more bad news for McCain

[nerfball]

A member of the Florida House of Representatives arrested yesterday on charges of soliciting a male undercover police officer is the co-Chairman of the Florida campaign of presidential hopeful John McCain, PageOneQ has learned.

Bob Allen (R) was appointed Florida co-Chairman of the McCain campaign in March. At the time, McCain said he was proud of the support he received from Allen and that Allen and his three co-chairs were "respected leaders in their communities and have real experience wrestling with the important issues of our day." McCain pledged to "turn to these leaders. Their counsel will be very helpful and their support invaluable."

Fox News Orlando reported the arrest yesterday evening. According to the report, Allen was charged with a second degree misdemeanor. Allen, who is married, was arrested in Titusville, Florida, approximately twenty-five miles east of the district he represents.

Allen has a strong conservative record. PageOneQ has obtained information regarding Allen's voting record and ratings by advocacy organizations. Between 2003 and 2006 Allen voted with the Christian Coalition over 90% of the time. Allen has been endorsed by the Florida Right to Life Committee and this year he voted to impose a 24-hour waiting period on third-trimester abortions.

Allen serves on the House Agriculture & Environment Appropriations Committee, Environmental Regulation Committee, State Infrastructure Council and the Utilities & Telecommunications Committee. He is chairman of the Spaceport & Technology Committee.

On his House web page, Allen's listed recreational interest is "water sports."

A message left seeking comment from McCain's campaign went unreturned by press time. Updates as they become available...

Additional information on Allen's record may be seen at Joe My God.

Excerpts from the Fox News Orlando report follow:

Titusville police say they have arrested Florida State Rep. Robert "Bob"

Allen, of Merrit Island, on second degree charges for solicitation for prostitution.

Allen, 48, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at Veteran's Memorial Park on East Broad St. in Titusville. The park was under surveillance by a detail of undercover police officers.

Officers say they noticed Allen acting suspicious as he went in and out of the men's restroom 3 times. Minutes later, he solicited an undercover male officer inside the restroom, offering to perform oral sex for $20. Officers realized he was a public figure after the arrest.

[DosEquis]

Jesus man..... $20 bucks.... they should drug test him too because he obviously needs some smack or something.

[Linzyhop]

jeez, guess McCain can't afford to pay him very well!

[nerfball]

what the hell are these guys thinking when they do this? he just ruined himself. McCain must be wondering what the hell else can happen...

[thomez]

Ed Failure (Failor), the dude that kept Ron Paul out of the debate in Iowa, along with another top aide in Iowa, both announced they are resigning as well.

McCain loses two Iowa strategists - Yahoo! News

By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa - Two veteran Republican strategists are abandoning John McCain's campaign in Iowa, dealing another blow to a presidential bid still reeling from a major staff shake-up earlier this week.

Ed Failor Jr., said Thursday that he and Karen Slifka plan to notify McCain by letter of their decisions. Both are GOP operatives with deep ties in Iowa, which holds the first-in-the-nation caucuses, and national politics.

"As much as I like Senator McCain, it's not a team I'm willing to stay involved with any longer," Failor said.

Once the GOP front-runner, McCain's second presidential candidacy has been foundering on all fronts. His support has dropped in national polls and his top GOP rivals, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, have easily outdistanced him in fundraising. Over the past week, he has accepted the resignations of two top aides in his national campaign, laid off more than half his staff, narrowed his strategy to three states and disclosed he had only $2 million to spend.

Failor ran the Iowa field operation for President Bush's campaign in 2004, assembling a deep campaign organization that energized social and religious conservatives. Bush narrowly won the state, the first time since 1984 that a Republican had prevailed in Iowa in the general election.

Failor also works for Iowans for Tax Relief, a conservative group that runs the state's largest political action committee.

Slifka came to the McCain campaign from her role as a strategist for the Republican National Committee.

Both had close ties to Terry Nelson, who served as McCain's campaign manager until his departure this week.

The defections are the latest sign of trouble for McCain in Iowa.

Jeff Lamberti, a former GOP legislative leader who is a co-chairman of McCain's Iowa campaign, said staff cuts in the state and the loss of major strategists is a blow.

"I'm not hearing a whole lot, to be honest," Lamberti said. "It definitely is tougher in Iowa. You need to be here, you need to have people on the ground."

