[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/03/art.mexicomccain.ap.jpg caption="McCain, wife Cindy, and Joe Lieberman visited the Basilica of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Thursday."]MEXICO CITY (CNN) - News conferences, like baseball games, can sometimes be plagued by rain delays. Just ask John McCain.
The Republican presidential candidate had to stop a session with reporters in Mexico City Thursday afternoon as heavy rain fell at the Ixtapalapa police station. McCain made faces as joked about the weather during the interruption. Reporters then had to gather at the edge of the podium at McCain's feet to hear as his words competed with rain echoing off the metal roof.
Asked if this was the oddest news conference he ever held, McCain said "Certainly the most unusual." He joked that the rain was a result of his visit to the Basilica of the Our Lady of Guadalupe earlier on the day, and he had noted earlier rain is good luck in his home state of Arizona.
Rain issues resolved, McCain discussed the shake-up at the top of his presidential campaign. He called the moves "a natural evolution of our campaign as we become more and more of a nationwide campaign, with increased staff and increased responsibilities."
The Arizona senator called his three-day Latin American swing an excellent visit, saying he is encouraged by U.S. relations with Colombia and Mexico as he was relations with Canada during his visit to that nation last month.
McCain returns to the United States Thursday night, and spends the holiday weekend with his family at their ranch in Sedona, Arizona.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Bush will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing on August 8, the White House announced Thursday.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/03/art.hagin.ap.jpg caption="Hagin, left, with former Bush aide Karl Rove."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin will be leaving his job this month, according to White House spokesperson Dana Perino.
Perino says Hagin's last day will be July 20th.
"The President said that he thanks Joe for his service to the White House, that Joe's been a loyal friend, and that he is excited about the next chapter in Joe's life," said Perino.
Hagin sent an email to friends this morning, announcing he is leaving to take a private sector job.
Hagin, an Ohio native, has been with President Bush since the 2000 campaign.
Combined with experience during the first Bush presidency, Hagin has served 14 years in the White House.
Hagin was a behind-the-scenes player, who had a huge role in the post 9/11 reorganization of the U-S government and how terrorist responses would be reformed.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/03/art.schwar.ap.jpg caption="Schwarzenegger is seeking to speed up the recovery process."](CNN) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an executive order to speed up the recovery process for victims of the wildfires that have scorched a large part of the state.
At a news conference in Big Sur on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger commended both the work of the firefighting crews and the 40 states providing support, but said relief efforts will need to continue long after the blazes are contained.
"Putting out the fires is only part of the battle - helping people put their lives back together is just as important," he said. "The cooperation has been fantastic and I am glad to see federal support because we are likely to face many more challenges in the months ahead."
Under the executive order, replacement fees for birth certificates, driver's licenses and other critical documents will be waived. In addition, the governor will ask the Franchise Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization to assist fire victims with filing tax extensions and obtaining relief from
late penalties and assessments.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/03/art.mccainrevamp.ap.jpg caption="The McCain campaign is changing its structure."](CNN) - In a Thursday campaign memo to the McCain campaign’s 11 regional campaign managers, the man newly named to steer the presumptive Republican nominee’s presidential effort announced some changes that seemed designed to make this year’s campaign bear a slightly greater resemblance to the successful, more-centralized Bush-Cheney re-election team.
McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign veteran, signaled Thursday he is boosting the power of the campaign’s central headquarters in Arlington, with plans to hire a field director and political director in the coming weeks who will both work with Deputy Campaign Manager Christian Ferry.
But he also said that – despite speculation — the McCain campaign won’t be scrapping the de-centralized system that’s drawn skeptical reactions from many GOP observers this cycle. Schmidt wrote Thursday that the regional campaign managers were key to McCain’s success, even as he appeared to suggest that strategy would be set by national leadership. “We will be enhancing our headquarters political capacity to provide additional resources to you and your regions,” he wrote.
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