Spin Cycle

McCain campaign is shaking up its headquarters, moving lobbyist Rick Davis up to a more general role, and moving ex Bush/Cheney 2004 aide Steve Schmidt (left) in as the major day-to-day operations guy.

At moments like this, they don't say they're making a change because they don't like the trajectory of the race. But the shift certainly comes amid plenty of criticism -- from poor advance work to lack of coherence in the message to a slow start in organizing field operations in key states.

A couple of the problems are obvious. Some days McCain is the straight-talking maverick ready to set an independent course from Bush, other days (offshore drilling, stay the course in Iraq) he's on the same page as Bush. He needs Bush money and Bush loyalists, but he also needs a fair share of voters who can't stand Bush.

There's also a certain amount of indecision about how to define Obama. Is he inexperienced and liberal? Or is he a typical, flip-flopping politician? To a certain extent, the approaches are at war with each other.

From Politico: "While the practice of second-guessing presidential campaign decisions is a quadrennial routine, interviews with 16 Republican strategists and state party chairmen — few of whom would agree to talk on the record — reveal a striking level of discord and mounting criticism about the McCain operation."