WASHINGTON (CNN) – A top aide to Senator John McCain said the Republican presidential candidate will not go to Capitol Hill Saturday afternoon, as negotiators meet to work out a deal on the financial bailout plan.
Senior adviser Mark Salter just told reporters outside McCain’s campaign headquarters in Arlington, VA that the Senator will instead continue to make calls to members of Congress.
Salter said he will not go because “he can effectively do what he needs to do by phone. "He’s calling members on both sides, talking to people in the administration, helping out as he can.’’ The campaign said it will release a list of people McCain spoke with later Saturday.
Senator Barack Obama, traveling for campaign events in North Carolina and Virginia, spoke Saturday with Congressman Barney Frank, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Senator Harry Reid, his campaign said. The Democratic presidential candidate was briefed on the latest with the negotiations.
McCain returned to Washington early Saturday morning from Memphis following last night’s debate because of the bailout situation. He decided to deliver a Saturday evening speech by satellite to a group in Columbus rather than traveling there in person.
Salter said, “We hope to have a deal in place so we can get back on the trail.”
Update: According to the McCain campaign, the Republican nominee called President Bush, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Sen. Mitch McConnell , Sen. Judd Gregg, Sen. Jon Kyl, Leader Boehner, Rep. Blunt, Rep. Putnam, Rep. Cantor, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Rep. Tom Davis, Rep. Chip Pickering, Rep. Heather Wilson, Rep. John Shadegg, Rep. Flake, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn on Saturday.
From CNN Politics
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Proof posiive the whole 'rushing' to washington thing was a stunt!!!
For all the good he did in DC he could have made calls Thursday,...
McGrandpa is too OLD to be playing all these games....Actually hes too OD for almost everything.
I knew he wouldn't risk having to work Sunday. Now that his day off was at risk, he discovers that he can get things done by phone, as BHO said when JM was suspending his campain last week and threatening to call in sick for the debate. I wish he would just call in sick for the election!
Why does this candidate have any credibility left?
McCain could have done what he did on Thursday and Friday by phone, but instead he pulled his ridiculous "suspending the campaign" stunt. Never did really suspend his campaign though, did he?
What a liar he and Palin are. And they call themselves Christians?
Perhaps someone told McCain NOT to go to Capitol Hill so he wouldn't gum up the process of a solution.
Do you think McShame got the message that his help was really making things worse?
McShame showed his real personality last night and it was scary. He refused to look at Obama. This shows that either he holds has true contempt for Obama or he was trying to not do one of his famous melt downs.
Is this what we need, a president that won't meet with leaders of other nations, because he sees them as an enemy.
I think McShame is becoming another Napolean type of figure,.
GREAT Job McCain!!! McCain – Experience
Obam – "Book" answers
At least McCain is in DC – doing his JOB
Obama is out trolling for votes
Do YOUR JOB!!!!
Please tell me why Americans who are living from paycheck to paycheck, dealing with their home foreclosing, unemployed, or not able to afford health insurance voting for McCain and Palin.
It is astonishing that McCain has stated in several appearances that he is not comfortable talking about the economy, that he doesn't know that much about it, and to hear him say recently that the fundamentals of our economy is strong, are you kidding me.
This election should not be about who Americans would love to have a beer with, who we admire, or our goal of getting any female as VP.
I mean look long and hard at what we have experienced over the last 8 years, I mean seriously can we afford another four?
And frankly, I am so sick of McCain using his experience in the military has a core to being President. None of the candidates have Presidential experience because none of them has been President, don't you have to actually do the job before you can brag about having the experience.
Please vote smart this election, if not WE ALL WILL SUFFER TOGETHER (Democrats and Republicans)!!
OBAMA/BIDEN 08
more of the same. lies. what was john laughing about last night?
he really does think this is a joke! wont look at barack but he can
laugh. this isnt funny john, things are serious. you "dont get it"
obviously.
