Over at Politico, Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen have an excellent piece up about the McCain meltdown. Here are some of the things that I found most interesting ...
Another McCain source pointed to an anecdote posted Wednesday on the blog TownHall.com in which McCain, speaking at a private event, accepted praise for his little-appreciated anti-abortion stance -- only to remind the conservative crowd that he also supported stem cell research.
"How many times have I seen that?" mused this person. "He just cannot keep himself on message, he just can't keep himself from telling people where he disagrees with them."
And ...
GOP strategist Chris LaCivita said immigration hurt McCain with major donors because of the hit he took in polls, but also undermined him with grass-roots givers. "People in states won't give money to candidates that are opposing such a key component of their core beliefs -- no matter what his record on other issues may be," LaCivita said. "To blame McCain's problems on spending is a cop-out -- and a denial of the obvious."
And ...
"Why didn't McCain enter the race with $15 million in his Senate campaign account that would be readily transferable into his presidential campaign?" asks GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio. "Unless I am mistaken, he has been quietly running for the last eight years -- six of which the GOP was in the majority and he was very powerful -- which makes raising money easier."
And ...
... as veteran consultant and former McCain backer Roger Stone put it, "Who needs 150 people on the payroll in May of '07?"