In a strange twist in this very unusual election, Senator John McCain came out today and announced he was suspending his campaign and heading back to Washington to work with Congress to complete the economic package to bailout the financial sector to bring stability back to the market. The following is a portion of his statement:

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

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.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

I am 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. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.

In accordance with his suspension he is pulling all of his campaign ads, canceling rally and donor events, as well as canceling television appearances. He has also called for the Friday night debate on foreign policy to be postponed if the bailout package is not finalized before the weekend. Doing a brief search, I have not found any examples of a nominee suspending their campaign after their convention, so this is new ground for many. Following the announcement by McCain, both McCain and Obama released a joint statement on the issue of the economy:

The American people are facing a moment of economic crisis. 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.

Now is a time to come together – Democrats and Republicans – in a spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people. The plan that has been submitted to Congress by the Bush Administration is flawed, but the effort to protect the American economy must not fail.

This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country. We cannot risk an economic catastrophe. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

It is good to show ‘solidarity’ on a topic like this, taking a non-partisan unified approach to try to focus our attention and resources to solve a problem that keeps on growing at an escalated rate. However, unity goes only as far as both individuals agree on the path. McCain wants to suspend the Friday debate if the package is not completed, while Obama wants to go ahead with the debates as scheduled. Who is right?

If McCain stands by his word and he chooses not to show up for the debate, you will have Obama standing on stage with a moderator. Will Obama look like a stooge because he is there by himself with no one to debate with while McCain has his sleeves rolled up working with the rest of his fellow Congressmen? Will McCain look like he is ducking out of a debate because he doesn’t want to be upstaged by Obama? I can’t say for sure, but depending on how this all unfolds, one person is going to score major political points and most likely secure the election by their actions if this unfolds.

My recommendation regarding the debate on Friday is this: change the debate from a foreign policy discussion to and economic one, and turn it into a roundtable rather than your typical debate. Having both candidates sitting down, discussing the points of the original package and the changes made, explaining why they think each point is good or bad will be more beneficial to the voting public than anything else. In addition, by providing more information through this format, it can reassure the general public regarding how the package will work and that the government could potentially recoup all of their investment as the market improves, meaning the $700 Billion won’t remain on the debt for long. However, I doubt either candidate would agree to this change.

One thing that McCain has already accomplished with his announcement today is to get the President to agree to and call for both McCain and Obama to come to Washington to discuss the issue. Since it is most likely that the next President will still be dealing with this issue in January, it makes perfect sense that both candidates be involved in a leadership capacity to discuss with the President and the Fed all the aspects of the problems facing the financial sector and the bailout package. Both Obama’s and McCain’s position on the issue are similar enough so that there shouldn’t be much disagreement on how they want to see the package addresses the issues causing the financial crisis.

This is a big gamble for McCain. While his campaign is structured around “Country First,” this action is as much patriotic as it is political. McCain knows that there is a potential for a big political windfall from this action, but there is also great risk. If McCain is viewed as being influential in getting the bill signed, he will win. If he is viewed as being a distraction, he will lose. If the package is signed and the markets begin to improve, he will win. If the market continues to slip, he will lose. If the package is successful and McCain continues on his merry way, he will win. If he overly politicizes his hand in the package, he will lose. Either way this election unfolds, today will be viewed as a case study in political science classes for decades to come.

Related articles:
The Fireside Post – “Obama Responds to McCain Campaign Suspension”
Disillusioned Words – “John McCain Just Lost My Vote”
The BoBo Files – “McCain Suspends His Campaign?”
The Washington Post – “Obama and McCain Issue Joint Statement on the Economy”
Bloomberg – “McCain Suspends Campaign; Obama Presses for Debate”
CNN – “CNN confirms: McCain, Obama to meet with Bush about bailout”
Drudge Report – “McCain Suspends Campaign to Focus on Economy; Wants Debate Delay”

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