It’s been said that in America there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Sometimes, however, there can be--or, at least, a free ride-–as in the case of Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s relationship with the media.

McCain is one of those skilled (and lucky) people in American politics who looks great on paper and is seldom investigated much further.

His appeal covers the broad centre of the electorate: he’s a decorated war hero, a perceived political moderate, and a no-nonsense plain-speaking straight-shooter who can get things done.

Unfortunately, his personality always seems to overshadow his substance, and he has yet to show that his skills or experience go any deeper.

His legislative career is filled with popular, flashy causes--a noisy fight against pork-barrel spending, for example-–and a marked absence in international affairs, except for his windmill-tilting in Iraq.

While there are a few good efforts in his domestic achievements (campaign-finance and tobacco-reform bills, both stalled in Congress) there was also staunch support for such draconian measures as the Gramm-Rudman act and the presidential line-item veto (both overturned as unconstitutional).

McCain has also had problems with some of his associates. In the 1980s, he accepted $112,000 in contributions from banker Charles Keating.

McCain became one of “The Keating 5”, a group of senators who had inappropriately attempted to stop the closure of Keating’s failing savings and loan.

In the 1990s, McCain again came under criticism for questionable campaign donations and perquisites during his tenure as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, with related allegations that resurfaced in February of this year.

Then there’s his private life.

His anger is legendary. And while even Chelsea Clinton still gets questioned about Monica Lewinsky, everyone in the press seems to have forgotten that McCain cheated on his first wife and traded her in for someone younger, skinnier, richer, and with better political connections.

Not exactly the family values the Republican party is so fond of.

So what is it about McCain that supports all the good will he receives? Well, his early life is the stuff of legend: Annapolis, naval aviator, war hero.

A good backstory can work wonders, although being the son of an admiral and born into privilege is hardly a Horatio Alger tale.

McCain’s greatest success, argue David Brock and Paul Waldman in their book McCain’s Free Ride, is his management of the press.

He’s convinced reporters that he’s a congressional gadfly, prodding legislators down the right path through “straight talk” and his “maverick” ways.

Waldman says, “What McCain figured out was to not be careful. Not to go off the record, to return their phone calls and talk about anything as long as they wanted. And the results have paid off very handsomely for him, because he gets the benefit of the doubt all the time."

All this in spite of his legislative record, personal conduct, and the fact that he’d be the oldest president ever to be elected.

Whether McCain can continue his free ride until November is yet to be seen.

However, with his impending coronation as the GOP nominee, there isn’t a whole lot of other news on the Republican side of the election.

Sooner or later, even the laziest of reporters will have to start looking in McCain’s closets. If he loses his base in the press, McCain better put on his seat belt and prepare for his free ride to turn into a bumpy ride.