McCain's Poor 2nd-Quarter Fundraising Shows Candidacy In Serious Jeopardy

John McCain's presidential campaign revealed Tuesday that it had raised $11.2 million in the second quarter of 2007, putting it far behind its earlier goal of raising $100 million for the year.

The announcement threw into doubt whether the Arizona senator can even survive the early Republican primaries. McCain now places third or even fourth among GOP voters in most polls.

Once seen as the front-runner, McCain now has only $2 million in campaign cash on hand. His campaign will be forced to cut back drastically on salaries and lay off some staffers just to stay afloat.

Campaign manager Terry Nelson blamed the fundraising situation on the candidate's stands on immigration and other issues disliked by many GOP voters.

"While (the immigration bill) was the right decision for our country, it also affected the campaign's ability to raise money," Nelson told reporters.

A campaign staffer said $800,000 of McCain's second-quarter total was donated for the general election, not the primary. That means just $10.4 million can be used in the race to get the Republican nod.

Nelson also said the campaign no longer expects to raise $100 million in 2007. He declined to give the campaign's new projections.

In the first quarter McCain raised $13.4 million, a distant third to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The fundraising news followed a bad week for McCain in which the immigration reform bill he championed stalled, for the second and probably final time, in the Senate.

McCain strategist John Weaver indicated that the campaign plan now was to try to deliver a knockout blow very early in the race.

"We will win this nomination by being the most aggressive campaign in the early caucus and primary states," Weaver said.

Lone Wolf McCain

The senator had counted on his maverick Republican image to win over both independents and loyal Republicans. But one person's maverick is another person's ingrate.

County campaign chairmen in key primary states New Hampshire and South Carolina recently quit over McCain's immigration stance.

"Sponsoring bills with Ted Kennedy simply does not go over well in Republican primaries," said David Mark, author of "Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning" and senior editor at the Politico. "The immigration debate could not have come at a worse time for McCain."

McCain did not participate in his campaign's announcement. He instead traveled to Iraq to visit with troops for the July 4th holiday.

He has raised only $24 million to date, from about 72,000 donors. After earlier flirting with the idea of forgoing federal matching funds, Nelson said McCain is now "seriously considering" them.

That means McCain would be subject to state-by-state spending limits, a factor that could hamper him in competitive primaries.

To cut costs, Nelson said he will forgo his salary, other staffers will take pay cuts, and at least 50 people will be laid off.

"We confronted reality and dealt with it in the best way we could," Nelson said.

Dems Raise Lots Of Cash

McCain is the first major Republican contender to announce his totals to date, so it is unknown if other Republicans' finances are similarly disappointing. What is known is that the leading Democrats are having a very good year.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said over the weekend that he raised $32.5 million in the second quarter. He raised about $25 million in the first quarter, putting his 2007 total at more than $57 million.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is expected to announce about $27 million. She raised $26 million in the first quarter, putting her year-to-date total at about $53 million.

Most polls continue to show Clinton ahead in the race for the Democratic nod, but Obama has an unusually broad base of donors. Some 258,000 individuals gave an average donation of $200. That suggests strong grass-roots support.

Also, almost all of Obama's $32 million was for the primary, not the general election. That means he can tap those same donors again later, should he get the nomination and face the GOP candidate.

Clinton's second-quarter tally includes $6 million for the general election, suggesting those donors may already be maxing out.

Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., in third place, isn't doing as well. Though official numbers aren't out, his campaign predicted $9 million for the second quarter. He raised $14 million in the first.