Down in the polls and alarmingly short of cash, presidential candidate John McCain fired some staffers Monday and asked others to work for free to avert a political collapse.
McCain aides announced that the campaign had raised only $11.2 million in the second quarter and has a meager $2 million cash on hand. Campaign manager Terry Nelson has agreed to work without pay for the next two months.
“We confronted reality, and we dealt with it in the best way that we could so that we could move forward,” Nelson told reporters at a grim conference call.
Responding to a question from The Examiner, he added: “In order for us to have the money necessary to effectively communicate John McCain’s message, we need to downsize our efforts, or downsize our operations, while keeping them effective.”
McCain advisers acknowledged the Arizona senator was hurt in recent weeks by the protracted Senate debate over an immigration bill that would have granted legal status to illegal immigrants. McCain supported the legislation, even though most conservatives derided it as amnesty.
There was an almost palpable sense of relief in the McCain camp that the legislation would no longer be debated following its defeat last week. But there was also a deep disappointment about the candidate’s bleak financial picture.
For the first time, the campaign is seriously considering accepting federal campaign matching funds, which would limit McCain’s overall expenditures and possibly put him at a major disadvantage against rivals who forgo such funds and may spend unlimited sums.
The campaign also has abandoned its goal of raising $100 million in 2007, having raised only a quarter of that in the first half of the year.
Although Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani have not yet released their fundraising figures for the second quarter, which ended Saturday, both are expected to top McCain. The same thing happened in the first quarter, when McCain raised just $13.6 million, well short of his GOP rivals.
McCain’s second-quarter fundraising appears even more anemic when compared with Democratic presidential candidates. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama raised $32.5 million, or nearly triple McCain’s take. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton raised $27 million, while former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards brought in $9 million.
“We know this is going to be a difficult election,” said McCain’s senior strategist, John Weaver. “We intend to win this nomination and the general election. It won’t be because we raised the most special interest money.”
