Carl Cameron of Fox News just announced that John McCain is suspending his campaign to return to Washington to work on passage of an economic recovery bill.
Obama Camp: 'The Debate is On'
Hallelujah! Let's hope this sticks.
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McCain has also called on Obama to suspend his campaign as well.
One of the consequences of this will be the postponement of Fridays presidential debate.
Hmmm.
Update: It is confirmed that McCain is proposing to postpone Friday's debate. He made a brief statement that the economic crisis is too important not to go back to DC to work on legislation. He said that this should not be a partisan matter.
So where would you go to get away from partisanship? Washington? Also, McCain is right that the financial problems we are facing are important, but so is electing the next president. I don't see how participating in the debate would throw the economy into a tailspin.
Update: McCain speaking now:
"Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night's debate until we have taken action to address this crisis."
Update: CNN is running a chyron that says that Obama said there is no reason to cancel debate or suspend campaign. Another chyron says that they agreed to issue a joint statement (where is that?).
I haven't seen an official response yet from Obama, other than the CNN crawl. But I hope that that is correct. Obama should just say...
McCain - NOPE
Rahm Emanuel appeared on MSNBC to say that the candidates ought to be able to multitask. That is my view as well. Paulson and Bernanke have testified before the relevant committees and many experts and staff specialists are working non-stop on alternative legislation. The presence of the candidates can be useful to focus attention, but they are not critical to the sausage-making process. They should lead by articulation direction and vision. What better place than a nationally televised debate to do that?
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Update: SusanG notes on the front page:
"At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details. "
Doesn't that sort of seem like McCain agreed to the joint statement and then stole the ball and ran down field to take all the credit for himself?
Dana Perino made a statement welcoming the participation of the candidates and thanking McCain.
Update: Now McCain is saying (via Cameron/Fox) that he will only be suspending his ads. That's a whole different thing. He is also saying that if the crisis is concluded (?) before Friday, he would attend the debate. Canceling the debate would be a very expensive move. I don't know how they could keep the debate provisionally scheduled with just two days to go.