BURMA: Republican Convention coordinator forced to resign because of junta ties

And now, the Burma cyclone affects the presidential campaign. From the AP/Yahoo story, "Leader of GOP convention quits after Myanmar ties reported":

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar. Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement: "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to
become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign." Goodyear, chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted a story posted online that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent Myanmar's junta.

Read the Newsweek piece, by Michael Isikoff. Post your comments - and any updates - below.
[Thanks to Jaya Kamlani for the alert.]

Comments

[Jaya Kamlani]

Another top McCain official resigns

Former Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, a Texan who is among the McCain campaign's most important advisers and fundraisers, has resigned as a national co-chair over lobbying entanglements, a Republican source told Politico on Sunday. It's at least the fifth lobbying-related departure from the campaign in a week.

The McCain campaign, already facing the prospect of being badly outgunned in the general election, now also must cope with the disruption of the lobbying shakeout.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080518/pl_politico/10428

Jaya Kamlani

[Jaya Kamlani]

McCain strategist keeps Obama vow, leaving campaign

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) - A senior adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Tuesday that he was stepping down to keep a commitment he made not to campaign against Democrat Barack Obama.

McKinnon, who was a key aide in President George W. Bush's two election victories, has expressed admiration for Obama and pledged not to campaign against the Democratic front-runner if he became the party's presidential nominee.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080521/pl_nm/usa_politics_mccain_aide_dc

Jaya Kamlani