As positive as Barack Obama's financial news may be - the news for Arizona Senator John McCain is just as negative……
The one-time Republican frontrunner raised just 11.2 million dollars in the last three months, and has had to dramatically reshuffle his staff due to lack of money.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers has more.
“Please continue to hold for the McCain 08 conferenceâ€
McCain’s bad news was announced via conference call. And it’s fair to say the on-hold music proved eerily appropos.
“Just once, can we figure out what we keep doing wrong.â€
Once the conference began, the message of a major staff overhaul did little to lift the mood.
“We confronted reality and we dealt with it the best way that we could.â€
Terry Nelson is McCain’s national campaign manager.
“So we can move on, focused on the winning the primaries in the early states – first Iowa, then New Hampshire, then South Carolina, and then going on from there.â€
But getting to those early contests, let alone going on, will prove a major challenge given the thinness of McCain’s wallet……At present, he has just 2 million dollars on hand. McCain’s people would not confirm an associated press report that the campaign would be laying off at least 50 people, but did say Nelson will start working for free. Senor adviser John Weaver says despite this, McCain will claim the GOP nomination, and will do so by spending less time raising money in a difficult atmosphere, and more time pressing the flesh on the stump.
“We believe quite frankly that good things happen when John is before the voters --the conversion rate is very high. He still draws the largest crowds of any of the Republican candidates when he is out in the early primary and caucus states, and we feel very positively when John is actively campaigning. “
Senator McCain is now travelling in Iraq, his campaign has not announced his next local visit.
