When I first heard about Senator McCain "suspending" his campaign yesterday I assumed it was due to a health crisis, or perhaps Sarah Palin had changed her mind about the whole deal.  Those would be valid reasons to temporarily cancel his campaign events, including this week's first debate.  But his true justification for putting his campaign on hold makes no sense.  If Senator McCain is so important to the Senate debate about the economy maybe he should stay in the Senate for another term.

There has never been a better, or more important time for this debate.  A prime time debate between the two people who want to preside over our economic recovery is exactly what Americans need to hear right now.  The topic of the debate should be changed from foreign policy to the economy, but the public should be given the opportunity to hear from the candidates.  That is more important than committee hearings and back room horse trading.

This country is going to elect a new president in a few short weeks whether the banks get their bail out or not.  For better or worse, McCain threw his hat into this race and it's irresponsible for him to back out of the debate now.  As The Wall Street Journal said "When one of them becomes President, he won't have the luxury of pressing the "pause" button at the next crisis."