McCain Suspends Campaign to Focus on Economy

Earlier today, John McCain said that he would suspend his campaign starting tomorrow to return to Washington D.C. to focus on the economic crisis.

McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday. He said he will suspend his ads and campaign events until further notice.

In a statement earlier today, McCain also called on the Commission on Presidential Debates to postpone Friday night's debate on foreign policy and national security in Mississippi in light of the economic crisis and to ensure quick congressional action. In his statement, he emphasized bipartisanship and unity to solve the countries financial woes.

"I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me," McCain said in New York City Wednesday. "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.”

However, Barack Obama, who was preparing for the debate in Florida, argued that the debate should go on as scheduled.

"I believe that we should continue to have the debate," Obama said. "It's my belief that this is exact time when the American people need to hear form the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsibly for dealing with this mess and I think that it is going to be part of the President’s job to deal with more than one thing at once."

Obama said that he would not be suspending ads or campaign events before Friday's debate. He also said that he will not return to Washington unless they believe that he is needed.

“In my mind, it’s more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy.”

He added, "I've told the leadership in Congress is that if I can be helpful then I am prepared to be anywhere at anytime," he said. He also said that he did not want to clutter Capitol Hill with the partisanship and possibly counterproductive attention that presidential politics would bring along with him.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty. Why is McCain really doing this? In a word: politics.

By flying into Washington as the savior he might appear as a man of action to people who don't know how the Senate works. In reality, Obama and McCain's appearance in the Senate would instantly turn the entire event into a political circus and could possibly erase all of the progress that has taken place so far. And McCain knows as well as anyone that his presence won't have any major positive effect on getting the economic bill getting passed in the Senate.

Also, by pulling all of his TV ads for a few days saves his campaign money, something Obama has a lot more of.

On top of that, today's ABC News/Washington Post national tracking poll has Obama up 52 to 43 over McCain. Today's FOX News poll (that's right, FOX) has Obama up by six points nationally. The bottom line? McCain's in trouble.

The recent economic downturn does not bode well for McCain. He felt that he needed to do something--he needed a game changer. After all, that's what he did by picking Sarah Palin (who has mysteriously disappeared from the public eye, while Obama, Biden, and McCain duel it out over the economy). And we all know that McCain is an impulsive risk-taker, especially when times are tough.

This most recent move to suspend his campaign and not show up to Friday's foreign policy debate (which is , ironically, his field of expertise) is a risky, bold move. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a smart move. In fact, I think it is reckless, and it will be looked back on as one of the major mistakes of his candidacy, along with calling the foundations of the economy strong.

I'm assuming that his plan is to say that he's going to put country first, and that he'd rather lose an election than an economically stable future, or whatever. But then he will reemerge at the debate on Friday with an attitude of "I would rather be solving the nation's financial problems than be here," which would demonstrate his willingness to put his country ahead of partisan politics. But right now, the American people aren't buying it.

Right after McCain's announcement, SurveyUSA interviewed 1,000 adults nationwide. It found that 3 of 4 Americans say the presidential campaign should continue, and 10% said it should be postponed. It also found that 36% of Americans think the focus of the debate should be modified to focus more on the economy. Just 14% say the presidential campaign should be suspended. If Friday’s debate does not take place 46% of Americans say that would be bad for America.

So, the public may not have responded to McCain's announcement in the way he might have liked. The question is, will the American people see it as a campaign stunt, or that he's actually going out of the goodness of his heart? Will they see this as his third recent reckless act (following the selection of an unknown female governor as his running mate and canceling the first day of the RNC) while Obama is cool, calm and collected, and looking more ready than ever to lead?

We'll just have to wait and see.