TURMOIL IN THE KERRY CAMPAIGN: Mickey Kaus is asking the right questions.

Kerry campaign spin: “The new additions strengthen an already impressive campaign team!”

The guy they need is Joe Trippi. Er, well, really he’s the guy they needed a month ago. . . .

UPDATE: Tom Bevan has a Kerry turmoil roundup.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Contrary to the Kerry press release, Mel Levine isn’t new. His appointment was announced two weeks ago.

MORE: Reader Heidi Gunther emails:

Kerry is having Serious problems, almost deadly. The media is giving him an extra minute in the neutral corner to catch his breath because they have so much invested in him. The news guys want him to win so badly that they will sacrifice their reputations to get what they want.

Watch for mass retirements in the media when Bush wins.

Hmm. Interesting. Read this, too. And there’s this, from N.Z. Bear:

Let’s be serious: can anyone actually imagine Kerry, or his senior advisors, suddenly interrupting a staff meeting to declare: “We’re screwed! Get Joe Lockhart on the horn — he’s the only one who can save our asses!” . . .

The even worse news for Kerry is that despite the exceptional job his campaign has been doing at executing political hari-kari, the Bush team hasn’t even started to attack him yet. . . . Kerry’s recent Swift-Vet-driven collapse is the political equivalent of a boxer being clocked by a random spectator on his way to the ring.

Ouch. Stephen Green has further thoughts.