Without warning, Senator John McCain, the Presidential nominee for the Republican Party, told the media he is suspending his campaign because of the country's major financial crisis...
At this point, it's unclear exactly what this entails. His campaign has yet to clarify whether or not this means he will make no public appearances, take no questions from the media, and run no TV ads. However, as of now, a few things have been made clear:
a) McCain wants to call off Friday's debate. (Why? Is he going to be working into the wee hours on legislation? Even so, the country won't buy it.)
b) This is not the first sign of trouble in the campaign this week. A story yesterday reported that reporters are calling McCain's bus "the No Talk Express" because of a sudden press silence. Palin, as well, has been avoiding reporters, even camera crews, on her various trips around the country and overseas. What is McCain up to?
c) Obama has just been handed either a) his own kryptonite or b) a huge bomb to drop on the McCain campaign. If he plays his cards right, the Democrat could paint McCain as a chicken, especially if he spreads the rumor that McCain's debate prep was so terrible he's actually just covering his own ass. If Obama drops the ball on this, however, McCain could easily paint Obama as more concerned with his silly little campaign than the very fate of our nation.
d) Ben Smith at Politico calls this latest move "a mark, most of all, that he doesn't like the way this campaign is going... [as t]he only thing that's changed in the last 48 hours is the public polling."
Obama is expected to make a statement soon, although all signs point to the possibility of his going after McCain and saying the debate is most definitely on... see MSNBC for more.
UPDATE: Obama says he's "inclined" to carry on with the debate. Also, the pundits are noting that McCain is asking for a "political free zone" until bailout legislation is signed, although, of course, it's in McCain's interest to stall the campaign while the latest momentum is clearly with Obama, especially when you consider the latest polls on which candidate is best ready to handle the economy.