When he sought the nomination in 2000, McCain skipped the Iowa caucuses to focus on the New Hampshire primary. There's no sign he'll make a similar decision this time, but even McCain's supporters concede he's in a difficult position.

"If you reduce the staff, you need to have the senator out here more often, rather than less often," said David Roederer, a veteran operative heading up McCain's Iowa operation. "I believe they understand that."

Roederer was on a conference call with McCain earlier in the week to discuss strategy.

"What he said was we're going to move as aggressively as we can in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina," said Roederer, referring to the states holding the first three tests of strength.

Still, some wondered whether McCain could get backers out on caucus night, in the dead of winter, to argue politics. The caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 14.

"It's boots on the ground and they had that and they were going rather well, I thought, this winter and spring," said Chuck Laudner, executive director of the Republican Party of Iowa. "It just evaporated overnight on them."

In more bad news for McCain, a co-chair of his Florida campaign — state Rep. Bob Allen — was arrested Wednesday after offering to perform oral sex for $20 on an undercover male police officer, authorities said. Allen, 48, was seen coming in and out of a restroom three times at a park in Titusville, Fla., said police Lt. Todd Hutchinson. He then approached an undercover officer and was arrested.

Allen has been charged with solicitation for prostitution, which has a maximum penalty of one year in jail. Brevard County jail officials said Allen posted a $500 bond.

[Publius]

Jesus, I've never seen a campaign implode like this.

[Linzyhop]

Originally Posted by Publius

Jesus, I've never seen a campaign implode like this.

howard dean anyone?

[Publius]

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

howard dean anyone?

this is worse than Dean's though, because the Dean campaign's wheels fell off after he showed badly in a couple of primaries then went all looney. The wheels are falling off the McCain machine before any of the primaries even start, and by no real fault of McCain's.

[DosEquis]

McCain didn't even need list like 5 random states and go YYYYYYYYYHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwwww wHHHHHHHHHHH

[thatguyoverthere]

Howard Dean cheered at his own rally, as everyone else in the room was cheering. Dean happened to be holding a noise isolating microphone at the time. Nobody in the room heard him because they were all screaming too. There's nothing loony about cheering at your own rally. And Dean had already lost in the primary, so the "scream" had nothing to do with his "implosion."

And, for somebody who "imploded", he came right back to become leader of the Democratic Party and helped the Democrats win in 2006. McCain should be so lucky...

[thomez]

McCain's top press aides leave campaign - On Politics - USATODAY.com

McCain's top press aides leave campaign

Sen. John McCain's top communications aides resigned from his presidential campaign today, the Associated Press writes.

Their departures, as AP puts it, are "the latest staff departures to hit the Republican's campaign as he struggles to rebound from financial and political woes."

AP says that Brian Jones, McCain's communications director, and his two deputies, Matt David and Danny Diaz, "stepped down, but plan to stay on through the week."

The wire service quotes Jones as saying "this is not an acrimonious departure, " and says that "the moves were all but certain following the departures last week of campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver; several of those in the communications office, including Jones, had ties to Nelson."

USA TODAY's Susan Page, who wrote this morning about McCain's "survival" strategy, noted that the candidate was "braced for more resignations to be announced today."

I think you can pretty much stick a fork in him, everyone is bailing.

[motivez]

Wait a second, did I understand the initial article right? $20 TO perform?

[thomez]

Originally Posted by motivez

Wait a second, did I understand the initial article right? $20 TO perform?

as in

"I'll suck yo dick for 20 dolla"

[motivez]

I read that as in he was offering to pay to perform

Either way, it's always hilarious to me to see these uptight, upstanding people who pretend to be so moral and Christian get caught in these kinds of situations, exposing them for the hypocrites they are.

[thomez]

McCain is on flip-flop alert once again. After realizing that nobody liked his pro-amnesty views and his campaign on the ropes .... now he says his top priority is securing the border.

Good thing his campaign is in the toilet .... because he's an idiot.

[SICKGUY]

i used to like mccain, but he is too old to be a president. why would any young american want a 70 year old running the country?

[Linzyhop]

Originally Posted by SICKGUY

i used to like mccain, but he is too old to be a president. why would any young american want a 70 year old running the country?

well he's a lot younger in his ability to see the whole picture and not as stubborn as "some".......

[SoFlaJDM]

stick a fork in him