John McCain, it seems, has decided to re-run Hillary Clinton’s ultimately failed campaign against Barack Obama. John Heilemann, the New York magazine writer, spotted signs that the rightwing former prisoner of war was modelling himself on the left-of-centre ex-first lady a fortnight ago: both were served by feuding and leaking staffers, both were tempted into populist gambits such as supporting a summer petrol tax holiday and both were betting their record of experience could trump Mr Obama’s promise of change.

But the parallels became overwhelming this week when Mr Obama’s triumphant tour of the Middle East and Europe goaded the McCain team into blaming it all on the favourite culprit of the waning days of Mrs Clinton’s campaign: the media and its alleged love affair with Mr Obama. The Clinton camp’s accusations got a boost from a Saturday Night Live sketch satirising the supposedly solicitous treatment Mr Obama received from television debate moderators; Mr McCain’s operation went one better, creating its own satirical video of Obamaphile pundits, called Obama-love, and posting it on YouTube.