McCain Suspends Campaign!

John McCain, the guy who just last week insisted that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong," has asked Barack Obama to call off Friday's debate due to the ongoing financial crisis, and has officially suspended his campaign to return to Washington D.C. to belatedly take up work on the bailout bill.

This is a very strange move, given that Congress had already spent the past three days hammering out a deal with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Could it be that the real crisis is that McCain saw all of the recent polls showing him losing ground on the issue of the economy? Can we read this as anything but another cynical attempt to grab headlines?

He wouldn't have been able to head back to Washington to vote on the bailout without grandstanding? Congress has been meeting for the last three days on this matter. Why is he suddenly so attentive? Read McCain's statement here.

Suspending a campaign means what, exactly? No more television ads? No press releases? Or does this just extend to speaking engagements? Apparently his suspension doesn't include free network publicity. McCain was just interviewed by Katie Couric, following his big announcement.

Perhaps this is just a case of one-upmanship, considering that Obama privately called McCain at 8:30 a.m. and asked that the two men issue a joint statement of principles on the bailout proposal.

UPDATE: The Obama camp says "the debate is on." McCain wants to postpone the debates with a time out. Looks like Obama isn't backing down.

The real question remains, why now, after we've had three solid days of Congressional hearings, has McCain decided it's time to scurry back to Washington? It seems that Republican House support for the bailout is crumbling. McCain still won't say whether or not he'll vote for the emerging package, and was angered when Harry Reid said he thought McCain would support it. Reid now says he thinks it's best that both candidates stay away, and go on with their previously scheduled debate. Obama has signaled his support, and qualifiers. Maybe McCain needs the time to ask some questions and figure this one out? It beats having a bunch of reporters asking you questions in a debate, no?

Now we learn that if the bailout passes tomorrow, McCain is cool with having the debate. Guess that means he agrees with Obama, and will vote yes.

Obama confirms that he'll be at the debate at Ole Miss, the school that has laid out millions of dollars in preparation for the debate. Furthermore, Obama says they can fly back to Washington following the event, if need be. Even thought the compromise is now mostly done, McCain thinks his healing presence is needed for the final push. This from the man who hasn't made a Senate roll call vote in the past 5 months and who is the first to admit that he doesn't know much about the economy. McCain to the rescue!

Back to the suspension issue: Why should one candidate be able to dictate the terms of the election? Stop campaigning when I say so. Postpone debates until I deem it the right time. Don't interview my running mate!

Chuck Schumer calls McCain's move "Just weird."

Joe Klein says it's a "Gimmick" and a "Hail Mary."

The National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez:

Obama sounds more reasonable and less gimicky than McCain. He says that there is no reason why we can't do more than one thing at once. Obama says it is "more important than ever" to have a debate... ...Obama may win this campaign moment yet. If McCain protests, he looks petty.

David Letterman, who McCain canceled on, even though he was just down the street doing an interview with Katie Couric:

"What are you going to do if you're elected president and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

The National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru:

But it is hard to see what McCain can do to help, and easy to see how his intervention could hurt. He brings, as he himself has admitted in the past, no expertise to the table. And won't Democrats be less likely to cooperate on a plan if doing so will help make McCain be the hero of the hour?

So McCain's move may have been a mistake on substance. It may also prove to be a political mistake too: If McCain can't bring both parties together in an economic crisis after staking so much on it, won't voter draw adverse conclusions about his leadership ability?

Survey USA has a snap poll up, and it's not good news for McCain:

When asked "what to do about debates?" only 10% say they want them postponed. 50% say hold as scheduled, and 36% say have the debates just ask a lot of questions about the economy.

When asked whether the candidates should "suspend campaigns?" only 14% say yes.

And our own AOL poll finds 58% of responders say they want Friday's debate to go on as planned.