WASHINGTON -- Just like that caveman in the Geico adds, Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign is having an existential meltdown.
The latest is that the Arizona Republican's media team has checked out, fueling further speculation that that his once white hot White House bid is now d.o.a.
Political ad-makers Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens, veterans of President Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns, apparently told friends they had considered leaving for days, as they hadn't been paid and the campaign's financial straits raised questions of when and how much they would be.
Their resignations followed a story in The Wall Street Journal Monday about the new campaign manager -- lobbyist and longtime McCain adviser Rick Davis, and his business as well as lobbying activities.
Current and former McCain campaign advisers say those activities -- which involved a business he started and another launched by an acquaintance of his -- amounted to profiteering at the campaign's expense and risked embarrassing the senator.More than a dozen senior staffers have left from the headquarters in northern Virginia as well as state offices in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- all states with early nominating contests. Several fund-raisers have cut their ties to the campaign, which reported a debt at the end of the second quarter.
Now the loss of the Schriefer-Stevens media team is considered a new blow, Republican strategists say. The McCain campaign had long planned to begin running ads this fall in early contest states; those plans are at risk given Mr. McCain's debt, compounded now by the difficulty of getting donors to invest in a troubled campaign.
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QUESTION OF THE DAY FOR YOU POLITICAL JUNKIES:
• Does John McCain still have a chance to win the Republican nomination?"