As Jonathan reports in Breaking Blue, John McCain canceled his afternoon press avail. Wonder why, don't suppose it could have had something to do with what Robert Schlessinger suggests was a major gaffe from his press conference this morning:

In fending off the press, McCain handed ammunition to his Democratic opponent, when he said that he had lots of lobbyist friends. That's a sound-bite we can expect to see over and over again in the fall in campaign ads as the Democrats set about demolishing his reputation for being a straight-talking, anti-lobbyist reformer.

During his press conference, in response to a question about his relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, McCain called her a friend, but went on to say, essentially, hey, it's no big deal, I got lots of friends! Looking at the video, it's apparent that McCain did tread lightly, taking care to call his friends "people who represent interests" not "lobbyists" and those interests they represent sure weren't "special."

I have many friends in Washington who represent various interests and those who don't and I consider her a friend...I have many friends who represent various interests ranging from the firemen, to the police to senior citizens to various interests particularly before my committee and I had meetings with hundreds of them and that was my job to do to get their input. Obviously, people who represent interests are fine, that's their constitutional right, the question is do they have access or unwarranted influence and certainly no one ever has in the conduct of my public life and my legislative agenda.

Here McCain puts himself in the same unenviable position that Hillary Clinton put herself in during the YearlyKos debate when she defended lobbyists by saying they "represent real people," which may indeed be true but arguing that case is an uphill climb to say the least. This line could indeed come back to bite McCain in the fall, especially if he's up against Barack Obama; he's playing right into exactly the argument Obama has done such a good job of using against Clinton, painting her as representing business as usual in Washington, where "good ideas go to die" largely due to the toxic influence of John McCain's self-confessed friends.

What do you think? You can watch the video below -- the relevant section begins at the 2:11 mark (h/t TPM):