A McCain aide confirms to us that there's been something of a shake-up at the top of the McCain campaign, as first reported by Jonathan Martin:

Steve Schmidt is taking over the day-to-day operation of John McCain's campaign, according to multiple campaign sources.

At a staff meeting in the campaign's Arlington, Va., headquarters this morning, campaign manager Rick Davis made the announcement about Schmidt's new role.

Schmidt, a bald and barrel-chested operative known for his aggressive brand of political combat, responded by exhorting campaign aides with a speech that one staffer likened to a locker room pep talk out of the football movie "Rudy."

McCain sources say Schmidt, who ran Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign and was a top communications aide in Bush-Cheney '04, will coordinate the campaign's daily pro-McCain and anti-Obama message but also will have an increased role in shaping most every facet of the organization including scheduling, policy, coalitions and surrogates.

Davis will focus more on big-picture issues such as general strategy, helping to plan the convention, picking a vice president and tending to the needs of major donors.

The perception among Republicans is that the McCain campaign failed to exploit the opportunity that arose when he secured the nomination this spring. The Dem candidates continued bludgeoning each other for weeks afterwards, but McCain failed to gain enough organizational or message traction in the interim for it to translate into any kind of advantage.

The rest of the story here.