Newsday’s Dan Janison isn’t happy about the location of John McCain’s recently-opened New York office. In a blog post on Spin Cycle today, he takes the GOP candidate to town for first promising to “campaign all over this magnificent state” and then setting up shop in another.

“When it came time to set up his New York campaign office, where did McCain put it?” asks Janison. “Times Square? Albany?

“No. New Jersey.”

If you ask me, the so-called “New Jersey/New York” regional headquarters is a lame move by McCain. First of all, he should definitely have at least one office in the nation’s largest city, if only to collect email addresses and establish a base of operations for fundraisers.

Secondly, McCain promised to contest to New Jersey. Even if it’s a long-shot, lumping New Jersey with New York signals that he’s watering down his efforts in the Garden State. He needs to at least pretend that he’s going to have a presence there.

Lastly, unlike sports fandoms, politics is a game where borders actually matter. The Skins can move out to the suburban wasteland of Maryland and still be Washington’s team and the New York Giants can play in New Jersey without anyone raising hell, but in politics, you can’t set up shop in another jurisdiction.

So I’m putting McCain’s “New Jersey/New York” regional headquarters on par with the lameness of the Meadowlands’ Giants Stadium. Hopefully he won’t end up with the body of a labor leader buried in the parking lot.

New Jersey’s Giants Stadium