McCain fund-raising lags, restructures campaign

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign lagged in raising money in the past three months, prompting staff reductions and pay cuts, McCain's campaign announced on Monday.

McCain's campaign manager, Terry Nelson, told reporters that the Arizona Republican's campaign raised $11.2 million in the past three months, compared to $13.6 million in the first quarter.

He blamed the negative environment among Republican faithful in particular on McCain's support for an immigration overhaul proposal that was cut down in the Senate last week.

"We face a difficult funding environment right now," Nelson said.

Nelson said the McCain campaign had been restructured with job cuts but would not say how many jobs had been eliminated. He said he had agreed to work for free for the time being and that other senior staff were taking pay cuts.

"We confronted reality and we dealt with it the best way we could," Nelson said.

McCain, currently on a trip to Iraq, will focus on his return on the three early voting states, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and is confident he will become the Republican nominee, a senior McCain campaign strategist, John Weaver, said.