Roger Staubach Throws a Hail Mary for McCain’s Presidential Campaign

ABC News’ Bret Hovell Reports: NFL Hall-of-Fame quarterback Roger Staubach is again calling the plays – this time in a fourth down situation for Team McCain.

Staubach invited McCain supporters into the huddle Tuesday, with a fundraising letter on behalf of McCain’s presidential campaign.

The former Dallas Cowboy writes that the most important quarter of a football game is the 4th quarter, and that it will be the most important quarter of this year for John McCain.

But, writes Staubach, "we can’t do our job in the fourth quarter unless we play hard in the third."

The metaphor is lost on no one. This is the last week in the 3rd quarter of the year, and an all-important financial deadline for presidential candidates is looming. Sen. McCain, R-Ariz, who is seeking his party’s nomination to be president, needs to put some big numbers on the scoreboard.

The McCain campaign’s second quarter fundraising was lackluster and his second quarter spending was excessive. The campaign spent nearly $1.5 million dollars more than it raised in April, May and June of this year.

Earlier this month McCain noted with relief that the budget was now under control.

"Thank God," McCain exclaimed to reporters. "We have reduced our budget dramatically, and that’s the important thing, the expenditures."

Staubach, who was the quarterback at the Naval Academy in Annapolis – McCain’s alma mater – before entering the NFL, has been a friend and supporter of the Senator for years.

"If you look in John McCain’s eyes, you see a man ready to win and confident in victory," Staubach writes.

"The most important way we can show our support for John McCain is by making an immediate online donation."

Before the clock runs out.