Debate News

News flash:

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos and Rick Klein report: Sen. John McCain on Wednesday said he would "suspend" his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill, a dramatic move designed to seize a powerful issue.

However a senior Obama campaign official said Obama "intends to debate."

"The debate is on," a senior Obama campaign official told ABC News.

McCain said he called on the Commission on Presidential Debates to postpone the debate scheduled for Friday in Mississippi, to ensure quick congressional action. The campaign is also suspending its advertising, pending an agreement with Obama.

"I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me," McCain planned to say in New York City, according to advance excerpts released by his campaign. "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."

Hmmm...  Very interesting.  This sets up McCain as being the one looking for bipartisan solutions to a real problem facing the American people.  If Obama refuses, he'll likely look cheap and petty.  On the other hand, if Obama somehow manages to refuse while NOT looking cheap and petty, McCain will look like he's afraid of debating Obama.  Of course, he can counter that by pointing to his issuing challenge after challenge for debate over the past few months, all of which were ignored by Obama.  Maybe that's why he's taking the gamble.

The Obama campaign says it would return to Washington 'if it would be helpful', but says they can handle both the crisis and the debate.  McCain, on the other hand, says the current deal is more or less dead, and a lot of work is left to be done before Monday.  I think a key phrase can be found in one of McCain's advisers here:

"When you start talking about $10,000 per household or per family to go toward bailing out Wall Street, they have legitimate questions about it," DuHaime said. "People understand that that is a big thing and it affects them, and they do legitimately have questions about, is this really going to go to bail out companies or leaders of companies who now are relying on taxpayer dollars to bail them out, and are going to get these huge compensation packages after they come to the taxpayers for it."

"There is some frustration, certainly, in that, and it's understandable to say the least. And it has not been a quick rush to say yes or no. People understand the gravity of this, want to see it done right, while still understanding the timing factor."

This makes a lot of sense to me.  Real, rational, normal people understand that while action needs to happen fast, it needs to be the RIGHT action.  McCain's stance seems to align directly with that idea.  Here's one early piece of analysis:

There are two ways to score this: politically and as a matter of civics. 

Politically, I think it is shrewd, even wise. It demonstrates McCain's willingness to make politics and partisanship a secondary concern. Obviously, some of McCain's detractors will see it as a gimmick. But politics is all about gimmickry in a sense. Symbolic gestures, tactical positioning, overtures to constituencies: that's what politicians do to communicate what kind of politician they are. Yes, as the guy behind, McCain has a greater interest to reset the campaign to more favorable terms. But that doesn't mean it's the wrong thing to do. He's communicating that he's the candidate that actually breaks with politics-as-usual when it's required.  After all, there was something really idiotic about having the first debate be on foreign policy when virtually every American is rightly focused on the economy. 

As a matter of civics, I am at a loss to understand what the argument  against this could possibly be. I didn't much like the cancellation of the first night of the GOP convention because of the hurricane. Democracy should go on, and all that. But postponing a debate so that the world's oldest deliberative body can tackle the most pressing domestic crisis in modern memory seems both  democratic and appropriate.  The debate in Congress isn't  a photo-op.  It's what Congress is for.

Newt Gingrich proposed that idea earlier this week - since the economy is the big thing right now, McCain should have called for economics to be the subject of the first debate. 

On the lighter side, one NRO reader suggests the following:

If Obama insists on a Friday debate, he should debate Biden. They can talk about coal, gun control, the vote on the Iraq war, inappropriate political ads, etc.

Not a bad idea, given that they seem to disagree on any number of issues (see the previous post)! 

Regardless, it'll be interesting to see what happens with this game of political chicken.  Will Obama blink again?  We'll know one way or the other in the next 48 hours or so.

There's my two cents.