John McCain Watch: McCain Loses South Carolina County Chairman Over Senate Immigration Bill

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) gestures during a Republican presidential candidates debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, June 5, 2007.

McCain loses an SC county chair over immigration

Subject: RE: TIME TO CALL RADIO

Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 22:15:22 -0400

From: David Nix

To: ‘Adam Temple’

CC: Mike Gibbons

Adam,

Please consider this my resignation as Aiken County chair for McCain. I am too far from him on the Amnesty Bill. I was hopeful that he could keep his nose clean this time around, but he can’t read the pulse of the American citizens.

Please pass my regrets on to Henry McMaster.

David Nix
Aiken County

Adam Temple is McCain’s South Carolina press secretary. The e-mail was in response to a plea for McCain county chairs to call into talk radio stations and make the pitch for their candidate. Nix, evidently, is very unhappy about the “Amnesty Bill” because the guy he cc’d, Mike Gibbons, happens to be a reporter for the Aiken paper. Henry McMaster, btw, is the state AG and a big McCain supporter.

********

The McCain campaign is on life support.

Mitt Romney has taken the poll lead in Iowa and New Hampshire. McCain is barely hanging onto South Carolina and badly trails in Florida.

And Fred Thompson will be entering the race within 30 days.

Put a fork in McCain – He’s Done!

But, will tonight’s collapse of the Senate Immigration bill, help McCain?

Stay tuned……

Update:

 More trouble for the McCain campiagn:

I have it from two sources that the Washington Post is set to report that Fred Thompson has snagged at least one high-profile John McCain donor: John M. Dowd, once Mr. McCain’s personal lawyer, including during the Keating Five scandal and when his wife was under legal investigation for an addiction to pain killers.

The McCain campaign confirms the news and downplays Mr. Dowd’s importance, saying he’s raised less than $10,000 for the campaign and that he broke with the campaign months ago.
Attempts to reach Mr. Dowd so far the evening have proved fruitless, though message have been left by this reporter at his various numbers.

Mr. Dowd is a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and heads the firm’s criminal litigation group.

According to records available through opensecrets.org, Mr. Dowd contributed $5,000 to Mr. McCain’s reelection bid in 2004.

UPDATE: I reached Mr. Dowd. He confirms the story and has the following comment:

“I wanted to help Fred, and I think he can win.”

Not a good sign when your attorney leaves and joins a rival campaign.
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