Debate Still in Limbo as Democrats Blame McCain For Interrupting Process

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Ole Miss

The University of Mississippi had hoped hosting the first presidential debate would cast a new light on the school. Now, the campus waits for news on whether the debate will be held Friday after all.

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McCain ducked into the ornate Mansfield Room on the Senate side of the Capitol for lunch with colleagues. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, his chief economic adviser, met separately with the House Republicans' top four leaders. But aides said Holtz-Eakin did little of the talking. Instead, he was told in no uncertain terms that the deal touted in the morning had next to no support among the House Republican rank-and-file.

Despite the GOP nominee's pledge to suspend electioneering, the presidential campaign continued yesterday.

Democrats attacked the McCain campaign for declaring what they called a false truce, pointing to the television appearances of McCain campaign domestic policy adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer, who has been attacking Obama as taking undue credit for crisis management and legislative deal-making.

"This is maybe perhaps part of the pattern that we've seen before where Senator Obama would claim that the housing bill came out of his committee -- and he didn't even sit on the committee," she told Fox News.

As promised, aides said McCain's campaign ads were ordered off the air yesterday, though many remained on the air as stations struggled to comply with the last-minute decision.

"It is not a flip-the-switch kind of proposition," said Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks ad spending. "McCain is doing everything they can in their power to take these spots down."

Schmidt accused Obama of "swooping in" to buy up the advertising time that McCain had relinquished. Without offering proof, he said the Democrat was acting in a "predatory fashion" at a time when McCain sought to take a step back from politics. "It is an example, once again, of Senator McCain putting his country first, whereas Senator Obama puts Senator Obama first, which is an essential contrast," he said.

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said of the McCain campaign: "They haven't suspended the rest of their campaign, so it's not surprising they haven't suspended their lies, either."

Staff writers Robert G. Kaiser, Paul Kane, Lori Montgomery and Dan Eggen contributed to this report.