Lengthy behind-the-scenes analysis here. Sorry for the lack of David Vitter. For what it’s worth, more than one McCain aide I talked to yesterday mentioned him, usually in the context of, “The only person happy with us today is David Vitter.”
The charge that McCain had become a “panderer” irked Weaver and other aides to distraction — not because the idea so offended them, but rather because, as they said privately, they wished the senator would pander. Instead, even beyond his unpopular stands on immigration and Iraq, he made their jobs harder. When, on his “announcement tour” in March, McCain was caught making contradictory statements about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the campaign’s explanation was simple: “We didn’t know he was going to say that.” The stuff about “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran”? “We didn’t know.” The line about following bin Laden “to the gates of hell”? “We didn’t know.”
But if Weaver’s job on the trail was to stay out of McCain’s way, his presence in the campaign writ large was impossible to miss. It was his pugnaciousness that prompted a stunningly early bout of intra-party mudslinging against rival Mitt Romney, and it was his grand vision of a 50-state campaign that propelled the decision to emphasize raising money over cutting back. But despite questioning Weaver’s strategic decisions thus far, others in the party respect his wily style and nimble mind. Weaver was the one who envisioned McCain in the White House before anyone else, and he’s the one who brought him the closest. “I don’t know how McCain will ever be President without John Weaver,” said one long-time GOP strategist.
[snip]
Not everyone feels that way. In a conference call the senator and current campaign manager Davis had with the McCain national fundraising team after things had begun to settle, the mood was cautiously optimistic. One participant characterized the departure of Weaver and the attenuation of Salter’s relationship with a joking reference to the strategy that had once been dubbed “McCain 2.0″: “You got rid of the guys who came up with New Coke.”
