There have has been a lot of buzz going around recently about the lack of message-control and 
clarity coming from the Presidential campaign of U.S. Senator John McCain. Undoubtedly this situation would have been a factor in the decision by the Senator, according to Politico, to tap Steve Schmidt, who had been serving as a "senior advisor" to be his new Campaign Manager.
Those of us that know Steve well can tell you that it will not take long before he has focused the messaging for McCain — focused targeted communications are Schmidt’s speciality.
Steve has actually been back East at McCain HQ for some time now, even though his home is Sacramento where he and his family reside. As many FR readers know, Schmidt was most recently Campaign Manager for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s double-digit victory over Phil Angelides in 2006.
Good luck to you Steve — remember that there are terrorists worldwide who hope you aren’t up for the challenge — they are NOT interested in facing off with President John McCain…
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
I really am trying to find any reason to get excited about the upcoming election. Unfortunately, Sen McCain’s hiring today of CA Victory 2006 statewide campaign chairman Steve Schmidt is not a reason to get pumped up. In fact it’s another slap in the face to the base of the party. If you speak with people who were intimately involved in the Victory 06 California operation, you will get near universal agreement that practically the whole op was a disaster for Republicans who were not at the top of the ticket(read that as Arnold Schwarzenneger). Team Arnold was all about Team Arnold and didn’t lift a finger to help out the down ticket races. If you couple this with a nominee like McCain, who fits quite nicely into the Arnold Schwarzenneger political philosphy of screwing over the party any chance he gets, you will get Arnold Schwarzenegger version 2.0 in the White House. Maybe Steve Schmidt will actually give a damn this year about getting some more Republicans elected in the Congress to go with a possible McCain Presidency. If we go by past track records, he will only be watching out for his boss, Sen McCain.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Don’t get your hopes up, Allan.