"John McCain has claimed that he believes there is a special place in hell for Tucker Eskew and the others who were behind the push-poll that implanted the idea in S.C. voters' minds in 2000 that he had fathered an illegitimate black child, but that sure didn't stop him from hiring Eskew to help prepare Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Jake Tapper : McCain Hires GOP Operative Who Helped Smear Him in South Carolina in 2000 Former officials of Sen. John McCain's 2000 campaign expressed shock and disbelief Monday to learn than the GOP presidential nominee had hired South Carolina political consultant Tucker Eskew. Eskew, along with Warren Tompkins and Neal Rhodes, were key members of then-Gov. George W. Bush's South Carolina team..."