WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign has gone through its second shake-up in a year. Responding to Republican concerns that his candidacy was faltering, Mr. McCain put a veteran of President Bush’s 2004 campaign in charge of day-to-day operations, and stepped away from a plan to have the campaign run by 11 regional managers, Mr. McCain’s aides said Wednesday.
The elevation of Steve Schmidt — who worked closely with Karl Rove — at Mr. McCain’s headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been Mr. McCain’s campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago.
The shift was approved by Mr. McCain after several of his aides, including Mr. Schmidt, went to him about 10 days ago and warned him that he was in danger of losing the presidential election unless he revamped his campaign operation, two officials close to the campaign said.
The move of Mr. Schmidt is the latest sign of increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove’s shop in the McCain operation. Nicolle Wallace, communications director for Mr. Bush in the 2004 campaign (and in his White House), has joined the campaign as a senior adviser, and will travel with Mr. McCain every other week.
Greg Jenkins, another veteran of Mr. Rove’s operation who is a former Fox News producer and director of presidential advance in the Bush White House, was hired by Mr. Schmidt last week after a series of what Mr. McCain’s advisers acknowledged were poorly executed campaign events.
Mr. Rove, who was Mr. Bush’s senior political adviser until he left the White House last year, was said by Mr. McCain’s advisers to have offered advice in recent days to Mr. Schmidt and others on how to get Mr. McCain’s campaign on track, but has stayed mostly on the periphery. Mr. Rove is aware, his associates said, that his own legacy could be helped should Mr. McCain win the presidency.
Mr. McCain’s advisers said that Mr. Davis would continue to hold the position of campaign manager, but that Mr. Schmidt had taken over every major operation where Mr. McCain has shown signs of struggling: communications, scheduling and basic political strategy. Mr. McCain’s aides said that Mr. Davis would now focus more on longer-term campaign efforts, including helping with the selection of a running mate and planning for the Republican National Convention, which is now just two months away.
Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Davis declined a request for comment. The McCain campaign played down the significance of this latest personnel shift.
“Voters don’t care about the organizational chart of our campaign,” said Jill Hazelbaker, the campaign spokesman, adding: “Today’s move is simply an expression of our understanding of the need to scale up for a general election campaign against Barack Obama.”
This is a huge story. First you have Senator John McCain trying to reassure voters that he is not running for a Bush third term, even as Americans reject McCain argument. They see a McCain presidency as a third Bush term. And with the McCain campaign stumbling and fumbling over the past six months, McCain is now reaching into the Bush White House to bring in Karl Rove and his acolytes directly into his campaign. Remember, Karl Rove is already an informal adviser to the McCain campaign. Now McCain is bringing in even more Rove advisers to his campaign, making the McCain campaign even more similar to the Bush administration as McCain continues this charade that he is not running for a Bush third term. The hypocrisy is just amazing here.
And there is more. Let us go back to this important piece of information from the NY Times story:
The shift was approved by Mr. McCain after several of his aides, including Mr. Schmidt, went to him about 10 days ago and warned him that he was in danger of losing the presidential election unless he revamped his campaign operation, two officials close to the campaign said.
Schmidt went directly to McCain and warned McCain that he was in danger of losing the election. What this tells me is that there are some high level GOP people that are frightened of a McCain loss in 2008, and are sending the Rove team in to take over the McCain campaign. Karl Rove may still be an informal McCain campaign adviser, but you can bet that he is now calling the shots in the campaign with his key people taking over. The GOP is frightened at the prospect of the Democrats taking over both the White House and a potential 2/3rds control of Congress, thus elimination Republican obstruction in Congress through the filibuster. Even more frightening for the GOP is what a Democratic-controlled government would do in rolling back some of the failed Bush policies that have caused great damage to this country, but have especially benefited big corporations, war profiteers, and the uber-rich.
Finally, I should note that by bringing in Karl Rove and his team to the McCain campaign, you can expect this campaign will become even more dirty and negative in attacking the Democratic candidate Barack Obama then it has been. Karl Rove is a master of the negative campaign, and he was probably responsible for destroying John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary with the push-poll spreading rumors that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child, or that McCain was the "Manchurian candidate." And now John McCain is bringing Rove into his campaign to continue these negative attacks against Obama.
This 2008 race is going to get especially ugly through November.
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