McCain pauses campaign
Obama rejects rival's call to postpone their first debate tomorrow night
Senator John McCain, in a high-wire political gambit six weeks from Election Day, abruptly announced yesterday that he would temporarily suspend his presidential campaign and return to Washington to help craft an emergency bailout plan for the nation's financial system.
McCain, whose standing in the polls has slipped since the financial meltdown engulfed Wall Street 10 days ago, stunned the political world by asserting shortly before 3 p.m. that he would stop campaigning, advertising, and fund-raising until there's a bailout deal, which he said he expected would happen by Monday morning. He called for postponing tomorrow night's debate with rival Barack Obama, their first.
Obama swiftly rejected McCain's entreaty, saying it was "more important than ever" for voters to evaluate the presidential candidates, one of whom will soon have responsibility over the troubled American economy.
"This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama told reporters in Florida. "It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."
Last night, the Obama and McCain campaigns said the candidates will meet today with President Bush and congressional leaders, and issued a joint statement saying the current plan is "flawed" and calling for bipartisan agreement.
McCain's move was another extraordinary twist in a race full of extraordinary twists. It reflects not only the deep concerns of Republican and Democratic leaders about the grave state of the economy, but also the shifting dynamics in a presidential contest that polls suggest has swung in Obama's favor. Voters' focus on the Wall Street crisis and the economy - long an advantage for Obama - has helped give him an edge this week nationally and in key battleground states.
The Republican's unilateral cease-fire declaration comes after days of intensifying rancor between the two campaigns over the Wall Street crisis. Just minutes before sending out the text of McCain's speech, his campaign issued a statement blasting Obama's ties to a former executive of
The latest turn in the race began yesterday morning, when Obama called McCain to inquire whether the candidates - who agree on broad criteria for the bailout package, including independent oversight and limiting CEO pay - could craft a joint statement to help bring the White House and Congress to consensus.
McCain wasn't available, and Obama left a message.
About 2:30 yesterday afternoon, McCain returned Obama's call and reached him. Obama said he initiated a discussion about drafting the joint statement, and that McCain assented.
They then discussed McCain's desire to halt campaigning and put off the debate, though Obama said he had no idea that minutes later McCain would be on TV with a definitive decision.
"Following Sept. 11, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis," McCain said in New York. "We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country."
Obama echoed McCain's bipartisan rhetoric, dubbing the crisis an "American problem." Obama demurred when asked whether he considered McCain's move a political stunt, though he said coolly that he was surprised at "how quickly there was an announcement and somebody was on television."
His fellow Democrats were more blunt.
"It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys," US Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, a Democrat who leads one of the committees scrutinizing the bailout, told reporters.
McCain's Republican colleagues praised his decision.
"He's willing to risk an election to be able to do what he thinks has to be done for the country," Senator Orrin Hatch said on MSNBC.
White House press secretary Dana Perino welcomed McCain's announcement, saying that the support of the candidates would help ink a deal.
Though McCain advisers said late yesterday that they still wanted to put off the debate, to be held at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, the college and the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates said the event was on for now.
The commission said that its mission is to allow the candidates to "debate the critical issues facing the nation. We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled."
With the debate supposed to focus on foreign policy, Obama, in arguing for why it should go forward, sought to connect the current economic crisis to America's place in the world.
He said the candidates should "talk about how it relates to our global standing in the world, what implications it has for our national security, how it relates to critical questions like the war in Iraq and Afghanistan."
A McCain aide said that as the Arizona senator returns to Washington, his campaign was pulling TV ads and canceling surrogate events and press conferences.
Both campaigns have struggled to stay current on the crisis while keeping busy campaign schedules - McCain and Obama have both been largely absent from the Senate since launching their presidential bids last year. Given the delicate and fluid nature of the situation, Obama said, he and McCain might have to be on the Senate floor for a vote on whatever deal emerges.
But Obama said the debate would not get in the way. "We've both got big planes," he said. "They can get us from Washington, D.C., to Mississippi fairly quickly."
A Washington Post/ABC News poll released yesterday found that Obama, helped by turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy, now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent among likely voters; McCain held a 49 percent to 47 percent edge two weeks ago just after the Republican convention.
Obama also has his biggest lead in the Diageo/Hotline daily tracking poll - 48 percent to 42 percent among registered voters.
Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com. 