Because their last attack on McCain went so well, the New York Times now plans to question the eligibility of John McCain to run for president. Drudge writes:

NYT: MCCAIN’S BIRTHPLACE IN CANAL ZONE RAISES ELIGIBILITY QUESTIONS…

If you can’t damage the man with baseless smears, it’s time to resort to finding a way to throw him out of the race.

McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which was controlled by the United States between 1903 and 1979. McCain was born August 29, 1936. The zone was used by both military and civilian personnel, and has been ordinarily recognized as being American soil at the time.

Update: Here’s the article. I see nothing substantial that indicates he can’t run, only the NYT saying there’s no precise precedent. It seems the NYT is getting desperate in trying to knock McCain out. Some choice quotes:

“He was posted there on orders from the United States government,” Mr. Graham said of Mr. McCain’s father. “If that becomes a problem, we need to tell every military family that your kid can’t be president if they take an overseas assignment.”…

Mr. McCain’s citizenship was established by statutes covering the offspring of Americans abroad and laws specific to the Canal Zone as Congress realized that Americans would be living and working in the area for extended periods. But whether he qualifies as natural-born has been a topic of Internet buzz for months, with some declaring him ineligible while others assert that he meets all the basic constitutional qualifications — a natural-born citizen at least 35 years of age with 14 years of residence.

“I don’t think he has any problem whatsoever,” said Mr. Nickles, a McCain supporter. “But I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if somebody is going to try to make an issue out of it. If it goes to court, I think he will win.”…

In a paper written 20 years ago for the Yale Law Journal on the natural-born enigma, Jill Pryor, now a lawyer in Atlanta, said that any legal challenge to a presidential candidate born outside national boundaries would be “unpredictable and unsatisfactory.”…

“If I were on the Supreme Court, I would decide for John McCain,” Ms. Pryor said in a recent interview. “But it is certainly not a frivolous issue.”

I can actually find no concrete reasons in the article as to why McCain wouldn’t be natural born, and it’s likely any court would rule in his favor. Just more desperate attempts by the New York Slimes to hurt McCain’s bid.