BREAKING: McCain Sees Poll on Economy – Suspends Campaign
24 September 2008 12:37 pm by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
–updated–
Snarky headline, I know, but seriously, McCain’s missed close to every vote since April or so, can anyone doubt this is political gamesmanship? McCain has called for the debate on Friday to be postponed. Obama shouldn’t buy into that one. He should say, let’s meet and change the topic to the economy. Few could resist such a venue.
Washington
Post: McCain to Suspend Campaigning to Focus on Economic Crisis. What
exactly “suspending campaigning” means we don’t know, but it’s great
in a headline. Letterman will also have to do without him.
To update, Obama team says the debate is on as far as they’re concerned:
However a senior Obama campaign official said Obama “intends to debate.”
“The debate is on,” a senior Obama campaign official told ABC News.
But in reality, I guess someone finally showed McCain the
numbers today. On economics, the McCain campaign is in dire straights, as in dead presidential candidate barely crawling.
Turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy
have altered the shape of the presidential race, giving Democratic nominee
Barack Obama the first clear lead of the general-election campaign over Republican
John McCain, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national poll.More voters trust Obama to deal with the economy, and he currently has a
big edge as the candidate who is more in tune with the economic problems Americans
now face. He also has a double-digit advantage on handling the current problems
on Wall Street, and as a result, there has been a rise in his overall support.
The poll found that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by
52 percent to 43 percent. Two weeks ago, in the days immediately
following the Republican National Convention, the race was essentially even,
with McCain at 49 percent and Obama at 47 percent. …
McCain and the Republicans simply had to do something dramatic, because they’re
getting their clocks cleaned in every poll on the economy. By suspending his
campaign, McCain hopes to at least look like he cares, but also illustrate that he knows
what he’s doing and can handle the crisis. It’s also worth a lot of political pr. Call this Hail Mary
#2.
Obama talked to McCain today as well. From the Obama camp:
At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he
would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles
and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White
House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this
afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join
him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together
on the details.
Political point, in the short-term, to McCain strategists on this one. Crafty old bas—-.
Obama’s about to make a statement. I’ll post when it’s available.
UPDATE: It’s clear from Obama’s press conference that he called McCain first early this morning, confirming the statement given above from his team. Then after agreeing on what was to be done via a joint statement that is still being crafted, John McCain pulled the trigger early, giving a press conference to announce the suspension of his campaign. Obama in his presser was calm, deliberate and emphatic that he’d be anywhere at any time, but that infusing presidential politics into the process during this economic crisis was not productive. Obama’s tone was absolutely spot on. As far as Obama is concerned, the debate is on.
