Basic Math

John McCain was elected to the Senate in 1986. That means he's been in the Senate for just over 21 years.

In today's Washington Post story about McCain's relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, however, a campaign adviser talks about McCain's "24-year record." Four paragraphs later, the article's authors state he's spent "almost 30 years in the Senate."

What's up with that?

Update: Mary points out that if you count his two terms in the House, McCain has been in Congress for 25 years. That's closer to the campaign's oft-repeated figure of 24 years, but it doesn't let the story's authors and editors off the hook, since they were specific about Senate service.