Thread: McCain Suspends Campaign; Obama Presses for Debate

McCain Suspends Campaign; Obama Presses for Debate (Update1)

By Edwin Chen and Julianna Goldman

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- John McCain made a surprise announcement that he was suspending his presidential campaign and called on Democratic rival Barack Obama to postpone their first debate until Congress hammers out a plan to steady the financial markets.

Obama rebuffed McCain, saying it's ``more important than ever'' for the candidates to tell voters how they would deal with the crisis. He said they can work with Congress while campaigning. ``It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once,'' Obama said.

Both men said they wanted to reach a bipartisan solution to the credit crisis. McCain said the Bush administration's $700 billion proposal to rescue struggling financial companies and unlock credit markets won't pass Congress in its current form.

``It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal,'' McCain said in New York. ``We are running out of time.''

The financial crisis has overshadowed the presidential campaign and both candidates have been seeking to demonstrate their leadership on the issue. McCain and Obama this week largely agreed on conditions they want included in any rescue plan, including limits on executive pay and a mechanism to recoup taxpayer money.

Trading Calls

Obama said he called McCain this morning to discuss issuing a joint statement about their principles. McCain wasn't available and the Arizona senator returned his call about 2:30 p.m., according to both campaigns.

Obama said McCain mentioned the idea of meeting with congressional leaders in Washington and the possibility of delaying the debate, scheduled for Friday, though no firm agreement was reached.

At 2:35 p.m. McCain addressed reporters in New York to say he would suspend campaigning and wanted to postpone the debate. The Illinois senator indicated McCain's announcement caught him by surprise.

``I thought this was something he was mulling over, apparently this was something he was more decisive about in his own mind,'' Obama said at a hastily arranged news conference in Clearwater, Florida.

In an interview broadcast tonight on the CBS evening news, McCain said he'd be ``glad'' to issue a joint statement with Obama, ``but now's not the time for statements. Now's time to act.''

Campaign Suspension

Mark Salter, a McCain adviser, wouldn't say how long the candidate would put his campaign on hold. He said the goal was to finish a bailout plan ``before markets open on Monday.''

The suspension means McCain won't hold any campaign events and won't advertise, according to Salter.

McCain has been trailing Obama in recent polls and the gap has widened as the financial-markets crisis has unfolded.

The move by McCain may be seen as ``desperate,'' said Linda Fowler, a government professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. ``He has been trying to change the conversation every time the press and public starts paying attention to the issues,'' she said.

Historians noted that the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War II didn't prompt suspensions of presidential campaigns.

``McCain's move should be judged too clever by half,'' said Stephen Hess, a scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Political Maneuver

Even so, McCain's plan leaves Obama in the position of either following McCain's lead or potentially being seen as less presidential for focusing more on the campaign, said Paul Light, a public service professor at New York University.

``The suspension does bring the `ready-to-lead' issue back into focus for McCain,'' Light said. ``Obama is damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.''

Reaction in Congress fell along partisan lines. Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader in the House, said he ``strongly'' supported McCain's call for action. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, an Obama supporter, said the move may add more political maneuvering to the debate.

``Bringing a presidential campaign into this atmosphere is not going to make it easier,'' he said.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat supporting Obama, concurred. ``The last thing we need is to transfer the presidential campaign to Washington, D.C.,'' Strickland said.

Debate Commission

The Commission on Presidential Debates and the University of Mississippi, the venue for the event, said they both were planning for the debate to go forward.

``We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned,'' the Oxford, Mississippi-based university said in a statement on its Web site.

As part of his plan, McCain also called on President George W. Bush to convene a meeting with congressional leaders to work on a rescue plan.

Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said the president welcomed McCain's move.

``Bipartisan support from Senators McCain and Obama would be helpful in driving to a conclusion,'' Perino said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Edwin Chen in New York at Echen32@bloomberg.net; Julianna Goldman in Clearwater, Florida, at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: September 24, 2008 19:06 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

Third Party Chuck Baldwin?

Originally Posted by vmonkey56

Third Party Chuck Baldwin?

We could only hope, but this is temporary