McCain suspends campaign, wants to delay debate to work on economy

WASHINGTON – GOP presidential candidate John McCain announced Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign and called for postponement of Friday's first debate in order to concentrate on the nation's financial crisis.

Democratic rival Barack Obama, who initiated Wednesday's developments with a morning call to McCain asking him to sign a joint statement about the economy, rejected the call to delay the debate.

"It's my belief that 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, an Illinois senator, said in Clearwater, Fla., adding, "it is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at a time."

Officials at the University of Mississippi, host of the debate, said the Commission on President Debates notified them that "we are proceeding as scheduled."

In a statement in New York that caught Obama by surprise, McCain said the Oxford, Miss., debate should be delayed "until we have taken action to address this crisis."

"I'm confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people," the Arizona senator said. "All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I'm committed to doing so."

But Obama – and other Democrats who said McCain's strategy would inject presidential politics into the crucial economic debate – said there's no reason to make any changes.

"Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time. It's not necessary for us to think we can only do one thing and suspend everything else," he said.

Obama said he has been in "constant contact" with congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and that it's important "that we don't suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics at a time when we're in the middle of some very delicate and difficult negotiations."

"So, you know, I think the message is, if you need us, if I can be helpful, I'm prepared to be there at any point," he said, adding moments later, "If it turns out that we need to be in Washington, we've both got big planes."

By Wednesday evening, the Obama campaign released a list, dating back to 1960, of "major news events on days" of past presidential and vice presidential debates.

The most recent was the Sept. 30, 2004, news that North Korea had turned plutonium into at least one nuclear weapon and a Fannie Mae announcement of significant changes in accounting and management practices.

In New York, McCain said the stakes could not be higher and that failure to approve legislation could put Americans' life savings at stake.

"All we must do to achieve this," he said of the needed legislation, "is temporarily put politics aside, and I'm committed to do so."

The interplay between the campaigns on Wednesday began at 8:30 a.m. when Obama called McCain to ask him to sign a joint statement "outlining their shared principles" on legislation to address the financial crisis. Six hours later, McCain called back and agreed to join in the statement.

Obama indicated he was surprised when McCain, before the statement could be issued, made his New York remarks, suspending his campaign as of Thursday and calling for postponement of the debate.

"I'm calling on the president to convene a leadership meeting from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It's time for both parties to come together to solve this problem," McCain said.

Obama said he thought both sides would hold their verbal fire until after the joint statement was issued.

"When I got back to the hotel, he had gone on television to announce what he intended to do," Obama said, noting McCain said "he thought that perhaps we should suspend the debates."

"I thought that was something that he was mulling over. Apparently this was something that, you know, he was more decisive about in his own mind," Obama added.

At the White House, in advance of President Bush's Wednesday night address to the nation about the financial crisis, press secretary Dana Perino welcomed McCain's announcement.

"Bipartisan support from Senators McCain and Obama would be helpful in driving to a conclusion," she said.

But Democrats saw presidential politics behind McCain's move. New York Sen. Charles Schumer called it a "political stunt" and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said it was just a bad idea.

"It would not be helpful at this time to have (both candidates) come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation's economy," Reid said. "If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership, not a campaign photo op."

But House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio said McCain had a good idea.

"Given that it is only a few months before a new president takes the oath of office, it is vital that the next president play an active role in crafting this critical plan," Boehner said.

Later Wednesday, presidential spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush had invited McCain, Obama and congressional leaders to the White House for a Thursday afternoon meeting "to work on driving toward a bipartisan and timely solution on the financial rescue package."

Fratto said Bush called Obama at about 7:30 p.m. to personally extend the invitation.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the Democratic nominee will attend the Thursday session but still sees no reason to postpone the Friday night debate.

"(Obama) strongly believes the debate should go forward on Friday so that the American people can hear from their next president about how he will lead America forward at this defining moment for our country," Burton said.

Obama and McCain issued their joint statement about 30 minutes prior to Bush's address. In it, the two candidates said Americans "are facing a moment of economic crisis" and that "no matter how this began, we all have a responsibility to work through it and restore confidence in our economy."

"The jobs, savings and prosperity of the American people are at stake," the candidates said.

They called it "a time to come together ./././ in a spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people."

The Obama campaign added "principles" that he called on McCain to support, including "oversight," but an independent board, of any plan that is approved and a way to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

The McCain campaign released the joint statement - with no additions - 19 minutes after the Obama campaign distributed it.

At Southern Methodist University, political scientist Matthew Wilson called McCain's move "a real bombshell that caught everyone off guard." Wilson said it reinforced the maverick image McCain covets.

Wilson sees a sincere McCain effort to work on the economic issue but also sees pragmatic politics at work.

"From a strategic standpoint, I think he saw his standing in the polls eroding because of concerns about the economy and he wanted to get proactive with the issue," Wilson said.

Prior to McCain's announcement, his political director, Mike DuHaime, acknowledged that the economic crisis has become "the driving force in this race" and that developments in the past 10 days have "been certainly an exclamation point in terms of what we face in terms of the economy."

Recent polls indicate voters believe Democrats can do a better job of dealing with the economy, numbers that do not faze DuHaime.

"The economy is a driving force in a lot of people's minds," he said, "but even with folks who have that as their top issue they probably will be concerned with other issues as well."

He brushed off a question about whether the increased emphasis on the economy makes McCain's challenge more daunting.

"We would have packed up the tent four months ago if we didn't like daunting challenges," DuHaime said. "I think ultimately voters are going to look at this and they are going to see Senator McCain as somebody who is ready in times of crisis, whether it be economic or foreign-policy related."

Several polls released Wednesday showed Obama with a widening lead - though generally within the margin of error - in several key states. And a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Obama with a 52 percent to 43 percent nationwide lead. Two weeks ago, the Post-ABC poll showed McCain with a two-point lead.

By a 53-39 margin, the respondents said they trust Obama more than McCain to deal with the economic woes.

McCain officials dismissed the Post-ABC poll as out of line with other national surveys that show a closer race.