Can McCain Win by Running Against the Press?

John McCain's opponent in the presidential race is Barack Obama -- but that's not who he's running against.

These days, the McCain campaign's harshest words are all directed at another foe: the media. Last night, McCain canceled an interview with Larry King to protest the aggressive questioning of a spokesman by CNN's Campbell Brown. Steve Schmidt, McCain's chief strategist, went on the offensive in the Washington Post, saying the press is out to destroy vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. My colleague Matt Cooper says the McCainiacs are so worked up, they're "looking to make the media the major issue" in the race. And sympathetic pundits from Rich Lowry to Laura Ingraham have taken up the theme, claiming the elitists who control the media can't stand the thought of a working-class woman being first in line for the presidency.

Personally, I think this analysis is pure idiocy. Bill Clinton's white-trash roots never kept the press from embracing him, nor did John Kerry's patrician manner prevent him from being brutally mocked and caricatured.

Moreover, there's absolutely no reason to believe Palin is getting any rougher treatment than any other candidate, Republican or Democratic, male or female, would be getting under similar circumstances. If it feels like the scrutiny is more intense, it's only because she was such an unknown before Friday. The vetting and dirty-laundry-airing that would normally be stretched out over months has been compacted into the space of a few days. (If you don't believe me, check out Time.com, where 70 percent of respondents in a poll are now saying they think Palin's getting fair treatment.)

Palin also has the bad luck to come along just a few weeks after the news of John Edwards' affair broke. Reporters and editors who feel rightfully red-faced at the way they pooh-poohed those rumors right up until the moment Edwards confirmed them are over-compensating, understandably, by chasing down even the flimsiest leads about Palin and her family. Asking questions is not a form of "smearing" (although newspapers come close to crossing the line when they report the mere existence of unsubstantiated rumors as though that constitutes news).

But whether or not the press is biased against McCain and Palin, McCain's campaign will continue to scream bloody murder as long as it thinks that helps his chances in November. Will it?

I find it hard to see the upside. Obviously, part of the strategy here is to "work the refs" -- that is, to mau-mau reporters, editors, producers and commentators into going easier on McCain and harder on Obama. That can work in a limited way -- skeptical coverage of Obama seemed to increase somewhat after Hillary Clinton aired similar grievances. But the hyper-aggressive way Team McCain's pursuing it it risks alienating neutral journalists (like Campbell Brown, who ought to be applauded for refusing to accept sheer spin as an answer), and it doesn't seem to have much effect on the pro-Obama forces. Has MSNBC been any nicer to McCain since its coverage was mocked in the "Obama Love" ad? (Well, maybe a little, if Keith Olbermann's absence from the Republican convention this week was a sop to the right. But perhaps the network just wanted him elsewhere to avoid a repeat of last week's on-set squabbling.)

In McCain's case, working the refs is especially unlikely to succeed because of the obvious hypocrisy involved. This is a man who just three years ago was fondly referring to the press corps as "my base" in recognition of his historically warm and open relationships with journalists from across the political spectrum. Now he's in the position of having to pretend those relationships never existed -- a position he's able to maintain only with an incredible degree of awkwardness.

Can press vilification move the polls? Howard Kurtz seems to think so: "Denouncing the news media as biased also plays well with many Republican voters," he says. Sure, but what about the swing voters, who may well decide this election between two candidates who hypothetically both possess crossover appeal? To moderates, who are unlikely to see Campbell Brown or The New York Times as agents of Democratic dirty tricks, McCain risks coming off as a crybaby. As Bob Garfield puts it:

Running against the media is a time-honored tactic but also a historically unavailing one, usually attempted in desperation by panicking campaigns unable to compete with the opponent himself. McCain would be wise to enjoy this funny interlude and then move on to the issues, lest his witty red flag be mistaken for a white one.

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