Newest staff helps McCain campaign regain footing
WASHINGTON -- For Republican John McCain, the group of advisers and staff trying to get him into the White House is his third campaign team in 14 months.
Unlike Democratic rival Barack Obama, who has had the same top aides since he started running for president early last year, McCain has had two staff shake-ups — one in July 2007 sparked by money woes and another almost exactly one year later prompted by the need to regain focus. The latest team is centered on a core group of aides who directed a spartan effort to get McCain chosen as the Republican Party's presidential nominee.
The key advisers are strategist Steve Schmidt, 37, and longtime McCain loyalist Rick Davis, 51.
"This campaign is in a strong position heading into the fall," said McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker. "The Davis/Schmidt management structure deserves more than a little bit of credit for bringing back our mojo."
McCain has pulled nearly even with Obama in public opinion polls.
The latest changes include a more disciplined candidate and message, more centralized decision making from the McCain campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., and sharper contrasts with Obama, said Brian Jones, the McCain campaign communications director before the 2007 shake-up.
Schmidt's stamp is evident on the new team, Jones said: "It's focused, it's disciplined, it's on message. It's hard hitting, with a pinch of levity as well."
Schmidt, a communications strategist for President Bush's 2004 campaign, runs the campaign's day-to-day operations. Davis handles long-range issues such as the convention, the campaign budget, the vice presidential selection, ad strategy, and the upcoming debates with Obama.
In summer 2007, McCain was behind in public opinion polls and hampered by lackluster fundraising combined with a fast rate of spending. Davis, who managed the Arizona senator's campaign in 2000, took charge and said the campaign would stress McCain's efforts to reduce federal spending and "winning the war against Islamic extremists."
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