The mushroom cloud that hangs over McCain

Increasingly certain that their Democratic opponent in the autumn will be Barack Obama, John McCain's political handlers are sketching out their strategy: to portray Obama as a mere novice in statecraft, devoid of those powers of mature wisdom and sober judgment with which the seasoned McCain is so richly endowed.

The danger here for McCain is that there are bountiful stories attesting to his volcanic lack of self control, capricious moral standards and lack of political judgment. In 1999, when McCain was battling George W Bush for the Republican nomination, the Arizona Republic, one of the most conservative dailies in the country, editorialised about "less flattering" aspects of their senator's character.

"Many Arizonans active in policy-making have been the victim of McCain's volcanic temper," the Republic stated. "McCain often insults people and flies off the handle."

There is reason, the editorial concluded bleakly, "to seriously question whether McCain has the temperament, and the political approach and skills, we want in the next president."

Though the same paper has offered demure support for McCain this time around, Democratic campaign commercials in the autumn will surely be citing the paper's 1999 verdict, along with the considered judgment of Thad Cochran, the Republican senator from Mississippi who's known McCain for 30 years. "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine," said Cochran. "He is erratic. He is hot-headed."

There was a famous fight in Arizona that went on for years about Mount Graham, on which the federal government wanted to put a telescope. Indians said it was sacred. Greens said its slopes sheltered the endangered Mount Graham red squirrel. In 1992, a couple of physicians, Robin Silver and Bob Witzeman, went to meet McCain at his office to discuss the issue.

At the mention of the words Mount