New advisers working on McCain's style

WASHINGTON, July 6 (UPI) -- Likely Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain is working harder to improve his scripted-sounding speech delivery style, campaign aides say.

Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., has hired a former Fox News producer, Greg Jenkins, to oversee the production and staging of his campaign events while GOP debate consultant Brett O'Donnell is aboard to help improve his speech and performance, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper says McCain is undergoing a subtle but marked change to make him more competitive with his likely Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., whose speaking ability is considered one of his greatest assets. Part of the McCain makeover program has reportedly been to get him to tone down his sometimes sharp sarcasm of Obama.

"There's a danger of sarcasm becoming nastiness, and McCain seems to be conscious of that line," Alan Schroeder, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, told the Times.

Others, however, say McCain shouldn't be burdened by demands of his new staffers.

"I think the depressingly self-absorbed McCain campaign machine needs to get out of the way," Mike Murphy, described as a longtime McCain friend and media adviser, told the newspaper. "They need to just let McCain be McCain."