Sen. John McCain announced Wednesday he would be suspending his bid for president until a deal is reached in Congress over the bailout of Wall Street. That announcement has provoked a reaction from all corners of the political universe, from voters to conservative bloggers to David Letterman.

“Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me,” said McCain in a statement Wednesday. “I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.”

McCain called for Friday’s presidential debate to be canceled, something neither debate organizers nor Obama would agree to.

“It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Obama said at a news conference in Florida. “It’s going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

The McCain campaign also said that in addition to rescheduling Friday’s debate, they also want the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin that was to occur on Oct. 2 to be rescheduled as well.

SurveyUSA released a poll Wednesday afternoon that showed that the vast majority of Americans want the debates to go on as scheduled.

“A majority of Americans say the debate should be held. Just 10% say the debate should be postponed. A sizable percentage of Americans, 36%, think the focus of the debate should be modified to focus more on the economy. 3 of 4 Americans say the presidential campaign should continue. Just 14% say the presidential campaign should be suspended. If Friday’s debate does not take place 46%, of Americans say that would be bad for America.”

David Letterman had some scathing words for McCain.

“You don’t suspend your campaign. This doesn’t smell right. This isn’t the way a tested hero behaves. I think someone’s putting something in his Metamucil.”

“He can’t run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?”

“What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!”

McCain’s suspension of his presidential campaign during a crisis is historic — it hasn’t happened before. The Edge of the West details past presidential campaigns during times of crisis for America.

In 1864, during the Civil War and talks of reconstruction, Abraham Lincoln campaigned. In the economic crisis of 1932, the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt were on the stump explaining to the public how each planned to make the economy strong again. In 1944, with the allies pounding Japan in the Pacific theater and pushing Germany back in southern Europe, Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey were on the campaign trail.

Local bloggers are weighing in on McCain’s announcement:

Look True North (conservative):

“Frankly I am not sure what to make of this move by McCain. Sure it puts Obama on his heels, but also runs the risk of having him upstage McCain. That’s a slim chance, but the economy is not exactly McCain’s strong point. We all know Obama is in over his head when it comes to detailed monetary policies. Fact is about 99.5% of Americans are under qualified to write this deal.”

MNPublius (progressive):

“So Senator McCain, before we go along with this little bit of kabuki theater, how about you tell us what you can actually do to help the situation? What do you have to offer?

Just to go a little further, this morning at 8:30 Barack Obama called Senator McCain “to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal.” Senator McCain schemed for 6 hours, called him back and said “Sure!” and then announced this stunt.”

Anti-Strib (conservative):

“Does anyone else think that this is one of the stupidest things McCain has ever done?

Obambi, while being GREAT with prepared speeches, SUCKS at debate and this would have been a GREAT opportunity for McCain to show the world this.

I personally think that this is a mistake…what do you think?”

Powerline (conservative):

“As a political matter, though, this seems like a good move. If Obama agrees, he’s following McCain, not leading. Moreover, Obama seems to have ‘momentum’ on his side right now, so a ‘time-out’ might help McCain marginally.

If Obama doesn’t agree, he may be seen as unwilling to put ‘country first.’ And if a deal is negotiated (something I think most Americans would like to see, as a general matter), then McCain will receive credit and Obama won’t. Finally, if Obama is campaigning while McCain isn’t, the focus may shift back to him. In this race, staged conventions aside, increased focus seems to correlate with slippage in the polls. That was the case with Obama following his trip abroad and the case with McCain following the Republican convention. “

MN Campaign Report (progressive):

“I have to admit, John McCain has a crack squad of political tacticians working for him. His latest gimmick is a difficult trap for Obama. I can’t help but wonder, though: once the campaign is over, is the ability to set a political trap what we’re looking for in our next president?”

mnpACT (progressive):

“Was McCain afraid that the Obama initiative might look too presidential? Delaying the debate and suspending the campaign sounds pretty drastic.

To be honest, this looks like McCain desperation….”