Struggling with getting out a message and trailing in the polls John McCain once again shook up his campaign, bringing in veteran political operative Steve Schmidt to take control of his operation. The move shifts responsibility away from campaign manager Rick Davis, and appears to be the end of the “decentralized campaign” which had envisioned autonomous “regional” campaign managers with broad authority over their designated regions. McCains lack of a unified
message seems to be the reason for the change, along with some operational difficulties. From the Washington Post:

“There’s not a cogent message,” one Republican strategist said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “They’ve been attacking Obama every day, but it doesn’t tie back to an overarching theme that McCain believes in.”

The problems crystallized this week, with McCain on a three-day trip to Colombia and Mexico, where he is talking about trade and drug trafficking, an exercise even some insiders considered a waste of the candidate’s time.

“They’ve been playing this ripped-from-the-headlines game. Whatever is hot or interesting for the day is what they’ve been talking about,” said one former McCain adviser who is no longer with the campaign.

Schmidt explained his thoughts to the Post:

“There are 125 days left until the American people will decide the next president,” he said. “Senator McCain is the underdog in the race. We suspect he is behind nationally five to eight points but well within striking distance. I will help run an organization that exists for the purpose of delivering John McCain’s message to the American people.” Schmidt is also expected to abandon Davis’s plan to put roughly a dozen regional campaign managers in place around the country.

So McCain tries another political shakeup. There is plenty of time for McCain to right his ship, but I have been totally unimpressed by what up to now has been a lethargic effort, with no utilization of the McCain brand which still contains many positives. Scmidt has time, but does the candidate really want to listen to the adults in the room? Read the Post story here.