The McCain campaign is attempting to walk back a very mangy cat: Mark Salter is not leaving, they say. He went to pro-bono status at the end of Q2 as part of the campaign’s general cost-cutting, and will remain there. He’ll continue to write speeches and be a senior adviser to the senator.
The campaign’s insistence on this continuing relationship suggests how big a blow it would be if Salter did, in fact, leave. To analogize to the current POTUS: McCain losing Terry Nelson is like Bush losing Josh Bolten. McCain losing Weaver is like Bush losing Rove. McCain losing Salter would be like Bush losing Jeb.
UPDATE: Salter tells Mark Ambinder: “Outside of my family, on this planet, there is no one more important to me than John McCain. I will continue to help in any way I can.”