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IowaPolitics.com: McCain campaign fallout also seen at state level 7/11/2007 By Chris Dorsey IowaPolitics.com Lower than projected fundraising and a drop in the polls have resulted in personnel shake-ups for U.S. Sen. John McCain at the national and state level. McCain's camp announced yesterday that Terry Nelson, his national campaign manager, and John Weaver, the senator's long-time strategist, were both leaving the campaign. The campaign's efforts in Iowa also look a little short-handed after losing several key players that have been with Team McCain since he set up shop in Iowa. Matt Strawn, McCain's former Iowa campaign director, has left the campaign in favor of John Seaton, who returns to Iowa from Washington, D.C. Seaton worked President Bush's re-election bid in 2004 in Iowa and served as campaign manager in 2002 for former state Sen. John Redwine of Sioux City. Nearly half of McCain's Iowa team is no longer on the payroll. GOP insiders say other than Strawn, the senator's state campaign no longer employs Matt Gronewald, the political director; Jenn Crall, the straw poll coordinator or Erik Helland, the deputy straw poll coordinator. Some Iowa Republican presidential campaigns have been contacted by the unemployed staffers. The next big Iowa event is a debate sponsored by ABC and Drake University on Aug. 5, and some campaign watchers now wonder if McCain will make it that far. McCain's summer in Iowa has been rocky. Just weeks before the campaign's announcement in June that it would not participate in the Aug. 11 Republican Party of Iowa straw poll in Ames, there were rumblings among GOP insiders that the senator's fundraising numbers would not improve on a lower than expected first-quarter showing. That proved true as the campaign recently announced total receipts of $24 million in the first six months of the year, including $11.2 million in the second quarter. The campaign announced it has $2 million cash on hand. Some GOP insiders say that when the Federal Elections Commission reports are made public the senator could be saddled with a significant campaign debt that could reduce the cash on hand number. In an IowaPolitics.com analysis of first-quarter Iowa spending, McCain's campaign nearly matched that of top spender Mitt Romney. McCain incurred $241,943 in Iowa-related first quarter expenses, which was second behind the former Massachusetts governor's state total of $287,840. The bulk of McCain's first-quarter expenses went to payroll, $112,455, with $41,310 to consulting services. Despite the personnel changes and restructuring at the campaign, the senator insists his campaign is moving forward and focusing on the early primary states and Iowa caucuses. "In the days and weeks ahead this campaign will move forward, and I will continue to address the issues of greatest concern to the American people, laying out my vision for a secure and prosperous America," McCain said. |
