More staff leave McCain's camp

WASHINGTON — The once-promising presidential prospects of Republican Sen. John McCain suffered another blow on Tuesday, as two top advisers departed a campaign that has struggled with lagging poll numbers, lackluster fundraising, close identification with an unpopular war and a clash with his party's rank-and-file conservatives over the volatile issue of immigration.

Campaign manager Terry Nelson, a veteran of President Bush's successful 2004 re-election, and chief strategist John Weaver, a longtime McCain adviser and close friend who was an architect of the senator's 2000 presidential campaign, resigned less than a week after the campaign announced a shake-up that laid off dozens of campaign staff members. In addition, three other senior campaign officials quit on Tuesday.

McCain, R-Ariz., entered the 2008 presidential campaign as the presumptive GOP front-runner but has been passed by rivals in public support and financial strength. With his organization sized to fit the robust campaign he expected to wage, and donations during the past three months slipping further, his campaign burned through most of its treasury, leaving McCain with only $2 million in the bank at the end of June.

"I'm determined to continue to face our challenges head-on and win," McCain said in an e-mail to supporters.

But the turmoil in his campaign organization risks further erosion in his support.

"When you have a major shake-up like that, supporters may hear a death rattle, and death rattles don't attract money," said John Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College in California and a former Republican National Committee staff member.

Still, about six months remain before the first votes are cast. And other candidates have bounced back from early difficulties.

McCain has trailed rivals Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney in fundraising throughout the year. He raised just $11.2 million during the three months ending June 30, down from $13.6 million in the first quarter of 2007.

Recent polls have shown McCain in third and fourth place in the key early states of New Hampshire and Iowa. National polls have him trailing Giuliani and a likely new entrant, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee.

"Challenges are nothing new to me," McCain wrote in his e-mail. "Whether political challenges, physical challenges or even personal challenges — how you stand up, face them and move forward defines your character and your strength."