mccain is suspending his campaign

[nosajmunson]

Originally Posted by cacophony

well this is obviously his strategy. my question is what we think the positive or negative results could be for each candidate.

so far the commentary i've read has been that people think the part about postponing the debate reveals an unwillingness to face obama face to face. but then, i don't know that i'm not just reading comments made by committed obama supporters who weren't likely to be shifted by this new tactic.

Trying to be Objective here, so...

I think it is a good strategy for someone behind in the polls. It makes him look like a knight in shining armour to the people. It does give the impression that he may want to put off debating. But there are upsides/downsides for McCain.

It puts a lot of focus on the debates. If indeed they are postponed and a solution or decision is made in Washington about the Wall Street situation, McCain goes into the debates looking good. Whether he factored into the solution or not, he can then take claim to being the person who started whatever the fix is resulting in probably higher poll numbers going into the debates. But that means he has to do very, very well in the debates to keep riding this "assumed higher poll numbers". Debating has not been his strong suit in the past.

IF the debates are not postponed, it can be spun that he was willing to stop to address a serious issue on our economy and Obama was not. So again, McCain goes into the debates looking good, or at least better than end of last week. But again, if he does not do well in the debates, he could sink furhter in polls. Possibly the lowest point since he came up in the polls after the RNC.

Bottom Line:
It was a good political move, although it was not his idea. He used it to his advantage. Not quite dirty politics but close. Either way, he will have lots more spotlight on him then before. So this singles him out and puts him into a Put Up or Shut Up position that no one, not even Palin can help him with.

That's my take, long winded as it is.