This last week of campaigning is one in which considerable time was spent on the issues, for a change -- at least up until the point John McBush started whining about Wes Clarks' remarks and the bobbleheaded media latched onto the story.

But it's easy to see why McCain would shift focus away from the issues and back to the mudslinging -- focusing on the issues has cost him some voters.

National voter preferences are holding steady, with 47% of registered voters favoring Barack Obama and 42% backing John McCain in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from June 28-30.

There are lots of polls, with results that are all over the map, but a daily, tracking poll like Gallup's is a really good way to measure the short-term effects of events and changes, and in a week where the economy and energy were at the forefront, McCain lost ground. The candidates were tied in this poll a week ago.

Note also that the 47%-42% has held steady while McCain whined and played victim to Clark. McCain's slide stopped while the media dutifully ignored the issues and focused on the faux controversy instead.

Like a soccer forward feigning an injury to stop the opposing teams' momentum, big brave John McCain has figuratively fallen down in order to stop play.

Wow, now that's a leader. We have Bush the chimp followed close on the heels by John McCain the political wimp.

Update: The McCain campaign is reorganizing amidst criticism from Republicans.

John McCain's campaign announced a shakeup at the top Wednesday, in the wake of growing Republican concern about its ability to compete against Barack Obama.

Campaign Manager Rick Davis said Tuesday morning that senior adviser Steve Schmidt would take over day-to-day operations of the campaign. The Bush campaign veteran will report to Davis, but the rest of the campaign will report to Schmidt, who will be in charge of everything from message and communications, to the political structure and organization to scheduling.

Davis will shift into what is being described as a more "natural role" for him -- the kind of duties he handled before last summer's mass firings.

Schmidt's top priority, according to a senior aide, will be to stop "unforced errors in the campaign." He is also expected to shore up what some believe is a misguided political operation put in place by Davis - a decentralized system of regional campaign managers who are not given clear instructions from the central campaign.