Top two aides quit McCain's 2008 campaign

U.S. Senator John McCain arrives at the Elysee Palace to attend a meeting with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, July 5, 2007. McCain's top two aides quit his struggling presidential bid on Tuesday, dealing a sharp blow to the Arizona senator and casting the future of his 2008 campaign in doubt. (Philippe Wojazer/Reuters)

10 July 2007

Video

By John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican John McCain's top two aides quit his struggling presidential campaign on Tuesday, dealing a sharp blow to the Arizona senator and casting doubt on the future of his 2008 bid.

McCain said he would push ahead with his White House run despite the departures of manager Terry Nelson and longtime chief strategist John Weaver, which was announced as he took the Senate floor to defend President George W. Bush's strategy in Iraq.

McCain, once a front-runner in the Republican field, has fallen behind as his staunch backing for Bush on the unpopular Iraq war and on immigration cost him support among both moderates and conservatives.

"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," McCain said in a statement.

Nelson was Bush's political director during his 2004 re-election campaign and Weaver was McCain's top strategist during his ultimately unsuccessful race for the White House in 2000. In statements released by the campaign, neither man offered a reason for leaving.

"I believe John McCain is the most experienced and prepared candidate to represent the Republican Party and defeat the Democratic nominee next year," Nelson said.

The campaign already had announced a reorganization last week that included cutbacks in staff. The shake-up followed a weak fund-raising quarter that left McCain with just $2 million in the bank.

McCain has been lagging behind former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in polls, and trails Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in raising money for the campaign.

He finished behind both rivals in the money chase during the last three months. McCain's disappointing take of $11.2 million and $2 million in the bank, announced last week, prompted a flood of criticism and questions about spending and strategy within the campaign.

A Republican strategist said it would be difficult for McCain to pull out of his campaign's death spiral.

"They can decide to crank up the bus and try to recapture the magic from 2000, but once it's gone it is hard to get back," said the longtime Republican consultant, who asked not to be named. "The fund-raising community just closes their checkbooks."

McCain, who visited Iraq last week, reiterated his support for Bush's new strategy in the war as the Senate reopened debate on the issue and Democrats pressed for a plan to withdraw troops.

Several Republicans have defected from Bush over the war in the last few weeks, but McCain said it would be a mistake to abandon Bush's Iraq strategy now.

"I believe that our military in cooperation with Iraqi security forces is making progress in a number of areas. In other areas they are not," McCain said.

"This strategy is the correct one," he said.