Debate is On! John McCain Agrees to Debate Barack Obama

McCain Will Appear at Friday Night Debate to Try Contain Negative Fallout from His Campaign "Suspension"

John McCain announced shortly before noon that he will participate in tonight's Presidential debate scheduled in Oxford, Mississippi. McCain has been the recipient of a chorus of criticism from the mainstream press, as well as from TV talking heads such as David Letterman and Jay Leno, for "suspending" his campaign to return to Washington, D.C. to broker a compromise between Congressional Republicans and Democrats and the Bush Administration.

Most pundits and the TV talking heads have excoriated McCain for what they perceive as grandstanding. The campaign "suspension" has been portrayed as a desperate attempt to deflect bad press coverage.

On Tuesday, the day before McCain "suspended" his campaign, the New York Times had revealed that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, had been on the payroll of Freddie Mac up through the end of August. McCain campaign TV attack ads had targeted Barack Obama for his ties to Fannie Mae executives, the other mortgage giant that had to be seized by the federal government, along with Freddie Mac. John McCain had denied that Davis was still connected with the failed mortgage company, and his campaign denied the Times report on the basis that Freddie Mac's $15,000 monthly payment went to Davis' lobbying firm, not to Davis himself. It then claimed that the Times was virtually an in-house publicity organ of the Barack Obama campaign.

A Bad Week

It was a very bad week for John McCain. In addition to the Rick Davis revelations, McCain has been dropping in many polls as the economic crisis worsens. Visiting the United Nations headquarters in New York City to give his running mate, Sarah Palin, a foreign policy background, seemingly by osmosis, he canceled an appearance with late-night talk show host David Letterman on the grounds that he had to get back to Washington immediately.