The American media has, for better or worse, embraced the criterion that if a given subject tells us anything - no matter how broadly - about the kind of president a particular candidate might be, it’s fair game.

That’s how it’s been for Sen. Barack Obama in the past several months, and for rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton a lot longer than that.

Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, has been more or less exempt from such scrutiny, in large part because won the GOP nomination long ago.

The honeymoon’s over, though.

As we shift towards general election mode, the Boston Phoenix came up with a list of 10 John McCain stories worth pursuing in the next few months …

1. He doesn’t “get” economics.
Not that we do, but we’re not running for president - and he himself said this! More than once! Beyond a wide array of tax cuts, what makes John McCain think he can keep America’s economic woes from worsening?

2. He doesn’t “get” Islam.
McCain touts his experience hammers Obama for his willingness to meet with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but McCain’s foreign policy aptitude is also highly questionable. He’s confused Sunnis and Shiites on multiple occasions. Understanding Islam and the Middle East is essential to our national security. Does McCain grasp them well enough to be president?

3. His “reformer” rep is questionable.
Hatchet-job hints of extramarital affair notwithstanding, the New York Times‘ Vicki Iseman story posed a valid question: does John McCain’s reputation as a reformer dedicated to reducing the influence of money on politics really correspond with the man’s own actions? Or is it just a contrived act?

4. He’s got pastor problems too.
Barack Obama’s history with Rev. Jeremiah Wright was his biggest weakness in the primary, and he surely hasn’t heard the last of it. But McCain has pastor problems of his own, cozying up to some figures on the right. Granted, he says they endorse him, not vice versa, but McCain hasn’t condemned these people in the emphatic way that Obama (eventually) repudiated Wright.

5. The misogynist rumors.
At a 1998 fundraiser, McCain reportedly told this joke: “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.” This past November, McCain chuckled when a South Carolina woman asked of Hillary Clinton: “How do we beat the bitch?” A book by Cliff Schecter says McCain subjected his wife, Cindy McCain, to a vulgar tirade, including a C-bomb, when she joked about his hair thinning in 1992. Rumors, yes … but is there a pattern behind them?

6. He may not be physically capable.
While campaigning before the New Hampshire primary, John McCain said he might serve only one term if elected. Saying he planned to serve two terms, he added, “might not be a vote-getter” due to his age. He may have been joking, but there’s an underlying truth here. McCain would be 72 when inaugurated.

7. His plans for Iran.
The question of whether and how to engage Iran may be the biggest foreign policy issue the next president faces. Might McCain consider unilateral action against Iran? Would he consider an Iraq-style invasion of the country?

8. His real priorities re: global warming.
Last week, McCain reiterated his stated belief in global warming, urged the use of free-market mechanisms to combat it, and took an oblique swipe at the Bush administration’s inaction. Yet this professed urgency conflicts with his avowed admiration for judges like John Roberts and Samuel Alito — who, like fellow Supreme Court conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, seem to question the very reality of global warming itself.

9. He may like a little pork after all.
In 1999, then-Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell asked McCain: “Senator, how do you reconcile the fact that you are one of the most vocal critics of pork barrel politics, yet while you were chair of the Commerce Committee, that committee set a record for unauthorized appropriations?” Carell didn’t even wait for an answer before turning it into a joke. We’d like one, however.

10. It’s all about character.
People everywhere see marriages split up, say things they later regret, and become angrier than they should from time to time. But most of them don’t pursue moral and ethical instruction as a sideline. McCain has — and, in the process, he’s invited greater scrutiny of his own character than he’s been given so far.