Sneak Peek: "What Do I Need to Know, Johnny?"
July 10, 2007— -- Terry Nelson was essentially pushed out, Rick Davis was brought in on top, and John Weaver quit -- that's the bottom line from Tuesday's major shakeup of the McCain campaign, per ABC News' John Berman.
McCain, who was clearly not happy with his campaign's profligate spending, orchestrated the shake-up which has been in the works for a while.
The Arizona senator made clear his displeasure and intention to install Davis -- who managed his 2000 presidential bid -- in the campaign's top job. And depending on whom you believe, Nelson either resigned, or was fired, or was about to be fired.
And when it was clear Davis was being brought in, Weaver quit. There is some bad blood there going back years.
"While McCain didn't directly whack Weaver," writes Berman, "it was clear to pretty much everyone (and McCain had to know) that he wouldn't stay if Davis was brought back in."
McCain wasn't as close to Bush veteran Terry Nelson.
He is being blamed, according to Berman, for trying to run McCain's '08 bid like a Bush campaign: "spending a gazillion dollars, with a huge staff, and tons of endorsements."
While getting rid of campaign manager Nelson was more of a business decision for McCain, saying goodbye to chief strategist Weaver was painful for the Arizona senator.
"I'm the one guy who can tell John 'no,'" Weaver told the Washington Post's Dana Milbank in a memorable 2000 profile.
While Davis may not be as well known as Weaver for throwing things, he is no stranger to "stirring up a few hornet's nests."
Davis is the one who urged McCain in 2000 to give a speech in Virginia Beach assailing Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance."
"'For us it's no net loss,'" Davis told the Washington Post's Tom Edsall at the time, "because Robertson will continue to try to defeat McCain no matter what."
To the chagrin of those who love political memorabilia, Tuesday's shake-up means that there will be no 2008 "little older, little grayer" version of the February 2000 New York Times front-page photo of McCain, Weaver, and Davis in the "Tonight Show's" green room.