To Debate or Not to Debate?

There's been a lot of criticism leveled at John McCain for requesting postponement of tomorrow night's first presidential debate. He made this request so that he could go to Washington to help with the financial bailout bill which must be agreed upon by the Congress before they go on recess after Friday.

I think McCain's intentions are genuine, and they show that he is taking leadership. Was this a bold political move? You bet. And a brilliant one at that (I could be wrong - but I doubt it).

Apparently, many agree with me. This morning on the news radio station I listen to, there was a guest from Zogby International, one of the premier polling firms. He said that about midway through their polling yesterday, McCain made his announcement. Understandably, this turn of events had an effect on their responses. Fortunately, Zogby had a statistically sufficient number of response both before and after McCain's announcement. Before the announcement, McCain's numbers were trailing as they had been all week. But after the announcement, his numbers were making double-digit gains, and once again, McCain held a slim lead over Obama [latest Zogby poll].

Personally, I think postponing the debate is the right thing to do. Deeds, not words, are what we need right now.