The Inevitable John McCain Shakeup is Finally Here

Poor fundraising results have finally hit home for the McCain campaign. News is coming out that the campaign is drastically reducing payroll. From the AP article:

John McCain’s campaign, trailing top Republican rivals in money and polls, is undergoing a significant reorganization with staff cuts in every department, officials with knowledge of the shake-up said Monday.

Some 50 staffers or more are being let go, and senior aides will be subject to pay cuts as the Arizona senator’s campaign bows to the reality of six months of subpar fundraising, these officials said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been made public. An afternoon conference call was scheduled to announce the results of second-quarter fundraising.

Once considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination, McCain came in third in the money chase behind Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, raising $13.6 million in the first three months of the year. He is struggling to reach that total in the second financial quarter, and wasn’t expected to match it.

This is not surprising. Between supporting an unpopular war for most of the electorate, and an unpopular immigration compromise for the base of his party, John McCain has given just about everyone a reason to not like him this time around, and that is even without mentioning McCain-Feingold.

There’s not much to say about where John McCain is now; the interesting thing is where he goes from here. The AP article went on to quote McCain on staying in the race:

The financial difficulties have fueled speculation that McCain would drop out of the race but he dismissed that notion Thursday, calling it “ridiculous.” He argued that voters won’t start paying close attention until the fall, and said: “I don’t know why I would even remotely consider such a thing in the month of June, or July.”

This is true: the month of June was as bad for McCain as it was for Giuliani: the two most popular issues he disagrees with the Republican base on, immigration and campaign finance, were focused on intently with legislation and a SCOTUS decision. It’s hard to see that storm happening again. Furthermore, his competitors, Romney and Fred Thompson, are likely to undergo further scrutiny themselves in the next coming months. And with a likely return to Iraq as the main issue, it’s easy to see how McCain can go from party pariah to party prophet once again. While he has fallen in the polls, he clearly has a base of supporters who will stick with him through thick and thin, and potential other supporters who are willing to support him. McCain isn’t on the fast track for the nomination, but his story is far from over.

UPDATE: We’re not alone in our thinking about John McCain.

 [Photo Credit: flickr user amanda koster]