Ron Fournier, the Associated Press' new Washington D.C. bureau chief who hopes to rewrite the rules of reporting, is a known Karl Rove lover. But his obvious political leanings were not, insists John McCain's camp, the reason they tried, though failed, to solicit him to help run the campaign — it was just because Fournier — whose new job responsibilities include calling the election's winner this November — was so adept at the political process. A political process that, at the time, involved him running the now defunct pundit site HotSoup.com, which he co-founded with Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign. Again, just a happy coincidence.

When reached by phone Monday, Fournier declined to comment, but referred the matter to AP spokesman Paul Colford, who issued a statement:

“It is not uncommon for journalists to be approached by political campaigns, elected officials and government agencies about possible job opportunities. Ron Fournier was approached by the McCain campaign and decided he wasn't interested in working for a political campaign, months before he rejoined AP in March 2007.”

The revolving door between journalism and partisan politics has turned faster in recent years. Among the most prominent recent converts is veteran journalist Linda Douglass, who joined Barack Obama's campaign in May, fresh from reporting on his campaign for National Journal.

Fournier also met privately with McCain in his Senate office in late 2006, a discussion that Salter maintains was related to that “Internet thing.” An AP spokesman agreed, telling Politico that any “direct conversations” with McCain “were within the context of operating and editing Hotsoup.com.”

Uh huh. All this for a guy who's now running a wire service that, as Politico notes, "seemed too cozy with McCain" already. And now that Fournier is encouraging his reporters to call it like they see it, rather than dance around presenting all sides of a situation when somebody is obviously bullshitting, critics assert the AP's new political coverage "is softer on McCain at the expense of the Democrats."

But hey, at least there's former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough to balance things out!

So what to make of the sight, last week, of former Republican Representative Joe Scarborough, now host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, guffawing with his panelists at the sight of the Republican stalwart?

“You know what that looks like?” Mr. Scarborough asked his panel as b-roll took over the screen showing Senator McCain in the dairy aisle of a supermarket in Bethlehem, Pa. “‘No, Granddad—no, no, not down here. Talk to the grandkids. Show ’em the penny trick!’”

“O.K., [liberal MSNBC host Keith] Olbermann, O.K.,” said Republican strategist and McCain 2000 mastermind Mike Murphy, a guest panelist charged with defending the Republican nominee. “Beat up the poor …”

This is not where John McCain, who used to refer jokingly to the media as his “base,” belongs. And it shows.