While the Bailout Negotiations Went On...

Hey Ryan,

Just thought I'd drop a line to see what you thought of the debates and to offer some interesting tidbits about the candidates' weekends post-debate. You see, even after the event was in the books, the negotiations for the bailout deal continued on Capitol Hill. And what were the candidates doing all that time?

Well, Barack Obama was here:





Yep, 22 hours after the debate in Oxford, Mississippi, Obama and Biden were in Fredericksburg, Virginia, talking to voters and getting out their message.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., lawmakers were working on the bailout deal that went well after midnight.

And, where was John McCain? Surely, after his "suspension" theatrics and demolition of an earlier deal this week, McCain must have hopped a plane and got right back to D.C. to continue with the negotiations, right? Well, he went back to D.C., but he ended up going to Cafe MoZu, a fine dining establishment, for dinner with wife Cindy and Sen. Joe Lieberman and his wife.

After making phone calls to Congressional negotiators and Bush the Junior from his home in Virginia and his campaign office on Saturday, McCain lit out for some night life. Good for him. Hope he got a good night's sleep. Screwing up delicate negotiations and having to face the American people (if not the opponent sharing the stage with him) can take a lot out of a guy. Gosh, that sounds like a schedule that (gasp) a President might have to keep. I think somebody might be in line for the vacation day record...

Way to phone it in, John!

By the way, it's approximately 828 miles from Oxford to Fredericksburg. If you were driving between them at the speed limit, it would probably take you 14 hours and change. And as stated above, Obama and Biden were in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 22 hours after the debate in Oxford, Mississippi.

Does the time frame sound familiar? It should, because 22 hours was the amount of time between when McCain "suspended" his campaign to "rush" back to Washington, D.C., to "help" with the negotiations on the bailout and when he actually made it back to the capitol. Distance between New York City and Washington, D.C.? 228 miles. You could drive between them (not counting traffic) in a little over four hours.



Maybe McCain should get ahold of Obama's travel agent. Or, maybe he could see if he's got any staffers who moonlight as lobbyists for the travel industry.

Charles