US:JOHN McCAIN will relaunch his presidential bid next week with a series of events focusing on job creation, following his campaign's second major staff shake-up in a year, writes Denis Stauntonin Washington.
Mr McCain has given Steve Schmidt, a veteran of President Bush's 2004 campaign and a key figure in Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election as California governor two years ago, "full operational control" of his campaign.
The move comes amid growing disquiet among Republicans over a lack of focus in Mr McCain's campaign and incoherence in its message. "Senator McCain is the underdog in the race," Mr Schmidt said. "We suspect he is behind nationally five to eight points, but well within striking distance.
"I will help run an organisation that exists for the purpose of delivering John McCain's message to the American people."
Mr McCain yesterday sought to play down the importance of the changes, insisting that they were part of the growth of his campaign into a major operation.
Prominent supporters expressed relief, however, predicting that Mr Schmidt's elevation would help the Republican to match the extraordinary discipline of Barack Obama's campaign.
Mr McCain's focus on employment policy comes as new figures show that the US lost 62,000 jobs last month and unemployment is at 5.5 per cent of the workforce.
"To get our economy back on track, we must enact a jobs-first economic plan that supports job creation, provide immediate tax relief for families, enact a plan to help those facing foreclosure, lower healthcare costs, invest in innovation, move toward strategic energy independence and open more foreign markets to our goods," Mr McCain said.
"The American people cannot afford an economic agenda that will take our country in the wrong direction and cost jobs.
"At a time when our small businesses need support from Washington, we cannot raise taxes, increase regulation and isolate ourselves from foreign markets. These are the same old siren songs that have failed the American people time and time again."
Mr Obama said the jobs figures showed that the US needed a radical departure from the policies pursued by Mr Bush, which he claimed Mr McCain would continue.
"Our economy has now shed 438,000 jobs over the past six months, while workers' wages fail to keep pace with the skyrocketing cost of gas, groceries and healthcare. The American people are paying the price for the failed economic policies of the past eight years, and we can't afford four more years of more of the same."
Addressing veterans in Fargo, North Dakota yesterday, Mr Obama said today's Fourth of July holiday was a proper moment to reflect on how US society treated its service personnel. "When our troops go into battle they serve no faction or political party. They represent no race or region.
"They are simply Americans. We owe military families who have sacrificed so much more than we are offering them now."