Steve Schmidt is the Karl Rove acolyte who’s now effectively running John McCain‘s campaign:

Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign has gone through its second shake-up in a year. Responding to Republican concerns that his candidacy was faltering, Mr. McCain put a veteran of President Bush’s 2004 campaign in charge of day-to-day operations, and stepped away from a plan to have the campaign run by 11 regional managers, Mr. McCain’s aides said Wednesday.

The elevation of Steve Schmidt — who worked closely with Karl Rove — at Mr. McCain’s headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been Mr. McCain’s campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago.

The shift was approved by Mr. McCain after several of his aides, including Mr. Schmidt, went to him about 10 days ago and warned him that he was in danger of losing the presidential election unless he revamped his campaign operation, two officials close to the campaign said.

None of the reports I read about Schmidt’s elevation mentioned that he is also a lobbyist, and I remember thinking to myself: “Has McCain actually put a non-lobbyist in charge of his campaign?”

Turns out that not only is Schmidt a partner at a lobbying and PR firm, but everyone knows it now. Because of some choice remarks Schmidt made about the U.S. Attorney firings scandal:

Steve Schmidt, the new man in day-to-day charge of the McCain presidential campaign, stoutly defended his lobbying and PR firm’s hiring of Tim Griffin, a former prosecutor who figured in the U.S. attorneys firing scandal.
[...]
Schmidt (pictured) right) was untroubled by the firings, telling the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that it was “mostly a combination of nonsense and politics and provides us no concern at all.” Griffin, Schmidt said, was “a great addition to the firm.”

McCain really knows how to pick them.