POLITICO: McCain suspends his campaign, and asks to postpone Friday’s debate, to address the financial crisis. Both candidates have been marginal players; McCain, though, seems to have the potential to make himself a major one, and his move is a mark, most of all, that he doesn’t like the way this campaign is going. But in terms of the timing of this move: The only thing that’s changed in the last 48 hours is the public polling. MORE
WASHINGTON POST: A new Washington Post-ABC News poll gives Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama a nine-point lead over Republican nominee John McCain. This lead, Dan Balz and Jon Cohen write, is attributable in large measure to “turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy.” MORE
NEW YORK TIMES: Some Democrats reacted skeptically to Mr. McCain’s surprise announcement, charging that it seemed like a political ploy to try to gain the confidence of voters concerned about the economy. “What, does 
McCain think the Senate will still be working at 9 p.m. Friday?” Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said in an interview, referring to the scheduled start time of the debate. “I think this is all political — I wish McCain had shown the same concern when he didn’t show up in the Senate to vote on the extension of the renewable energy tax credit.” Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is leading House Democrats in negotiating the bailout deal with the administration, was dismissive of Senator McCain’s announcement. “It’s the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys,” Mr. Frank told a group of reporters outside the House chamber. […] For its part, the University of Mississippi said it was “going forward with the preparation for the debate. We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned,” the statement said. “At present, the university has received no notification of any change in the timing or venue of the debate” at the Morgan Library and Museum — which, by coincidence, is where J. Pierpont Morgan bailed the country out of the great financial panic of 1907 by locking the leading bankers of the day in his library and forcing them to come up with a rescue plan. MORE
STATEMENT BY COMMISSION ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: OXFORD, Miss., Sept. 24 — “The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is moving forward with its plan for the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. this Friday, September 26. The plans for this forum have been underway for more than a year and a half. The CPD’s mission is to provide a forum in which the American public has an opportunity to hear the leading candidates for the president of the United States debate the critical issues facing the nation. We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled.”[via PR NEWSWIRE]
HUFFINGTON POST: John McCain canceled a scheduled appearance on CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” mere hours before he was slated to tape the show Wednesday as part of the suspension of his campaign, MSNBC reported on air Wednesday afternoon MORE
DRUDGE: “In the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, “Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?” Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, “You don’t suspend your campaign. This doesn’t smell right. This isn’t the way a tested hero behaves.” And he joked: “I think someone’s putting something in his metamucil.” MORE
[via NATIONAL ENQUIRER]
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Recent surveys have shown that Palin’s popularity, while still strong, has begun to fade. Earlier this month, an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll showed more people viewing Palin favorably than unfavorably, 47 percent to 28 percent. But an ABC News-Washington Post poll released Wednesday showed that in a two-week period, the number seeing Palin positively dropped 6 percentage points while 10 points more see her unfavorably. On Monday, a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll said her favorable rating dropped 4 points and her unfavorable rating rose 8 points over two weeks. MORE