Schmidt

Source: firstread.msnbc.msn.com --- 6 days ago
From NBC's Chuck Todd and NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger For now, it's tough to truly call the elevation of Steve Schmidt to day-to-day manager of the McCain campaign a full-fledged shakeup. Schmidt had shared responsibility for the message of the campaign with Charlie Black, Rick Davis, and Mark Salter for some time. But the shifts in responsibility could be a precursor to a real shakeup -- and that would be the addition of one-time McCain campaign strategist Mike Murphy, who helped oversee McCain's near upset of Bush in 2000. According to sources, McCain and Murphy personally talk quite a bit, and it's no secret McCain would like Murphy officially involved. Davis and Black are reportedly not enthusiastic about the addition of Murphy because then their roles would truly be diminished. Murphy hired Schmidt for his posts in Schwarzenegger world, so there's likely much less resistance with Schmidt in reaching out to Murphy than with Davis and Black. It looks like today's announcement was designed to do two things: 1) calm the GOP chattering class who are getting nervous about the trajectory of the McCain campaign, and 2) potentially grease the wheels for the return of Murphy to the fold. There isn't much time to do any more shaking up so expect any more movements to come in the next few weeks or not at all. Moreover, the elevation of Schmidt to coordinator of daily operations is an important push for the McCain campaign from primary mod ...

Source: www.moreover.com --- 6 days ago
Extract not available. ...

Source: blog.washingtonpost.com --- 6 days ago
By Michael D. Shear and Chris Cillizza Sen. John McCain has once again shaken up his campaign staff, reducing the role of campaign manager Rick Davis and vesting political adviser Steve Schmidt with "full operational control" of the entire campaign. Sources close to the campaign said Schmidt will continue to report to Davis, who will shift his attention to focus on fundraising, the selection of a vice presidential nominee and the running of the convention this August. The changes were announced in a staff meeting this morning. ...

Source: blog.washingtonpost.com --- 5 days ago
By Michael D. Shear The first evidence of Steve Schmidt's new role at the helm of the John McCain campaign came today in the form of a memo to his regional campaign managers (also discussed here by The Fix), lauding their work but informing them that there will be new leadership at the top. Schmidt confirmed that he will be hiring a national political director and a field director -- decisions that essentially undo the plan to give great autonomy to the regional managers. But Schmidt nonetheless went out of his way to praise the regional leaders, saying they had done much in a short period of time to assemble a McCain team on the ground. "You have built statewide and county leadership teams in the targeted states and in the coming months will even further develop our organizations to the precinct level in every state that will decide this ...

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com --- 1 day ago
The new campaign manager's decisive and methodical new style unfolds today in Denver. ...

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com --- 1 day ago
John McCain has a new campaign director, Steve Schmidt. It will be interesting to see if this improves the relative incoherence of the McCain campaign, about which I have been writing for many weeks, or if the incoherence is actually dictated by the strategic situation. ...

Source: adage.com --- 5 days ago
According to Jonathan Martin at Politico.com, "Steve Schmidt is taking over the day-to-day operation of John McCa... ...

Source: www.lvrj.com --- 4 days ago
Schmidt on 'bumpy road' to recovery ...

Source: tailrank.com --- 6 days ago
Steve Schmidt is taking over the day-to-day operation of John McCain's campaign, according to multiple campaign sources. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign and was a top communications aide in Bush-Cheney '04, will coordinate the campaign's daily pro-McCain and anti-Obama message but also will ... ...

Source: hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com --- 6 days ago
Politico 's Martin reports: Steve Schmidt is taking over the day-to-day operation of John McCain’s campaign, according to multiple campaign sources. At a staff meeting in the campaign's Arlington, Va., headquarters this morning, campaign manager Rick Davis made the announcement about Schmidt's new role. Schmidt, a bald and barrel-chested operative known for his aggressive brand of political combat, responded by exhorting campaign aides with a speech that one staffer likened to a locker room pep talk out of the football movie "Rudy." After the meeting, on a regularly scheduled conference call with McCain's 11 regional campaign managers, senior staff briefed the field aides about the move, explaining Davis would focus more on long-range tasks while Schmidt was taking an enhanced daily role, said an indivdual on the call. McCain sources say Schmidt, who ran Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign and was a top communications aide in Bush-Cheney '04, will coordinate the campaign's daily pro-McCain and anti-Obama message but also will have an increased role in shaping most every facet of the organization including scheduling, policy, coalitions and surrogates. ...

Source: www.newsobserver.com --- 7 hours ago
Derry A. Schmidt's lawyer says Schmidt has returned to work as an engineer for the state Department of Transportation, which dismissed him last year after he was charged with assaulting a Wake County school bus driver. ...

Source: www.politico.com --- 6 days ago
Insiders say campaign manager Rick Davis will focus more on long-range tasks while Schmidt will handle day-to-day ops. ...

