First Casualty of Poor Q2 Fund Raising: McCain's Staff

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 567

In considering how best to approach the money race for the 2nd quarter, I decided pretty early on to leave the bean-counting to others, and wait instead until all the checks had been written and then focus on the impact of fund raising success (or failure) to the various campaigns.

Not hard to do, at least today.

The first casualty: John McCain's campaign organization and staff. According to the Associated Press, McCain did so poorly in raising money during the quarter ending June 30 that he will be getting rid of at least 50 staff members, and slashing pay for those who remain, even at the most senior levels.

There's no indication at this point that McCain is considering dropping out of the race, nor, the AP article notes, is a major reshuffle planned for the campaign's senior staff. However, with poll numbers going through the floor not just in Iowa, but nationally, the McCain camp must undertake some type of action to get a little momentum back on their side. And if McCain's upcoming return to Iraq to trumpet the success of military escalation there is part of that plan, his campaign is in deep, deep trouble.

All this is astonishing, really, for the candidate who just a few months ago was considered the frontrunner for his party's nomination.