McCain’s Campaign Suspension Wasn’t
McCain’s mini-suspension was really nothing of the sort
In news likely to surprise absolutely no one, it’s increasingly becoming clear that McCain’s so-called suspension of his campaign was in fact nothing of the sort. Short of actually holding a rally, the campaign went on just fine for all of the 24 hours it’s officially claimed to be suspended.
Let’s review. On Wednesday McCain said that he would be suspending his campaign to deal with the economic crisis:
“Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Sen. Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.”
Though it was going to be a mere footnote, the fact that he cancelled his scheduled appearance on David Letterman exploded because, after excusing himself saying he had to rush back to Washington because of the crisis, an astonished Letterman showed him live with Katie Couric, of his same network, very obviously not rushing out of town or stopping his campaign. Letterman was not pleased:
But of course McCain rushed back to Washington right after that interview, right? Well, not so much. McCain stayed in New York to address the Clinton Global Initiative and didn’t go back to Washington until midday or so.
Then he was back in Washington. But since McCain doesn’t actually sit on the banking committee, or the Financial Services comittee, it was lucky for him that the White House decided to invite him to a photo-op in depth conversation on the issue at the White House (which Obama also indulged in).
But at least he was back in Washington and presumably campaign activities had mostly stopped so that more full attention could be paid to the crisis, right? I think you know what’s coming.
Online contributing remained active. Personally, that doesn’t bother me. It takes up no time or energy, though a part of the campaign, it doesn’t discredit McCain claiming to be suspending his campaign.
However, a campaign memo, giving the “talking points” about the suspension of the campaign (gotta love the irony), was a lot more suspicious.
Also less than indicative of a campaign being suspended: surrogates out in force. Campaign offices open and fully functioning. McCain said that he would halt his ads, but this is a task easier said than done, and considering the tiny span of the suspension itself, it may not amount to many ads not aired in the end.
In short, it would seem that McCain’s announcement of the suspension of his campaign was all hat and no cattle. McCain has clearly seen that he can’t afford to let Obama get a full hour and a half primetime tv with no challenge and has relented to going to the debate, which is the smatetest thing he’s done in days.
This stunt was a gamble. In the purely political sense, it required daring, to be sure. But it wasn’t very well executed, and gives me the impression it was not well planned. In the end I think it did virtually nothing to improve McCain’s credibility on the economy, though I doubt it will hurt him much either.
