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The McCain '08 campaign death watch can commence:

Republican John McCain reorganized his campaign Monday, cutting staff in every department as he raised just $11.2 million in the last three months and reported an abysmal $2 million cash on hand for his presidential bid.

We confronted reality and we dealt with it in the best way that we could so that we could move forward," Terry Nelson, McCain's campaign manager, said.

Once considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination, McCain trails top Republican rivals in money and polls.

Some 50 staffers or more are being let go, and senior aides will be subject to pay cuts as the Arizona senator bows to six months of subpar fundraising, according to officials with knowledge of the details of the shake up.

There are only two reasons you make drastic cuts or changes to staff and key personnel like this:
1. You don't know what the hell you're doing; or,
2. You need to change things in a hurry as the ship is starting to sink.

I think # 2 clearly is at play here. The McCain people completely failed it establishing his inevitability as the 2008 nominee. Not that it's their fault necessarily. Just that John McCain is far, far outside the Republican mainstream right now and his complete failure as a 2008 candidate as compared to his 2000 campaign shows that clearly.

Who drops out first: McCain, Brownback, or Tommy Thompson?