John McCain is struggling to keep afloat in final weeks of campaign, a longtime Republican strategist has told The Guardian. The GOP candidate is heading to near-certain defeat in the election because American voters no longer trust Republicans on the economy, he said. 

“Steve Lombardo, who has worked on Republican campaigns since 1992 and advised McCain’s opponent, Mitt Romney, in the primaries, said it would take a major external event – such as a terrorist attack – or a crippling error by Barack Obama for McCain to make a comeback.

“The bleak assessment of McCain’s prospects from one of his own comes on a day when the economic crisis brought George Bush to an historic new low in his popularity.”

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