by wallyg-Flickr New York Times Building image:41854:2::0

According to an email that NYT Op-Ed editor David Shipley sent the McCain campaign, he states, "It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq."

Shipley continued to state in the email, "I'd be pleased, though, to look at another draft."

Shipley served the Clinton Administration from 1995 until 1997 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Presidential Speech writer.

The New York Times believes that McCain's article should "mirror" the Obama piece?

Drudge reports that a top McCain source alleges that the New York Times does not agree with McCain's Iraq policy and therefore wants McCain to change his article, not to "re-work the draft."

Drudge then goes on to provide the complete article, written by John McCain, in the form submitted to the New York Times.

The New York Times is under no obligation to run the McCain piece, but this does highlight the most recent Rasmussen and Project For Excellence In Journalism findings which show that the media coverage has been extremely unbalance for the two presumptive presidential candidates and that the American people see this as shown by the plurality of voters believing that reporters are trying to help Barack Obama win the presidential election.

It also spotlights the separate report from Rasmussen which shows that a plurality believes the media deliberately tries to make the war in Iraq look worse than it is.

Readers can see the Obama article, published by the New York Times, here and the McCain article at Drudge Report, here.

[Update] The New York Post is showing interest in running the McCain piece.

Also, the full quote from the Times:

It would be terrific to have an article from Sen. McCain that mirrors Sen. Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms how Sen. McCain defines victory in Iraq. It would also have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory -- with troop levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate."

Via Tucker Bounds for the McCain campaign we see their response:

"John McCain believes that victory in Iraq must be based on conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables. Unlike Barack Obama, that position will not change based on politics or the demands of the New York Times."

Many conservative bloggers have already started circulating John McCain's article in full and the McCain campaign is considering allowing the New York Post to publish the piece.