http://www.nytimes.
May 25, 2008
Worries in G.O.P. About McCain Camp Disarray
By ADAM
NAGOURNEY
WASHINGTON - Senator John McCain's presidential campaign is in a
troubled stretch, hindered by resignations of staff members, a lagging
effort to build a national campaign organization and questions over
whether he has taken full advantage of Democratic turmoil to present a
case for his candidacy, Republicans say.
In interviews, some party leaders said they were worried about signs of
disorder in his campaign, and if the focus in the last several weeks on
the prominent role of lobbyists in Mr. McCain's inner circle might
undercut the heart of his general election message: that he is a
reformer taking on special interests in Washington.
"The core image of John McCain is as a reformer in Washington - and the
more dominant the story is about the lobbying teams around him, the more
you put that into question," said Terry Nelson, who was Mr. McCain's
campaign manager until he left in a shake-up last fall. "If the Obama
campaign can truly change him from being seen as a reformer to just
being another Washington politician, it could be very damaging over the
course of the campaign."
The ousters of some of the staff members came after Mr. McCain imposed a
new policy that active lobbyists would not be allowed to hold paying
jobs in the campaign.
Some state party leaders said they were apprehensive about the unusual
organization Mr. McCain had set up: the campaign has been broken into 10
semi-autonomous regions, with each having power over things like
television advertising and the candidate's schedule, decisions normally
left to headquarters.
More than that, they said, Mr. McCain organizationally still seems far
behind where President Bush was in 2004. Several Republican Party
leaders said they were worried the campaign was losing an opportunity as
they waited for approval to open offices and set up telephone banks.
"They finally assigned someone to West Virginia three weeks ago," said
Doug McKinney, the state Republican chairman there. "I had a couple of
contacts with him and I e-mailed him twice and I never heard back. I
finally called and they said that the guy had resigned."
Mr. McCain's campaign has transmitted conflicting messages in recent
days about how he would present himself, as he has sought to reassure
conservatives nervous about his ideological consistency even as he has
tried to expand his appeal to moderates and liberals.
He recently spent three days talking about global warming, a subject he
used to emphasize his differences with Mr. Bush. But he ended that week
with a high-profile speech to the National Rifle Association, a group
suspicious of his views on gun control.
Mr. McCain's advisers - some of whom gathered with the candidate for the
holiday weekend at his Arizona ranch along with three Republicans
assumed to be under consideration as his running mate - said the concern
in the party reflected, in part, exaggerated concern about Senator
Barack Obama's strengths as a general election candidate. Mr. McCain,
they said, was in a strong position entering into this next phase of the
race.
Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser, said Mr. McCain had used the time since
effectively winning the nomination to methodically raise his standing by
traveling the country, delivering speeches on issues including national
security and the environment, and raising money, to make sure he could
at least hold his own with Mr. Obama going through the summer.
Although Mr. Obama has continued to raise far more money than Mr.
McCain, Mr. Bush's fund-raising machinery has helped keep the Republican
Party competitive. The McCain campaign and the Republican National
Committee, between them, have $11 million more on hand - about $62
million - than the combined cash-on-hand of Mr. Obama and the Democratic
National Committee.
"How do you measure success over the course of the spring campaign?" Mr.
Schmidt asked. "This is how: The reality of this race is the Republican
Party brand is very, very badly damaged, in some places broken. We've
lost Congressional seats in districts that have elected only Republican
for a generation. And Senator McCain is running even or ahead of Senator
Obama in most national polls."
Mr. McCain has taken steps to inject new thinking into his campaign. He
recently expanded his extremely tight circle of advisers by bringing on
Nicolle Wallace, who was communications director for Mr. Bush's 2004
re-election campaign, which many Republicans view as the model for
political management.
Last Sunday, he invited Mike Murphy, his longtime friend and political
adviser, who is not involved in this campaign, to his home in Virginia.
There, Mr. Murphy reportedly gave him a detailed and at times tough
assessment of what Mr. McCain had done wrong.
Mr. Murphy urged him to tone down his attacks on Mr. Obama and stop
coming across as so angry. He recommended that Mr. McCain concentrate on
running as a reform candidate to strip that issue from Mr. Obama, and to
make greater efforts to distance himself from Mr. Bush, Republicans
familiar with the conversation said.
Some of Mr. McCain's associates said that Mr. McCain might be interested
in bringing Mr. Murphy back on board, but that his current circle of
advisers was resisting that.
As soon as Mr. Obama secures the Democratic nomination, Mr. Schmidt
said, Mr. McCain will begin a series of speeches intended to contrast
their positions. Mr. McCain's advisers said they did not think it made
sense to do that until Mr. Obama wrapped up his battle against Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton, given how the two Democrats are dominating the
news.
"The race changes the moment she drops out and he emerges as the
official nominee," said Charlie Black, a senior McCain adviser. "Then
the focus becomes on a two-person race and that leads to us getting more
equal treatment in terms of getting airtime. We've had to fight with one
hand tied behind our back."
Republicans said Mr. McCain certainly had time to get his campaign back
on track, and they remained confident that he would be a strong general
election candidate against Mr. Obama. Some said the level of concern was
overstated, or reflected the general Republican apprehension about this
electoral environment, rather than anything Mr. McCain had done wrong.
"I think any Republican who doesn't say panic is in the wind is lying
through their shirt," said Ron Kaufman, who was a senior adviser this
year for Mitt Romney. "The question is, is that panic caused by McCain's
campaign - or lack thereof in some respects - or is it the climate?"
The string of departures from the campaign was prompted by questions
about lobbying activities by aides and advisers to Mr. McCain and a new
policy, which he dictated, that active lobbyists not be allowed to hold
paying jobs in the campaign. Mr. Schmidt said that policy was an example
of how Mr. McCain would take tough action, part of a contrast he said
they would draw with Mr. Obama for "giving great speeches" but having no
record of accomplishment.
But Mr. McCain's associates said the campaign had failed to anticipate
the extent to which the news media would use the policy to examine Mr.
McCain's staff. The result was a run of damaging stories and
resignations that highlighted not the policy itself but the backgrounds
of top campaign officials, including Rick Davis, the campaign manager,
and Mr. Black, both of whom have long lobbying backgrounds.
Some Republicans said they were concerned that the Democrats would soon
unify around Mr. Obama, and that it was only a matter of weeks before
Mr. Obama began unloading a huge round of advertising intended to define
Mr. McCain. If that happens, they said, Mr. McCain may look back at this
period as a time of missed opportunity.
Discussing what Mr. McCain needed to do, Mr. Nelson, another veteran of
the Bush 2004 team, said: "Step No. 1 would be finding a compelling
message that excited Republicans, and Step No. 2 would be having the
ability to turn your voters out. From what I see, in both respects, they
have a long way to go, but they have time."
Mr. McCain has made some gains in reassuring conservatives nervous about
his views on issues like immigration, polls suggest. But if he is going
to rely on turnout in the Republican base more than on winning over
independents and disaffected Democrats, there is evidence that he has
not gone as far as he needs to - particularly given how energized
Democrats appear to be.
"He is going to need extraordinary participation of Republicans if
Democrats continue to flock to the polls the way they have," said Kris
Kobach, the Republican Party leader from Kansas. "It's critical that he
use this period to generate enthusiasm from his base."
Mr. McKinney, the Republican chairman in West Virginia, said Mr.
McCain's identification with immigration legislation that would
eventually permit some illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship
continued to be highly problematic for him.
"But it doesn't matter what we think - Senator McCain goes his own way,"
Mr. McKinney said. "Always has and always will."
Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting.
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