In yet another blow to his floundering campaign, The New York Times reports that McCain may have broken Senate ethics rules. His aides have confirmed that John McCain made a call to his top fundraisers from the Republican cloakroom, right off the Senate floor. McCain is well acquainted with the rule restricting campaign activity inside the Senate building: He headed up calls for an investigation of Al Gore for supposed violation of the same rule 10 years ago.

New York Times:

WASHINGTON, July 11 — About 3 p.m. Tuesday, Senator John McCain ducked off the Senate floor, entered the Republican cloakroom and took out his mobile phone. Just hours after accepting the resignation of his two top campaign aides, he was making a conference call to his top fund-raisers to urge them to keep up the fight.

The call, however, may only have exacerbated an already tough week for Mr. McCain. Senate ethics rules expressly forbid lawmakers to engage in campaign activities inside Senate facilities. If Mr. McCain solicited campaign contributions on a call from government property, that would be a violation of federal criminal law as well.

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