Howard Kurtz has a good column today on Senator McCain and the MSM. An excerpt:

McCain’s ability to charm the press wasn’t responsible for his big win in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, but it didn’t hurt. After the slimy, rumor-filled campaign run against him in that state in 2000, media outlets yesterday embraced the notion that his triumph was “poetic justice” (Chicago Tribune), “exorcising the ghosts” of South Carolina (New York Times) and a “spiritual victory” (Slate). Every presidential campaign is constantly calculating whether journalists are potential allies or incorrigible foes. The media are a great — and dirt-cheap — vehicle for carrying a candidate’s message, but submitting to questioning also carries the risk of being thrown on the defensive, as Mitt Romney learned in a tense exchange with Associated Press veteran Glen Johnson last week over the role of lobbyists in his campaign. As a front-runner, Hillary Clinton spent most of last year keeping reporters at arm’s length. But after falling behind in Iowa, she held an off-the-record dinner with traveling correspondents, brought them doughnuts on the press bus, pretended to be a flight attendant and began doing a slew of interviews, culminating in her “Meet the Press” appearance eight days ago. Accessibility, Clinton has concluded, has its benefits.