John McCain, the Arizona Senator and likely presidential candidate for the Republican Party, denied the latest media reports according to which he had an improper relationship with a female lobbyist, Vicki Iseman. His team apparently managed to turn an image problem into an opportunity.

McCain was asked directly if he had a romantic relationship with Iseman and he answered simply: "No." The former Navy pilot during the Vietnam War then talked about his relation with Iseman and said they were "friends" and he had "seen her on occasions, particularly at receptions and fund-raisers and appearances before the committee."

The allegations, published in the New York Times, said that McCain pushed legislation that would have benefited Iseman’s clients. The veteran lawmaker from Arizona and his wife Cindy attended a news conference in Toledo, Ohio. During the conference, McCain expressed his disappointment regarding the fact that the New York Times chose to run the article about his alleged improper relationship.

In the meantime, McCain and his aides fended off the heat and converted the scandal into an opportunity. McCain’s campaign announced Friday that it had just recorded its single-best 24 hours in online fund-raising. Also, many conservatives who had long distrusted Mr. McCain on a variety of issues, such as immigration, tax policy and campaign reform, have jumped to his defense.

"This is the most despicable act of liberal bias that I have seen in my life," Sean Hannity, the conservative talk show host, quoted by the New York Times. "They wanted you to come to a conclusion, and that is that Senator McCain had some kind of relationship with a female lobbyist and did special favors for her. It is beyond disgusting and despicable."

The situation drew similar reactions from other McCain skeptics.

Meanwhile the NYT has backed up and is on the defense. "They're trying to change the subject to us," Bill Keller, the paper's executive editor, said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. He also alleged that McCain's advisers are attempting "to use the New York Times as an opportunity to rally the base."