I saw this Yesterday, but didn’t blog on it, because I ran out of time.
This comes via Politico:
Former Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, a Texan who is among the McCain campaign’s most important advisers and fundraisers, has resigned as a national co-chair over lobbying entanglements, a Republican source told Politico on Sunday.
It’s at least the fifth lobbying-related departure from the campaign in a week.
The McCain campaign, already facing the prospect of being badly outgunned in the general election, now also must cope with the disruption of the lobbying shakeout.
The McCain campaign’s stringent approach to the issue is provoking a bit of grumbling from some of its Washington allies, who point out that a lobbyist’s function is enshrined in the Constitution.
“No one in real America cares,” said one key Republican. “But McCain cares.”
The senator, whose appeal to independent voters rests in part on his reformist image, recognizes that he will be held to a high standard in the coming campaign and wants to clean house before the general election formally kicks off, sources say.
The McCain campaign last week announced a restrictive “McCain Campaign Conflict Policy” that included a questionnaire to be returned to the campaign’s legal department as part of a re-vetting of all staff.
“No person working for the Campaign may be a registered lobbyist or foreign agent, or receive compensation for any such activity,” the policy says.
Officials say Loeffler’s resignation shows that McCain and his campaign is going to be serious about enforcing the policy, which was implemented following revelations about the lobbying ties of several campaign officials.
I hate to break it to John McCain, But this is nothing more than red meat for the Democrats, who will use this as a campaign strategy. I am sure that John McCain’s camp has some of their own, but it is going to be quite hard to convince people to ignore this sort of thing.
Also, the assumption that "No one in real America cares", is a real dangerous attitude to have. I believe Americans do care, not all, but a great of them do. I know I do, and I would be less inclined to vote for someone, who has had to fire staffers over lobbyist ties.
Also, John McCain is going to have quite the uphill battle, with economy like it is, fuel prices sky high, and the job market like it is. It is going to be tough for him, and I just believe people are smarter and much more well informed, then they were, say in Ronald Reagan’s era. Plus, times have changed as well. Things are much different than they were in Reagan’s era.
Hopefully McCain can shake this off, but I just don’t see it happening.
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