For weeks there's been speculation about how John McCain could possibly convince his party's right wing to rally around him. The New York Times may have helped him take a giant step in that direction.

Opinions can differ about whether the Times should have gone with its story about McCain and his alleged close relationship ten years ago with a female lobbyist. But there are enough questions about its timing, the circumstances surrounding its publication, and its hints of improper personal improprieties without actually saying so, that there will be many who will smell a skunk.

In some quarters, mostly Democratic ones, the Times is the beacon of truth. In others, mostly conservative Republican ones, it is anything but. Running against the "liberal media" has served Republicans well ever since Spiro Agnew helped Richard Nixon to mobilize the "silent majority" against the Eastern establishment. Conservative Republicans have suspected for years that McCain, by dint of his frequent bipartisan work in Congress, is actually a secret card-carrying member of that establishment.

It will be hard to make that charge stick any longer. And that could actually help unify his party around him.

To read Steven Stark's complete "Presidential Tote Board" blog, go to www.thephoenix.com/toteboard/