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Campaign suspension draws partisan reactions

'Diversion', Dem says; nation first, McCain backer says

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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A television at McCain regional headquarters in Centennial shows Sen. Barack Obama as he talks about McCain's decision to suspend his campaign because of the nation's financial crisis.

Photo by Wes Pope / The Rocky

A television at McCain regional headquarters in Centennial shows Sen. Barack Obama as he talks about McCain's decision to suspend his campaign because of the nation's financial crisis.

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Sen. Barack Obama got some unusual attention in an unlikely place on Wednesday - inside rival Sen. John McCain's Colorado campaign headquarters.

At an office park in Centennial, a handful of McCain's campaign workers dropped what they were doing to gather around a television and hear what Obama had to say about the surprising debate of the times - whether a presidential debate should go forward as scheduled on Friday while Congress wrestles with a proposed fix for the country's financial crisis.

The Arizona senator wants the presidential debate postponed until lawmakers can hash out a bipartisan agreement on a proposed bailout for the nation's financial industry.

The Illinois senator echoed the call for bipartisanship but said he wants the long-awaited showdown with McCain to go forward as scheduled from Mississippi.

As of Wednesday night, the two campaigns couldn't even agree on when they'll get together to disagree, and that has put dozens of Colorado debate-watching parties up in the air.

McCain said he was suspending all campaign activity, such as public appearances, advertising and fundraising events, because of the urgency to reach an agreement on a financial fix.

In Colorado, his campaign was in the process of pulling planned ads off radio and television stations. His staff told people who called the campaign office that they should check McCain's Web site for his reasoning and updates on events that had been scheduled in conjunction with Friday's debate.

"You're talking about putting partisan politics aside," McCain supporter Ray Karsian of Centennial said. "In other words, he's trying to show that solving the nation's problems, bank problems, is more important than his campaign. And that's what they're elected to do."

Reflecting the confusion of the day, McCain's Colorado communications director, Tom Kise, accidentally forwarded the campaign's talking points to reporters including the instructions, "Please do not proactively reach out to the media on this."

But at Obama's seventh-floor campaign office in Denver, campaign volunteers said Friday's show must go on.

"Obviously, the country is in an economic crisis, and it's really important to hear from the candidates," said Stephanie Lindsey, 30, of Denver. "I think it's imperative that the debates not be cancelled. This is a time when America really wants to hear from both the candidates."

Lindsey called McCain's suspension of campaign activities "a diversion."

"I think that we as Americans, as taxpayers who are going to be footing this bill for the bailout, want to hear what that means for us," she said.

Comments

  • September 25, 2008

    9:26 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    cdawg writes:

    Thank Heavens M.E. Sprengelmeyer is back! I've been wandering in the darkness without his reporting.

  • September 25, 2008

    1:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Balarat writes:

    I am Republican but in this election I will support - Obama. It is seems to me that our new guy is not capable of making any normal decision and he is more delusional than Bush. As a Republicans we need to be smart not ‘mentally- blind “and stupid.
    See at;
    McCain new plan for America
    http://www.authorstream.com/Presentat...

    http://www.authorstream.com/Presentat...