejecting him. Now the story is about how unfairly the Times treated him.
With some people this sort of story sticks and with others it is rejected. There was a story linking Bush (41) with a lady ambassador. Both parties denied it and the story died. On the other hand, when the stories started about Bill Clinton, they came complete with audio recordings. After that the best the Clinton campaign could hope for was that the next bimbo to confess would be attractive. McCain is well respected and this story will not stick.
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