WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- The media team behind U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has resigned, reportedly because they haven't been paid.
The Wall Street Journal said Bush presidential campaign veterans Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens Monday e-mailed McCain's new campaign manager -- lobbyist and longtime McCain adviser Rick Davis -- and quit the cash-strapped operation.
The departures came soon after The Journal ran a story about Davis' business and lobbying activities.
The story quoted current and former McCain campaign advisers complaining Davis' extracurricular activities were tantamount to profiteering at the campaign's expense and risked embarrassing the senator.
The team's exit is just the latest in a string of defections plaguing the the McCain campaign.
McCain put Davis in charge two weeks ago after he accepted the resignations of former campaign manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver, but the move compelled more than a dozen senior staffers to leave his headquarters in northern Virginia, as well as state offices in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- all states with early nominating races.
Several fundraisers have also cut their ties to the campaign, which reported a debt at the end of the second quarter, The Journal said.
