It wasn't so long ago that the candidate who appeared to have laid out a straightforward path for himself to reach the 2008 Republican nomination was John McCain. With the Republican establishment climbing aboard the Straight Talk Express, his campaign budgeted for a $100 million race, in which it would hire all the party's top talent and contend vigorously across the map.
Now, having posted a second lackluster fund-raising quarter and with only $2 million in the bank, the once presumptive front runner's campaign finds itself struggling to survive. The operation is laying off staffers by the dozen and slashing the...