2008 Presidential Debates Schedule or Delay

The 2008 presidential debates schedule has been in a state of flux today as the schedule is now considered bad timing by Sen. John McCain's campaign. McCain wants to suspend campaigning, effective Thursday, and return to Washington D.C. to deal with the increasing gridlock in congress over the proposed economic bailout package. Now a political debate over the much anticipated 2008 presidential debate evolves, reports MSNBC.

As far as the presidential debate schedule, the first debate is scheduled for September 26, with the full schedule as follows (all debates to begin at 9pm EST):
(From the Commission on Presidential Debates)

First presidential debate:
Friday, September 26
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MSa

Vice presidential debate:
Thursday, October 2
Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Second presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 7
Belmont University, Nashville, TN

Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 15
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

Debate over the debate

Disagreements over the first presidential debate schedule --reduced to a couple of sound bytes -- include that action is more important than words and it would be remiss to not act and do the people's business -- Team McCain. Meanwhile, Obama and his surrogates claim that a president should be able to multi-task and that McCain's delay is a political stunt.

Sen. Barack Obama spoke at a press conference today and indicated that he reached out to the McCain campaign this morning on the need for a joint statement by the presidential nominees on the economy and the bailout, which McCain agreed. Yet, disagreement between the parties on whether or not to postpone individual campaigns and the presidential debate schedule ensued.

Presidential debate schedule - Obama's position

Obama said he believes that the presidential debate should go on as scheduled, "that it is more important than ever," and that a debate is helpful for both the world stage and to communicate to Americans on the issues. Obama also emphasized on the need for a president to multi-task.

Presidential debate schedule, McCain's position

McCain advisors deny that there is a political calculation in their decision, stating that "without action the country could slide into a Depression by Monday" and added "we'll see 12 percent unemployment" if action is not completed, according to MSNBC. Yesterday, Sen. Harry Reid stated that McCain's presence was needed for the bailout bill to pass, while today a 180-degree flop as McCain's presence is now found to be unhelpful.

Regardless of the politics, the potential for a delayed presidential campaign reflects on the seriousness of the times and highlights that partisan politics remain during one of America's most needful times of bi-partisanship.

Sources:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/24/1441286.aspx
http://www.debates.org/pages/news_111907.html
FoxNews