Archives » Thursday, July 26, 2007
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Holly Bailey
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Jul 26, 2007 12:20 PM
John McCain is standing by his man. Traveling in New Hampshire on Wednesday, the Arizona senator and 2008 presidential hopeful deflected questions about his campaign manager and longtime adviser, Rick Davis, who has been at the center of controversy over his ties to companies that profited big time off McCain's campaign. According to records filed with the Federal Election Commission, an Internet consulting firm partially owned by Davis charged McCain roughly $1 million during the campaign's second quarter--about 10 percent of what McCain raised during that three-month period. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported Davis also played a role in directing a pricey campaign contract for office space to a firm owned by an Indian casino developer with ties to a longtime Davis associate. Davis has denied wrongdoing, and both contacts have since been terminated--a not-so-surprising development, since McCain's campaign is now virtually broke. Questions over Davis's alleged profiteering have been at the center of internal feuding within the senator's campaign for months. The back-and-forth over money is said to have played a significant role in the departures of two key McCain staffers--manager Terry Nelson and longtime strategist John Weaver--earlier this month. Following a town hall in Keene, N.H., on Wednesday, NEWSWEEK asked McCain about the questions surrounding Davis--an inquiry he didn't seem happy to receive. "Rick is a friend and I trust him," an unsmiling McCain said, in his first comments on the subject. "All these allegations, I'm just not going to respond to." Asked if he was aware of Davis's ties to the companies his campaign paid, McCain cut off the question. "I'm not going to respond to these allegations," he repeated. "I will not. The record will speak for itself." His comments come on the heels of yet more resignations this week. On Monday, McCain's media team--Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens--tendered their resignations. The move comes amid a wave of departures, including McCain's top press officials and several state organizers.
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