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Some in GOP worrying McCain missing chances

Campaign seems to be dealing with a troubling list of issues when it should be focusing on his image

By Adam Nagourney
New York Times

Published on Sunday, May 25, 2008

WASHINGTON: Sen. 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 said.

In interviews, some party leaders said they were worried about signs of disorder in his campaign, and whether the focus in the last several weeks on the prominent role of lobbyists in McCain's inner circle might undercut the heart of his general election message: presenting himself as 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 McCain's campaign manager until he was forced out last year. ''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 ouster of some of the staff members came after 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 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, 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.

McCain's campaign also has transmitted conflicting messages in recent days about how he would present himself, as he has tried 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 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.

In addition, McCain has cut ties with two controversial preachers whose past sermons have become a distraction for the campaign — territory familiar to Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama, who repudiated his former pastor this spring.

Last week, McCain rejected a months-old endorsement from the Rev. John Hagee, a popular Texas pastor and televangelist, after an audio recording from the late 1990s surfaced in which Hagee suggested God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land. The preacher's rants against Roman Catholicism already had spurred some critics to call on McCain to distance himself from Hagee.

McCain on Thursday also rejected the endorsement of Columbus-area megachurch pastor Rod Parsley, who has sharply criticized Islam and called the religion inherently violent.

McCain's advisers, some of whom gathered with the candidate for the holiday weekend at his Arizona ranch, said the concern within the party reflected, in part, exaggerated concern about Obama's strengths as a general election candidate. McCain, they said, was in a strong position entering into this next phase of the race.

Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser, said McCain had used the time since effectively winning the nomination to methodically raise his standing to make sure he could at least hold his own with Obama going through the summer.

''The reality of this race is the Republican Party brand is very, very badly damaged, in some places broken,'' Schmidt said. ''We've lost congressional seats in districts that have elected only Republicans for a generation. And Senator McCain is running even or ahead of Senator Obama in most national polls.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON: Sen. 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 said.

Get the full article here.



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