McCain could pull out of race by autumn

[babylonsister]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1977477.ece

McCain could pull out of race by autumn
Presidential hopeful drops campaign staff as Republican consultants predict he'll be gone by September
Sarah Baxter

THE former presidential front-runner, John McCain, may drop out of the 2008 race by September if his fundraising dries up and his poll ratings continue to drop, according to Republican insiders.

The speculation, vigorously denied by McCain’s camp, is sweeping Republican circles after a disastrous few weeks in which the principled Arizona senator has clashed with the party’s conservative base on immigration and also alienated independent voters by backing President George W Bush’s troop surge in Iraq.

Randy Pullen, chairman of the Arizona Republican party, said: “He’s a battler, so I’d expect him to carry on, but everyone is waiting to see what his new fundraising totals are. That’s pretty critical. If he doesn’t have the money, he won’t be able to run.”

The second fundraising quarter for candidates closes at the end of June and McCain’s results should be known by mid-July.

Dan Schnur, McCain’s communications director during the 2000 presidential campaign, said it was “possible” that he could drop out: “There are all sorts of challenges McCain is facing, from fundraising to Fred Thompson and the Iraq war, but the biggest single boulder in his path is the immigration issue.”

One veteran Republican consultant put the odds of McCain remaining in the race beyond the autumn at 3-1 against. “He’ll be gone by September,” predicted Tom Edmonds, who is not affiliated with any campaign.

more...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. The biggest single boulder in his path is

that he's John McCain.

[racaulk]

2. "...principled Arizona senator..."

Just who is that, exactly? :shrug:

[Ian David]

3. "principled Arizona senator"???? PRINCIPLED??? WTF?? n/t

[liberal N proud]

4. One down

:bounce: :applause:


:cry: NOT!



:popcorn:

[louis-t]

5. I've been saying for months, he'll be out before

the convention.

[TwilightGardener]

6. A shame--he was the best of a bad lot.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

7. Saw this one coming...

Apparently his staff, which has been very fired up about the fundraising goals, has gotten very mum on all of that lately. Apparently, they're not in line to top that $13M+ from the first quarter. There's talk about Edwards falling short of goal too, but he's doubled/expected to double his performance from this time in '03, so I definitely see him moving ahead. Richardson is also gaining quite a bit, but Clinton and Obama are definitely locking up a lot of the early big money contributions. Obama has Warren Buffet behind him right now, which is potentially HUGE. I think the field will narrow a bit after this round of numbers comes out, and more so in the fall.

[rhiannon55]

8. "Principled"?

NOT!

[ludwigb]

9. Good News

Because of his delusional hawkery he's easily the most dangerous....but he is also the most dangerous GOP candidate in the GE. Romney, Guliani? Please.

[SOS]

10. Out as a Republican

but Unity '08 is still looking for a candidate....

[ripple]

12. McCain/Lieberman? n/t

[SOS]

14. For once,

their massive egos might be of some benefit to us!

[MaineDem]

11. It's easy to say this about any candidate

I'm a little reticent to believe any of this speculation. It all could be true or it all could be false.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. Don't believe the hype

c'mon. This is BS a mile deep. If anything McCain is still the favorite to win.

[BlueStater]

15. He'll hang on for a while

It takes a special kind of man to constantly whore himself for Bush just because he thinks it will give him a better shot at the nomination. John-boy clearly wants to be president more than any of them.