McCain shakes up aides’ roles

BY CESAR SABOGAL

Cartagena, Colombia

July 3: US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain shook up his campaign braintrust on Wednesday, on the second day of a two-nation Latin America tour designed to showcase his foreign policy spurs.

Mr McCain put his senior adviser Steve Schmidt, a hard-hitting political operative, in charge of day-to-day operations, amid reports of some Republican disquiet about Mr McCain’s White House bid, a campaign source said. Existing campaign manager Rick Davis will take on a broader role, overseeing tasks such as the selection of a vice presidential running mate for Mr McCain and the planning of the Republican national convention in September.

The shake-up came just weeks into the evolving general election campaign between Mr McCain and Senator Barack Obama with the Democrat enjoying a six-percent lead over Mr McCain in a RealClearPolitics average of national polls.

Mr McCain’s personnel shifts were made public on the middle day of the candidate’s three-day tour of Colombia and Mexico. His visit coincided with a daring jungle rescue by Colombian armed forces, who freed French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three US nationals and 11 Colombian soldiers from Marxist FARC rebels. There was no immediate reaction from the campaign on the rescue of the hostages.

Earlier however, Mr McCain praised the government of President Alvaro Uribe, for its battle against the FARC, and backed a US-Colombia free-trade pact proposal, which his rival Mr Obama opposes.

"I think the people of Colombia should be rewarded for their sacrifices and their efforts but I think it’s good for the interests in every way of the US," Mr McCain said.

—AFP