McCain's Shadow Weapon and It Isn't Sarahcuda.

CT

All to often we give credit, bad or good, to what we see on the surface and never investigate into the backroom dealings and power brokers who live in the shadows. Yup, this sounds ominous and foreboding, but, it is the truth. Who are the real players behind the scenes that never get credit for their contributions. Obama has David Axelrod, who takes every opportunity to run his suck on national tele. Who does McCain have?

This is a CNN article from July 11, 2007 after the McCain campaign shakeup.

Campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver announced their departures in joint statements released by the campaign.

Several sources tell CNN that McCain met with Nelson and Weaver on Monday to discuss the campaign's direction. [1]

It was on July 2, 2008 that Steve Schmidt was appointed Chief Strategist and controlling interest of the McCain campaign. Here is a little background on the "evil genius in training." Look for a particular name in his mini-bio and you will understand the evil genius reference.

Steve Schmidt is an American campaign strategist and public relations expert for the U.S. Republican Party. He specializes in political "message development and strategy".[1] A protege of Republican strategist Karl Rove, Schmidt is currently the senior campaign strategist and advisor to the 2008 Presidential campaign of Senator John McCain. [2]

Schmidt, IMHO, is the reason there has been so much of a change in the campaigning tactics and the slow erosion of the Democratic anointment to the Presidency. Schmidt, brings some big guns to the table as well as a decent resume.

On July 2, 2008, Schmidt was appointed to head up day to day operations of the McCain campaign in response to concerns that the McCain campaign was losing ground to Barack Obama. Schmidt's career highlights to date include a stint in 1998 as Communications Director for the Senate campaign of Matt Fong, chief White House strategist in charge of the U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Samuel A. Alito[3] and Chief Justice John Roberts, and Counselor and spokesman for Vice President Dick Cheney. He worked on the re-election campaign for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.[3] Schmidt was a member of the exclusive "breakfast club" led by top White House adviser Karl Rove that ran President Bush's re-election campaign in 2004. [2]

This man knows how to campaign and take calculated risks. That is painfully evident by the chancy pick of Sarah Palin, which is proving to be wildly successful. Schmidt may have come in the game very late, but, he is making up for lost ground with the speed of an gold medal winning sprinter. He has changed McCain's campaign message 180 degrees, has revitalized McCain's maverick image, and most of all brought Sarah Palin on board. He is truly a genius of Rovian proportions. Axelrod, who?


CT

PS Just a little something for Karl. If the Republicans win and after the dust settles, the Left might figure it out that Karl Rove, via Steve Schmidt, got the better of them one more time. I am sure they will cry foul.

[1] McCain's Top Political Strategists Forced Out
[2] Steve Schmidt

Edit: Not sure why I missed putting July 11, 2008 instead of 2007 for the article date from CNN, but I overlooked it in the edit. I apologize and would like to thank Barbara Schmidt, do not know if she is related to Steve, for pointing out my error. But it has been corrected.