Ground Game

The Politico's coverage of the Republican debate they co-sponsored last night leads with this Jonathan Martin headline, "Romney falls into McCain trap on Iraq," and Martin declaring of McCain's showing:

It was a dull, boredom-inspring performance. But for the undisputed frontrunner, boring isn’t a bad thing.

Matthew Yglesias, who has taken to "supporting" Mitt Romney because of his belief that Romney presents a weaker GOP general election candidate responds by saying that the voters and media have given McCain a pass on his shaky accusation that Romney previously favored a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq:

One interesting thing about politics is that you might think that when a politician develops a reputation for honesty, the way Saint John of Arizona has, that from that day forward he needs to be super-scrupulous about telling the truth. Otherwise, voters who might dismiss a small fib from a "regular" politician will suddenly be outraged. In truth, the reverse is the case.

But in fact McCain has been piled on with criticism for his attacks. This NRO piece notes McCain’s attack was “being dissected unfavorably on Fox News and CNN,” and that McCain had to clarify himself during his recent “Meet the Press,” appearance. A number of mainstream newspapers and pundit-types, normally friendly to McCain, have also called him out on the issue. And during last night's debate, Romney won applause on more than one occasion while refuting McCain's Iraq claims.

UPDATE: I also meant to note that I'm pretty sure Martin's headline is pointing out that McCain's Iraq focus in the deate pulled Romney off-message and was therefore successful regardless of the actual merits of McCain's attack.