The New York Times began reporting its story about John McCain's relationship with Vicki Iseman after two sources told its reporters that McCain had had an affair with the lobbyist for many months, and that McCain's wife had become aware of the relationship.

After Mr. McCain and Ms. Iseman denied the affair to the Times, the newspaper reported last night that Mr. McCain had acknowledged to two of his associates in 2000 that he had been "behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance from Ms. Iseman."

Sources told Radar that one of these associates was John Vincent (Vin) Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota who was an advisor to McCain's presidential campaign in 2000. In 2007, Weber became Policy Chairman for the Romney for President Exploratory Committee.

Weber did not immediately respond to a message left with the receptionist at Clark & Weinstock in Washington this morning, where Weber is a partner. The message said Radar would report that Weber was one of the sources of the story in the New York Times. The receptionist said Weber was in a meeting and could not come to the telephone.

One of the reporters on the Times story was Marilyn W. Thompson. On February 11, the Washington Post announced that Thompson was leaving the Times to become the Washington Accountability editor on the national desk of the Post.

Several blogs reported this morning that Thompson had decided to leave the Times because of the long delay before its story about Senator McCain was published in the newspaper today. In an e-mail message, Thompson told Radar, "I consider that assertion to be incorrect. The Post offer allowed me a chance to return to management and guide stories and reporting that I care about. If anything, this story made me realize I need to return to management."

UPDATE: At 12:51 PM, , after this story was posted, Weber called Radar with this statement: "Absolutely, positively completely not true in any form."