Pander much? McCain suspends campaign to focus on Economy

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John McCain will suspend his campaign to focus on the financial crisis. His campaign is calling for postponing Friday's debate.

"It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time," the Arizona senator said in statement issued by the campaign. "Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington."

The Obama campaign just issued this statement:

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.

Fundamentally sound huh?

Texas Representative Joe Barton just called the bailout "Dead on Arrival" on CNN

Update: Obama campaign saying they're still inclined to do the debate on Friday. Said it should not be postponed. Even slimy Neil Boortz thinks Obama will come out ahead in this.

Obama supporter and chief debate negotiator Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., told MSNBC that "we can handle both," when asked about his reaction to McCain's call to postpone the first debate because of the administration's bailout plan.

He believes they are making good progress on Capitol Hill on the bailout and his initial reaction is that the work on the Hill should not preclude the debate from taking place.

Update: Ben Smith has it that McCain has also asked Obama to suspend advertising.

Update: From the Chicago Sun-Times

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) said Wednesday there is no need for Barack Obama and John McCain to rush back to Congress to work on the stalled bailout package and certainly no need to delay the first presidential debate, as McCain is urging. Obama is expected to call for the debate to go on as planned.

Reid said both men returning to their Senate jobs will "risk injecting presidential politics into this process. ....We need leadership, not a campaign photo op," Reid said. McCain is suspending his campaign--as of Thursday afternoon--until Congress works out a plan. Congress is resisting approving the $700 billion package sent by the White House.

And this from DailyKos:

Some fun facts about John McCain: Of all Senators, John McCain has been the most absent. There have been 643 votes taken in the current Senate session: McCain has missed 412 of them.

McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8th. Since March, he has missed 109 of the last 110 votes.