McCain Losing Supporters and Cash

After a dismal first quarter fundraising effort, John McCain needs a few wins in his bid to become the next president. But he has taken a number of hits over the past couple of days and supporters and fundraisers are beginning to abandon him.

John Dowd represented Sen. John McCain in his darkest hour, the "Keating Five" scandal. He supported McCain the first time he ran for president in 2000 and signed up to be a major fundraiser for him in this year's presidential race. But when former senator Fred D. Thompson began thinking about running, the Washington lawyer changed his mind.

For McCain (Ariz.), who started off as the favorite to win the Republican nomination but now trails former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in most polls, Dowd's move signals yet another threat to his struggling campaign. As Thompson (Tenn.) builds his team of major fundraisers such as Dowd, the challenge for McCain will be to collect the millions of dollars necessary to maintain a nationwide campaign and convince Republicans that he is their best bet to retain the White House.

"I am very sorry to see what's happened to John," Dowd said in an interview. "I don't think his campaign is being well run. It's been over-managed. He blew through $8 1/2 million. It's a difficult thing to leave a friend and go to another friend. But we lost the John McCain I knew."

Dowd is correct, McCain's campaign is bleeding money. In the first quarter, McCain spent a higher percentage of his money than any other candidate, blowing through 64 percent of his funds, while raising the least money among the top three Democratic and top three Republican candidates (Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Giuliani and Romney). McCain's spending is completely out of whack compared to the other candidates. McCain spent more on payroll and consulting fees than any other candidate, spending 25 percent more than his nearest Republican rival, Mitt Romney. Nearly half of the expenditures McCain made in the first quarter went to pay his staff and his consultants and he trails badly behind Giuliani and runs neck and neck with a man who has not even delcared he is running--Fred Thompson.

Add to McCain's poorly run campaign his connection with the immigration fiasco, and McCain's stock is dropping like the proverbial stone. His opponents attacked him mercilessly in the debate earlier this week on the issue. McCain may hang around until the end of the year, but this week marks the beginning of his descent from top tier candidate to second tier-- or worse.