Sergeant Schmidt gets a promotion
Jonathan Martin reports that Steve Schmidt is going to take over day to day management of the McCain campaign. Schmidt is a formidable political operative who worked for the Bush-Cheney re-elect and helped rescue Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political career. With him in day to day charge, the McCain campaign should cut out most of the sloppy errors that have from time to time undercut McCain’s message. Schmidt is also bringing on board a bunch of his former colleagues who should help professionalize the campaign.
The political environment in which McCain is running means that his campaign has to walk the tightrope of taking risks and executing flawlessly. This is not always going to be possible but it has to succeed at that more times than not. Schmidt might just be the man to make that happen.