McCain's Campaign Suspension Lie

Unless you're a political junkie you might not have noticed much of a change on the airwaves and the blogosphere since John McCain announced that he was selflessly suspending his presidential campaign to put "country first" (his newest of many slogans thus far) and work towards a bipartisan solution to the current financial crises we're facing. Wait a minute, I am a political junkie and I haven't noticed any changes either, and apparently I'm not the only one:

So, what does a "suspended" campaign look like? As it turns out, it's eerily similar to a regular ol' campaign.

What have we learned since McCain suspended his presidential campaign?

* McCain campaign offices in battleground states are open and operating, just like yesterday.

* McCain's television ads are on the air, just like yesterday.

* McCain media flacks are all over the news networks, just like yesterday.

* McCain's campaign staffers are working, just like yesterday.

* McCain's campaign website is up, soliciting contributions and promoting McCain's message, just like yesterday.

* For the big White House meeting today, Barack Obama was told not to bring any campaign aides, so he's bringing a legislative assistant from his Senate staff. John McCain is bringing a campaign advisor.

I don't want to alarm anyone, but I get the sinking feeling that maybe, just maybe, the "suspension" announcement was some kind of (gasp!) gimmick, and that nothing has actually changed at McCain Campaign HQ.

And then of course there's this little tidbit:

Barack Obama is committed to hosting a public, televised event Friday night in Mississippi even if John McCain does not show up, an official close to the Obama campaign tells the Huffington Post.

In McCain's absence, the Senator is willing to make the scheduled debate a townhall meeting, a one-on-one interview with NewsHour's Jim Lehrer, or the combination of the two, the official said.

That's right: McCain took a big gamble by trying to look magnanimous in front of the American people and Obama called his bluff. As I said in the comment thread of a previous post, McCain is going to be at that debate tomorrow, and I'll stake every last dollar this blog has generated on that prediction coming true.