:Campaign staff people aren't working on this article; the primary recent contributors are all long-time WP editors who have a masochistic desire to have their integrity questioned.   

 :The style of this article is that assertions in the lead section are not footnoted, but instead repeat material that is introduced in the body of the article, with proper sourcing and citation.  As it happened the cites for the corresponding statement in the body were missing; I have now restored them.    Yes, immigration reform was a huge issue of the summer, and McCain's stance on it badly damaged his campaign at the time, although it's been less of an issue during this primary season (partly due to his altering his stance on it).  I do not see how the story of McCain's campaign near-failure and rise again is "useless information". 

 :Regarding the "bottom of the class" bit, this is not useless information, but as I state above I do not believe it should be in the lead section.