Oh-eight (R): More on McCain's day
Posted: Tuesday, July 03, 2007 9:05 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Republicans
GILMORE: The ex-Virginia governor -- who apparently is still running for president -- is off the campaign trail for a while
recovering from eye surgery.
HUCKABEE: He was in
Eastern Iowa yesterday, where he showed off his guitar skills and talked about the importance of education funding of the arts.
HUNTER: On
Hardball yesterday, Hunter “defended conservative pundit Ann Coulter’s incendiary commentary Monday, saying Coulter was ‘closely approaching that level of being a great American.’”
MCCAIN: In a conference call with reporters yesterday, the McCain campaign announced that it raised just $11.2 million in the second quarter, which was down from its already-disappointing $13 million-plus haul in the first quarter. Worse, the campaign said it has just $2 million cash on hand, which has forced the campaign to undergo layoffs and restructuring.
The New York Times: “Senior McCain advisers say they realized over the past few months that they had to change the mindset that they were running what one called a ‘Bush-Cheney campaign,’ with the plush offices, army of consultants and extended staff befitting a front-runner. Mr. McCain himself had raised questions about the size of the operation and also bristled at making fund-raising calls.”
The Chicago Tribune: “Senior officials said Monday that they had seriously miscalculated their ability to raise money. In fact, they began the contest believing McCain could raise $100 million and hired staff based on that assumption.”
The New York Daily News adds that the campaign is now considering accepting federal matching funds, which is a reversal from the previous signals it had been sending.
McCain strategist Charlie Black "called this spring the ‘worst two months’ in McCain's career but said polls showing that he is competitive in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina suggest he can still win the nomination. ‘Whatever damage has been done hasn't been fatal,’ he said. ‘As long as we can afford gas for the bus, then McCain can campaign effectively. He doesn't need a lot of staff out there.’”
One of the more intriguing parts of this story is that yesterday's campaign decision wasn't due to some sort of internal power struggle. There isn't any staff infighting on this one, because everyone involved made the incorrect assumption on McCain's place in this race. How can one tell there's very little internal strife? The lack of blind quotes in today's clips. Also, with the campaign’s layoffs, did Fred Thompson just find himself some new campaign staffers?
ROMNEY: CBN's Brody reports on an issue that could get traction in evangelical circles in the South: "Some anti-pornography groups are demanding answers as to how much presidential candidate Mitt Romney knew about the Marriott hotel chain's profits of pornography sales during his nearly ten years on the Board of Directors in the 1990s. The hotel chain is one of many that offer pay-per-view sex videos for sale through in-room entertainment."
F. THOMPSON: Tennessee GOP Chair Bob Davis is resigning his post to work for the Thompson campaign. Davis was one of the key Tennessee Republicans who helped begin the Draft Thompson effort.
