Ward: ‘Some communication issues that I wanted to make stronger’
Vaughn Ward's campaign hasn't returned calls today, but Ward just said on KBOI radio that he's "clarified" that he didn't fire campaign manager Ryan O'Barto, as reported on Politico.com; the Associated Press is reporting that O'Barto has resigned. Ward said, "To deal with some of our communication issues that I wanted to make stronger, I brought on Mike Tracy, who has a 20-plus year history of dealing with tough races" and has worked on campaigns for "Larry Craig and others." Ward added, "He's actually been a volunteer on our campaign for about a year helping us out, and he's stepped in." So far, he's made no mention of replacing O'Barto with senior finance director Al Henderson, who joined his campaign April 29th. O'Barto was serving as both campaign spokesman and campaign manager.