Here’s a New York Times article describing how the “friendship” between Hillary and John McCain might get in the way if and when they face each other in 2008 as their party’s respective presidential nominees.

To this point, it's been a match made in heaven: McCain has yet to meet a Democrat he doesn’t like, while Hillary is always looking for an unsuspecting Republican to latch on to and help her look moderate. The two have gone on a couple of foreign junkets together, and at one point McCain even told NBC’s Tim Russert that “I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good president.”

Of course, the story has glowing quotes from Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is McCain’s protégé and who is also very fond of Hillary.

McCain is consistently shown in polls as being one of only two Republican candidates (Rudy Giuliani being the other) that has the support to beat Hillary in a hypothetical presidential contest. The only question is if the two can each win their party's nominations. It's possible that their cozy relationship might hurt McCain more within his own party (i.e., Republican primary voters) than it will Hillary among her fellow Democrats.

The Times story also claims that Hillary initiated a vodka-drinking contest with McCain and a few other senators during a trip to Estonia in 2004. Kind of unsettling, if you ask me. Being pro-campaign finance reform and anti-tax cuts is one thing, but doing shots with Hillary is quite another. Run, Rudy, run!