McCain struggles to regain campaign footing

Scattershot approach for McCain
When it comes to message and strategy, McCain has appeared to flounder.

He hasn't settled on one theme and can't seem to stick with a particular line of argument in favor of his candidacy for more than a couple days. His attempts to derail Obama are scattershot; the campaign simply takes advantages of openings Obama creates rather than creating a negative narrative against the Democrat. And, McCain's fundraising events have driven his campaign schedule, often putting him in solid Republican states instead of swing states likely to decide the election.

As the sleepy summer pre-convention window opens, Obama is running TV ads in 18 states while McCain focuses on 11 for now and the Republican National Committee bolsters his efforts in the Great Lakes region.

At the same time, McCain is working to match Obama's organization. For now, McCain's campaign is roughly 300-strong compared with Obama's 1,000-person plus operation.

Obama had a campaign in just about every state during the long Democratic primary, and he has started bolstering the remnants of those existing networks. His aides also boast of a hefty grass-roots organization, a "persuasion army" of allies who will reach out to neighbors, friends and relatives. That's reminiscent of Bush's 2004 campaign.

Conversely, McCain's ground-game operation has been slow-moving; staffers weren't dispatched in earnest to key states until last month — even though the GOP primary ended in March. The RNC has fewer than 100 offices with just about the same number of field staffers. The campaign, itself, has 11 regional campaign managers who, in turn, have brought on nearly 100 staff members as part of a much-maligned, decentralized structure.

Then there's the money issue
To return power to headquarters, Schmidt is hiring a national political director and a national field director to oversee ground-game efforts, and is promising to add hundreds more field staff and open more local GOP offices.

But all that takes money, and here, too, McCain trails.

Obama has 1.5 million donors and had raised more than $287 million by the end of May. McCain has far fewer donors and had raised $115 million. May was Obama's worst fundraising month of the year. He raised $22 million, to the $21 million McCain brought in during his best fundraising month.

Still, McCain and Obama entered June with virtually the same amount of cash available for the rest of the summer, $33 million for Obama to $31.6 million for McCain.

But McCain probably will feel the financial pinch this fall.

Unlike Obama, McCain will accept nearly $85 million in public financing and the spending limits that come with it. The Democrat can raise and spend at will.

Said Phil Musser, a former Republican Governors Association executive director: "There are a lot of miles to go before we get to Election Day, and McCain is in his finest form when he's the underdog."

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