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Update 3: Obama camp says the debate is on.
Update 2: This just in from the Obama campaign:
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.
So, McCain moves to upstage Obama after Obama made the first "bi-partisan" move. Several things to learn from this. First, trust McCain, and get a fork in your eye. Second, why on Earth was Obama looking to remove the contrast between himself and McCain on this issue? Third, McCain is crazy out of control. He will do anything crazy if it is perceived as helping him, no matter how ludicrous it actually is (such as, say, picking Palin as VP.) What an incredibly dangerous President this guy would be.
Update: Greg Sargent asks the right questions on what McCain means by "suspending" his campaign:
It's not immediately clear what this means in practice. Will all of McCain's ads come down? Will the campaign stop sending out statements? Will campaign aides all leave headquarters and turn out the lights?
Good questions.
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MSNBC reports that McCain is asking for the debate on Friday to be delayed, in order to return to Washington and focus on the financial "crisis." He has also suspended campaign events after Thursday.
This should end the lingering speculation that McCain will vote against the Bush bailout package. He is jumping on the "give Wall Street what it wants now" bandwagon.
I think Obama should say yes. Let's keep talking about this financial meltdown instead of holding a debate on foreign policy. Sounds good to me. This has gone gone so well for McCain so far, that if he wants to keep focusing on it, I think that is a good idea. But make sure to take a hardline on a progressive proposal that McCain would never accept. This is exactly the sort of contrast we need.
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