Ok, another turn of the story. Earlier we noted Bob Novak's (who whatever else you might think of him is very wired on these types of stories) report that after a few days in the dog house, John McCain has forgiven Phil Gramm and welcomed him back on board the campaign as his top economics advisor and media surrogate. Now The Politico's Jonathan Martin has gotten comment from McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, who partially disputes Novak's story.

What Bounds says is that Gramm is out as surrogate. It's only his role as advisor that is continuing.

In other words, McCain will still rely Gramm's advice but the campaign has decided it's not a good idea to let Gramm out in public to let people get an idea of what kind of advice he's giving him.

Seems like a wise plan.