Now! Fortified with Nutrients and Acolytes

Are we really in the business now of referring to people that came up under and worked for Karl Rove as his acolytes? Really? I guess we must be as it has certainly happened, this time in reference to a big re-org over at the McCain campaign.

Here's the line: Rick Davis, who has been running the Good Ship Straight Talk, is being replaced in that day-to-day role by Steve Schmidt. The message will be that this is a chance that everyone wanted, and that Rick Davis is perfectly happy being relegated to planning elements of the Republican National Convention.

But my friends, we know the truth about staff changes in presidential campaigns. They happen, and aren't at all irregular, and sometimes you could even liken them to a baseball manager switching around his starting rotation. Sometimes a guy is hot, and sometimes he just doesn't have the stuff. So another analogy, penned by Jonathan Martin in the aforelinked Politico piece, is totally appropriate:

One source familiar with the inner workings of McCain's campaign said that the move came after a sluggish ramp-up to the general and number of unforced errors had left the candidate, senior staff and elected officials unhappy with the state of the campaign.

Unforced errors indeed. All this does is signify that McCain is aware of the campaign's problems that have been obvious to the rest of us for some time. Schmidt's pedigree is useful information, but his status as a Level 6 Rovian Acolyte won't necessarily automatically translate to electoral success.