“John McCain lost the election Sept. 24 and Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. . . . On Sept. 24 . . . the McCain campaign suddenly freaked out. The Arizona senator announced that he was suspending his campaign activity, seeking a postponement of the Sept. 26 debate, and flying off to Washington to push for the Wall Street bailout bill.”
— Robert Stacy McCain, American Spectator,
Oct. 7, 2008
“Probably the most important 72 hours of the campaign … were McCain’s suspension of his campaign right up through the presidential debate. . . . He was never really able to dig out of that.”
— Obama campaign manager David Plouffe,
Feb. 12, 2009
