McCain suspends campaign, Obama won’t

BREAKING NEWS:

The presidential candidates took different paths to deal with the economic crisis.

Sen. John McCain Wednesday said he suspended his campaign and asked his Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama to delay their much anticipated first debate to instead focus on the “historic” economic turmoil.

In response, Mr. Obama said he would not suspend his campaign and said the debate should continue.

The clash represents a major gamble by both candidates as Congress struggles with how to proceed with the $700 billion rescue plan.

In brief remarks in New York, Mr. McCain said he had spoken with Mr. Obama to urge him to return to Washington instead of heading to Mississippi for the Friday evening debate.

Mr. McCain also announced he would suspend his fundraising efforts and stop running campaign ads.

“Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me,” Mr. McCain said.

“I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis,” he said.

Mr. Obama told reporters Wednesday afternoon it is “more important than ever” to hold the debates as planned, though he suggested the topic of foreign policy may actually be co-opted by economic issues.

“It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Mr. Obama said. “It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

The Illinois senator said he thinks the candidates can be constructive and issue a joint statement about their shared principles for the government Wall Street bailout, but it is “more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people.”

“I believe that we should continue to have the debate,” he said. “If it turns out that we need to be in Washington, we’ve both got big planes, we’ve painted our slogans on the side of them. They can get us from Washington, D.C., to Mississippi fairly quickly.”

Mr. Obama added that when he spoke with Mr. McCain earlier in the day he had the impression the Republican was “mulling over” the idea of not attending the debate. “Apparently [he was] more decisive about it in his own mind,” he said.

Mr. Obama spoke with reporters from Florida, where he is preparing for the debate.

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