Source: www.redstate.com --- 6 days ago
Steve Schmidt has assumed "full operational control" of the McCain campaign, the Washington Post tells us, with McCain reducing the role of current campaign manager Rick Davis, who will now concentrate on finding a veep. (This lays to rest the "Romney is leading" and "Palin is leading" and "Jindal is out" garbage from the media. How can one have a leader for a position if the process has not yet begun?) Schmidt will take over just about everything else, according to two senior sources in the campaign. The political, coalitions, volunteer and communications departments will report to him, as will the regional campaign managers. Several McCain advisers said they believed Schmidt intends to scrap Davis' plan to give the regional managers wide lattitude to run the operations in their states. Instead, the sources said they expect Schmidt to hire a political director and a field director -- two positions that are traditional elements of a presidential campaign. What changes? Dunno. After his June 3rd speech , my thought was that McCain could us the late, great Mike Deaver. He's not available. We'll see what magic the supposedly virtually unfettered Schmidt can work. What the almost comical tone of the Obama campaign so far, he should have plenty with which to work. (And there is more from Jonathan Martin at Politico.com.) ...

Source: blogs.tnr.com --- 5 days ago
Since it's the afternoon before a three-day weekend and no one seems inclined to call me back for the magazine story I'm working on, I guess I'll pass the time by indulging in some more semi-informed McCainland blogging. At the end of today's NYT article on the campaign shakeup, there's this interesting tidbit: Mr. McCain spent Wednesday in Colombia, his second overseas trip in a week, and one that he took despite the urging of Republicans who said he needed to convey his concerns about domestic problems to voters at home. “Somebody asked, ‘What’s the strategy behind this?’ ” [Charlie] Black said of the foreign travel. “It’s simple. McCain says he wants to go to these places, and we say, of course.” I gather Black was joking, but I think there's more truth in what he said than he'd like to admit. When I did this McCainland story a few months ago, one of the biggest complaints from McCain supporters about the Davis/Black regime was that it was too deferential to McCain's wishes: "My criticism of the current operation," says one McCainiac, "is that it's much more inclined to figure out what the senator wants and then organize that, as opposed to doing what's in his best interest to win." This McCainiac cites the use of Joe Lieberman, who often served as McCain's travel companion rather than as a surrogate: "McCain likes to have some people with him, but it didn't make sense to have Lieberman with him. You could have had twice the be ...

Source: www.redstate.com --- 5 days ago
Yesterday, John McCain put Steve Schmidt in charge of his campaign, while former campaign jefe Rick Davis was moved into heading the veep search, fundraising, etc. We had some questions, and we've now some answers, thanks in part to a McCain memo reported in a blog entry from Chris Cillizza , who seems to be having as much fun as Jake Tapper, albeit perhaps in a more Obama-centric manner. Schmidt is strengthening the McCain national HQ in Virginia, which should mean a more focused, message-driven national campaign, although he evidently will not scrap the regional manager concept crafted by Davis, wherein eleven managers ran the campaign in specific geographic areas. But though the basic structure of the strange scheme will be intact, the more dangerous parts of the notion will be transformed: Under the Schmidt regime, it seems as though these regional campaign managers will be far more like field operatives than managers of a specific geographic region. Schmidt will also hire national political director and a field director. Of this, Schmidt writes in the memo obtained by Cillizza: "These individuals will work with all of you and with [deputy campaign manager] Christian Ferry to increase our capacity to reach out to voters, build coalitions, identify supporters, and ultimately turn them out to the polls on November 4. We will be enhancing our headquarters political capacity to provide additional resources to you and your regions. ...

Source: time-blog.com --- 6 days ago
Observers (depending on their politics) have noted with either satisfaction or fear that the McCain campaign is running "a typical Republican campaign." Now the campaign has shifted adviser Steve Schmidt from bus duty to "day-to-day campaign management," so we should expect some changes. Schmidt's been involved in Republican politics basically since he was old enough to vote, but he's not a typical Republican. Sure, ran the 2004 Bush-Cheney war room, but he also got Arnold re-elected. He and Mark McKinnon were the only two "outsiders" who became part of the tight-knit group that counseled McCain after his near-death experience last summer; at 36, he's one of the youngest of all the top staffers and formed an unlikely but close relationship with the candidate almost out of the gate. Despite his youth, he's also left a big imprint on the party -- his proteges include former Mitt Romney spokesdude Kevin Madden and current RNC flack Danny Diaz. Strategy-wise, Schmidt's been an advocate for some of the boldest moves made by the McCain campaign, including the coyly misrepresentative accusation that Romney was "for surrender " -- McCain's term -- based on wanting a "timetable" in Iraq. The charge twisted Romney's words, but many feel that it helped seal Florida -- and thus the nomination -- for McCain. He also hates the press, at least as an organism if not individually; McCain sitting around for hours in bad lighting, with everyone reco ...

Source: embeds.blogs.foxnews.com --- 1 day ago
DENVER — Less than one week after the official Steve Schmidt take over of day-to-day operations, pure message discipline today–economy, economy, economy–from Camp McCain. (Left: Note new “Jobs for America” signage at his event.) In addition to his speech addressing his jobs plan, the campaign did the following things Monday to hammer home their message: –announced that [...] ...