McCain's Peril in Wading In (NYT analysis)

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: September 25, 2008

... At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, according to people in the meeting.

In subsequent television interviews, he did not tip his hand as to whether he would back the bipartisan plan negotiated by the Bush administration and Congressional leaders, or the alternative put on the table by angry House Republicans, with whom he had met before going to the White House.

He said he was hopeful that a deal could be struck quickly, and that he could then show up for his scheduled debate on Friday night against his Democratic rival in the presidential race, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. But there was no evidence that he was playing a major role in the frantic efforts on Thursday night on Capitol Hill to put a deal back together again ...

Still, as a matter of political appearances — a key consideration for Mr. McCain, of Arizona, less than six weeks from Election Day and at a time when some polls suggest he is losing ground against Mr. Obama, especially on handling the economy — the day’s events succeeded most of all in raising questions about precisely why Mr. McCain had called for postponing the first debate and returned to Washington to focus on the bailout plan — and what his own views were about what should be done ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26campaign.html?ref=politics