John McCain’s reelection bid loses 2 staffers, including campaign manager

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Sen. John McCain’s reelection bid lost its campaign manager and another veteran Republican staffer, part of a shakeup for the Arizona lawmaker locked in a tight primary race with radio host and former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

The pair of GOP hands -- who started before Hayworth entered the race -- will instead work on the Republican National Committee’s effort in Arizona. Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said neither campaign manager Shiree Verdone nor Mike Hellon, a former Arizona GOP chairman, were fired.

‘Sen. McCain is very grateful for all that Shiree and Mike have done to launch the reelection campaign and establish it on a firm footing and looks forward to working closely with them for victory in November,’ Rogers said in a statement.

McCain, his party’s 2008 presidential nominee, drew a Republican primary challenge that has forced him to the right. The onetime champion of a moderate, bipartisan approach to immigration is running ads demanding that Washington finish ‘the danged fence’ he once mocked.

McCain, who is seeking a fifth term, also has dropped his maverick label.

Hayworth, who hopes to tap anti-incumbent sentiments, has campaigned against McCain as a Washington insider who is weak on illegal immigration. Arizona recently adopted one of the toughest immigration laws in the country.

-- Associated Press