First it was pit bulls and then it was pigs. Can we now add cows and colts to the list of metaphorical lipstick-wearing politicos this campaign season?

This time around, the McCain campaign is dabbing some lipstick on controversial moves by Verizon Wireless and AT&T to provide McCain campaign headquarters with temporary cellular infrastructure free of charge.

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The McCain ranch near Sedona, Ariz., apparently gets lousy cell coverage. According to a Washington Post article last week, the McCains got VIP treatment from Verizon Wireless, which installed a cell-site on wheels (COW) nearby in June, gratis, so campaign staff and Secret Service agents could have coverage. AT&T – not to be outdone - hastened to the scene with a cell-site on a light truck (COLT) in July.

Most cellular operators have some number of portable cell towers, which they dispense on an as-needed basis to fill in coverage gaps, most often for disaster recovery during emergency situations. For example, 100 COWs were used for wireless priority service during Hurricane Katrina, according to the FCC's 2007 National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee Report to the President on Emergency Communications and Interoperability.

The portable equipment costs in the neighborhood of half a million dollars. AT&T once told me in passing that COWs and COLTs “add capacity where we need more. And government can commandeer it, so we can’t promise it [availability of a COW or a COLT] to any given customer” as part of a disaster recovery service package.

Therein lies the so-called McCain cellular “scandal.” The government has some involvement in COW and COLT decisions, and Senator McCain is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC. He is a frequent advocate of industry-backed legislation, and some of his staff members have been lobbyists for the likes of AT&T, according to The Post.

Ethicists are up in arms.

Cindy McCain reportedly has been trying to get Verizon to build what would in effect be a “personal” cell tower for the McCains in the area for some time, because the McCains apparently live in such a sparsely populated area that few others would benefit. But Verizon had forged ahead with plans to build it, despite paltry ROI predictions. The implication is that Verizon and AT&T have been trying to trade favors with the next would-be president.

Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in Silicon Valley.