McCain Cries Foul Over NBC Coverage

The McCain camp has fired off a stern letter to NBC objecting to coverage of the weekend's Rick Warren forum, after Andrea Mitchell reported speculation the Republican might have had access to the questions he was asked ahead of time. Commentators wondered if the "cone of silence" designed to keep McCain from hearing questions during Warren's hour with Barack Obama had been breached, judging from McCain's unusually polished answers.

“Make no mistake: This is a serious charge. Andrea Mitchell is repeating, uncritically, a completely unsubstantiated Obama campaign claim that John McCain somehow cheated in last night's forum,” the letter reads, calling the rumor a “blatant falsehood.” The camp later clarified that McCain was in the car and then in a green room with no television, Jake Tapper reports for ABC. But no mention was made, he notes, of whether McCain aides might have been getting reports on their BlackBerries or cell phones. (More McCain 2008 stories.)