John McCain is “suspending” his presidential campaign and his participation in tomorrow night’s debate so that he can rush back to Washington to help broker a $700Billion deal to rescue an economy he has repeatedly described as “fundamentally sound”.

There is no time to waste outlining and defending his plans for the nation, time is too precious, too short, the crisis too dire. You'd be a cynic to wonder if this wasn't the biggest political grandstanding stunt since George W. Bush delayed the return home from Iraq the 5000 sailors and the USS Abraham Lincoln so that he could be landed on deck, Presidential cod-piece snugly in place, to declare "Mission Accomplished". Not a moment to lose. Except for his press conference, of course, announcing there's not a moment to lose... and the prime-time interview with Katie Couric... oh, and the meeting with Lady Lynn de Rothschild. The Lady Forester, of course, is the former Clinton backer and CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC's Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York. She declared in a CNN interview this summer that "frankly I don't like [Obama]." "I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him." Ok, then he's racing to the "Straight Talk Express" for Washington. We're reassured to note that he did cancel his scheduled appearance on the Letterman Show last night. (Catch Dave's thoughts on that here...) May we humbly suggest that if John McCain is too busy to defend his candidacy in the first presidential debate tomorrow night, he should send the person he's chosen as his second-in-command? The subject is foreign policy, and we're anxious to know what Sarah Palin has learned living next door to Russia all these years...