Top McCain Aides Quit

UPDATED: 3:29 p.m.

Sen. John McCain’s beleaguered presidential campaign, lagging in the polls and in the all-important money sweepstakes, took another hit this morning with the stunning resignations of the candidate’s top two aides: campaign manager Terry Nelson, a mastermind of President Bush’s 2004 run, and longtime friend and chief strategist John Weaver.

It was the latest in a string of bad developments for McCain, once viewed as the top contender for the 2008 GOP nomination but now struggling to stay in the race. The resignations came just days after the campaign reported only $2 million on hand and announced significant staff cuts.

“Not a good day for the McCain campaign,” said Washington-based GOP strategist Ed Rogers. “What does a campaign spiraling downward look like? It looks like this.” A top Republican Senate aide close to the McCain camp said the continuing shake up is simply about “bad polling and not enough money.”
In a statement, McCain, who at the time of the morning upheaval was on the Senate floor defending his support of the military effort in Iraq, vowed that the campaign will continue to “move forward.”

"The campaign's challenges have been well documented," McCain spokesman Danny Diaz said. "Terry and John put Senator McCain first today."

Rick Davis, who has been the campaign’s chief executive officer, is expected to take over.
Word of the resignations hit reporters’ E-mail inboxes shortly after 11 a.m. without warning, no explanation, and the headline: “Statements by Terry Nelson and John Weaver.” In the brief individual statements, both men said it had been an honor to serve the senator and insisted he was the best candidate to take on the Democratic nominee next year.

“I believe that most Americans will come to the conclusion that I have long known there is only one person equipped to serve as our nation’s chief executive and deal with the challenges we face, and that person is John McCain,” said Weaver, who has logged more than a decade with the Arizona senator.
Nelson, a longtime GOP strategist, was hired with fanfare last year. The move surprised some: Nelson has been linked to a number of controversial campaign tactics, including a 2006 ad against Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford that showed an actress pretending she met the former congressman at a Playboy party.

A source familiar with the campaign said that both Nelson and Weaver voluntarily resigned and that more changes could be in the offing.

"The situation is fluid," the source said. Senior McCain aide Mark Salter, the senator's book collaborator and friend, will remain with the campaign as a pro bono senior adviser.

So is this a new beginning for McCain, or yet another sign of the beginning of the end? He is struggling in the early 2008 contests--in Iowa, where his position on ethanol funding is unpopular; in New Hampshire, where candidate Mitt Romney has a home and is running strong; and in South Carolina, where his 2000 campaign collapsed.

But Rogers is among those who predict that McCain will stay in the race and accept public matching funds. “McCain still has one thing going for him: a lot of public support and a lot of public good will,” Rogers said. “And nothing about John McCain suggests that he is a quitter.”

--Liz Halloran