Will They or Won't They Debate?

By Anastacia Mott Austin

John McCain’s surprise move to suggest postponing Friday’s first major matchup between himself and Democratic nominee Barack Obama has the buzz-o-meter spinning.

McCain’s campaign announced that the candidate was "suspending his campaign" to focus on the happenings on a troubled Wall Street.

"I'm calling on the President to convene a leadership meeting of both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself," said McCain "It's time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."

The two candidates had apparently discussed issuing a joint statement to announce a bipartisan effort to deal with the Fed’s controversial economic rescue plan. But then McCain jumped the gun and said he didn’t think the debate is where the candidates’ should be focusing their energy right now.

Obama’s response? Thanks, but no thanks. Obama issued a statement saying that the future President would need to be able to multitask, and that "It's going to be part of the President's job to deal with more than one thing at once." Said Obama at a Florida press conference, "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."

Reaction to McCain’s plan to suspend all campaign activities, including fundraising and advertising, to return to Washington to help work on the financial fiasco, was mixed.

Some hailed the move as representative of McCain’s reputation for reaching across the aisle to come up with solutions.

Others view it as a political move, and a sign that McCain is unsure of his abilities in the debate. McCain himself told a group of supporters in Ohio, "Have no doubt about the capabilities of Senator Obama to debate. I mean, he’s very, very good."

"He was able to defeat Sen. Hillary Clinton, who, as we all know, is very accomplished, very accomplished. And he was able to, I think, with his eloquence, inspire a great number of Americans."

Will Obama bow to pressure and agree to suspend the debate? Don’t bet on it.

As for Congress, they’re saying no thanks too. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) has issued a statement that the presence of either Senators McCain or Obama will only serve as a distraction while everyone is trying to get work done.

"I understand that the candidates are putting together a joint statement at Senator Obama's suggestion," said Reid. "But it would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation's economy.

Added Reid, "If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op."