THE HARMONY displayed last week between the George W. Bush and John McCain camps at the Pittsburgh summit is already showing signs of stress.
The cause is the action of the Michigan Republican Convention in severely shortchanging McCain stalwarts in the allocation of delegates from the state to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia this summer. Although Senator McCain won 52 of the 58 delegates at stake in the Michigan primary he won in March, only about 15 true-blue McCainites were named as delegates.
Senator McCain will get 52 votes on the first ballot in Philadelphia under the rules, but most of them will be cast by Bush supporters, including state party chairman Rusty Hills, who calls the controversy totally inside baseball and a tempest in a teapot. But McCain strategists in Washington don't see it that way and apparently neither does the senator himself.
Senator McCain last weekend was to attend the state convention, meet with Gov. John Engler, who led the losing Bush effort in the state's presidential primary, and campaign for two Republican congressional candidates. But weather and, apparently, bad feelings scrubbed the plans.
Senator McCain's political aides were particularly put out by the fact that John Nevin, the campaign manager for one of the GOP congressional candidates, Mike Rogers, was the man who nominated Mr. Hills to be one of the McCain-pledged delegates. Mr. Nevin is the Ingham County Republican chairman and defends his action on personal grounds, noting that Mr. Hill "is my best friendand was my best man at my wedding."
Todd Harris, spokesman for Senator McCain's Straight Talk Political Action Committee that is bankrolling his post-primaries travels in behalf of Republican candidates, says if Mr. Nevin did nominate Mr. Hills as a McCain delegate, the senator won't be campaigning any time soon for Mr. Rogers. Senator McCain's staff also does not look kindly on a quote from Governor Bush's chief strategist, Karl Rove, in this week's New York Times Magazine referring to Rick Davis, McCain primary campaign manager, as the consummate inside-D.C. thug. Prior to the article's appearance, Mr. Davis was named as part of a special group of post-primary advisers to the Bush campaign.
Mr. Harris says a state of Cold War exists now between the Bush and McCain camps. He says the Bush forces asked in advance of the Pittsburgh summit for endorsement and enthusiasm. They got the endorsement but the Michigan delegate allocation indicates the level of enthusiasm they will get.