His little publicity stunt backfired.
Did anyone notice how hot-headed McCain appeared in the debate. We need a President who can remain calm and not taking the panic approach in a time of crisis. I hear numerous of individuals saying that Obama did not quickly address what he would do when hearing about the bail out plan once it was first announced.
As Americans, we have gotten into the "right now" mode. I mean wouldn't you all like for our leader to examine the situation, gain specifics, and arrive at a solution that will work instead of shouting out solutions that are way off, isn't that how we got ourselves into the Iraq war?
Seriously?? Did McCain just now discover the miracle of telephones? His tactics (or are they strategies?) would be hilarious if they weren't so sad!
OH NO!!! How will they ever manage without the MAVERICK????
So let me get this straight. All last week, McCain appeared on Rachel Ray show and didn't think it necessary to get involved in Washington. By Wednesday he suddenly feels the need to be in Washington and actually hurt negotiations there. Then he wanted to cancel the debate. Then he did debate. Then he was going to Washington. Now he decides he can keep in touch by phone.
McCain is nothing but chaos! The last thing this country needs is an erratic person in the White House.
McCain needs to stay out of the bailout negotiations. Even the Wall Street Journal reported that he injected politics into a bi-patisan effort by pandering to the conservative wing of the GOP.
Good!
John should stay home. Or is it his 5th,6th..... He already parachuted in and sabotaged the meetings once already. He is so un-focused clearly cannot multi-task and appears to obsolete. A political dinosaur it is time for John to call it quits.
So much for charging into Washington and saving the day. It looks like Obama called McCain's bluff.
Salter said McCain will not go because “he can effectively do what he needs to do by phone." Really? What a change from earlier in the week!
And for all of you geniuses who keep saying that Obama kept calling Senator McCain "Jim" during the debate, that was the moderator's first name. Duh!
Good, John, stay home. In fact go home to Arizona and retire. Take your friend Henry Kissinger with you.
Kissinger is as disreputable as McCain. Saying he is in total agreement with McCain on unconditional talks is a lie. Seems to me I say the video of Kissinger saying that he would support unconditional talks with our enemies at high levels of government-and suggested the Secretary of State make the initial contact.
McCain is nitpicking now that it has been shown that Obama original concept of talking with our enemies is being embraced even by the horrid Bush administration that created such a mess in the last 8 years. And McCain is part of that mess. John don't go to Capitol Hill today or any other day. Go home.
Something tells me that all of the people he had called earlier told him to stay far away.
What???
First he goes all melodrama and "suspends" his campaign and says he immediately needs to get to DC to move the process along (yet sits around for another 22 hours in NY). Then he potentially derails the process by egging on the House Reps to go into open revolt about the bill. Then in the meeting he himself asked for, he sits and says next to nothing.
And now McCain has finally figured out how to use one of them hi-tech talking-boxes to speak to people real far away....we call 'em phones. This guy's about as consistent as a roll of the dice.
Stick a fork in him; he's done.
I'm beginning to believe More of the Same, McCain is losing his mind. I was always aliitle concerned that he may have some post traumatic stress disorder from his years of torture.
I am seriously afraid for this man to be commander in chief.
John MCain is a fraud. I am done with him. I will not even bother to watch the next debate. This man disapointed me so much. He has nothing new to say to me. I am still not sure about Obama but God help us if we have to go through a week like last with the childish behavior of Mcain.
John McCain doesn't know whether he's going to the presidential debate. John McCain doesn't know if he's going to Capitol Hill. And he wants us to travel with him on his trip to nowhere???
I choose to follow Barack Obama's path. It will lead me to a better future.
What a surprise. He is a joke and unfit to be President.
And just what Vets was he talking about that trust him? I spent 27 years in the military and I don't trust him and do not believe he has the best interests of the USA in mind.
And why hasn't anyone been discussing how Keating is once again donating to his campaign. Keating 5 part 2?