[af_vet_rr]

Add to this a Zogby poll floating today saying Americans think Obama is smarter and will beat McCain in a debate. I would say the timing was waaaaayyyy off.

He's not even stopping his campaign today, he's stopping it tomorrow afternoon after he gives another campaign speech at some Clinton shindig. The timing is about as bad as it can be. You can't ask for a time-out at the last moment.

If this was so important that he has to miss the debate Friday, then it's more than important enough for him not to give a speech at a Bill Clinton event tomorrow.

[tanknetter]

You can't ask for a time-out at the last moment.

Sure you can. I actually don't see a lot of risk in this: the Zogby poll you cited showed low expectations for McCain. Him angling for a delay may be seen as a cop out and serve to lower them further. Either way (Obama agrees or doesn't agree) it sets McCain up to possibly clean Obama's clock and win huge. And we know McCain and Obama's relative debating skills when a teleprompter isn't present ...