John McCain’s campaign sought to read the funeral rites yesterday over newspaper allegations that he had an improper — even romantic — association with Vicki Iseman, a female lobbyist, eight years ago.

The 3,000-word article, published in The New York Times last week, has triggered an unexpected surge of support for him from conservative figures such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.

These are some of the people who a few days earlier had expressed deep reservations over Mr McCain’s emergence as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. But they appear to hold The New York Times in even lower regard as an unapologetic bastion of liberal influence.

Clark Hoyt, The New York Times’s own arbiter of readers’ complaints, declared that his colleagues had failed to provide sufficient on-the-record evidence to justify the allegations. “The article was notable for what it did not say,” he said. “If a newspaper is going to suggest an improper sexual affair, whether editors think that is the central point or not, it owes readers more proof than The Times was able to provide. The stakes are just too big.”

Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Mr McCain, said: “The New York Times has now officially been hoisted by its own petard.” Bob Bennett, the Washington lawyer hired by Mr McCain to rebut the claims, said that the subject was “now over with”, adding: “It was much ado about nothing.” Tim Pawlenty, the Governor of Minnesota and one of Mr McCain’s national co-chairmen who is often mentioned as a possible vice-presidential running mate, described the article as “one of the worst pieces of journalism I’ve seen in recent times”.

Mr McCain may yet suffer aftershocks, however, because of the unwelcome spotlight it has shone upon the lobbyists who work for him, despite a public image of standing up to special interests. He has already had to clarify his position over denials issued last week that he had met Lowell “Bud” Paxson, then the head of Paxson Communications and a client of Ms Iseman, when the firm was seeking to buy a television station in Pittsburgh.

It remains possible that a bigger problem for Mr McCain will be another story, which broke on Thursday but that was largely overlooked amid the salaciousness surrounding The New York Times report.

Federal election officials have told Mr McCain he cannot withdraw from the public funding system he joined when his campaign was faced with bankruptcy before his New Hampshire comeback. The ruling could restrict his spending to about $7 million (£3.5 million) before the Republican nominating convention in September.

Although Mr McCain’s camp say they will ignore it, the Democratic National Committee plans to file a formal complaint saying he has — or is about to — break the law. Howard Dean, the DNC chairman, said: “John McCain poses as a reformer but seems to think reforms apply to everyone but him.”

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