McCain Suspends Campaign and Asks that Friday's Debate Be Suspended as Well

Presidential Candidate John McCain Has Said He is Suspending His Campaign to Focus on America's Financial Problems

Early this afternoon, Republican Senator and presidential nominee John McCain said he will be halting his campaign for now in an effort to focus on the huge financial crisis that is taking place in the country, according to CNN and other outlets. He has taken another step, approaching opponent Democratic Senator Barack Obama to do the same and to delay Friday's night's presidential debate "until we have taken action to address this crisis," he told reporters.

He said he is confident that by "setting politics aside" that "before the markets open on Monday, we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people."

McCain's announcement came on the same day he was scheduled to make an appearance on the David Letterman show and seems almost like it could be viewed as a way to step back from the spotlight and refocus his own campaign and its promises.

With a major debate in this campaign set to take place on Friday, hosted at the University of Mississippi, it looked like this could be something that sways the undecided votes in the country one direction or the other. It is a little suspect that McCain waited until now to make this announcement, and with so many things going badly in the United States economy, it really seems like he is trying to gain votes by acting pro-active after the fact.

It also seems like it is a little under-handed to make an announcement like this without the other candidate standing right beside him on the stage.

It has been said that McCain has contacted the Obama camp about becoming involved in every aspect of his suggestions, and in his press conference today, McCain called upon Obama to act with him in this regard.

One thing he didn't mention, thought, was that Obama contacted him this morning, and approached him first about coming up with a joint statement, according to CNN.