Well, this was a major screw-up on the part of the McCain campaign, and goes to the issue of his impulsiveness. After pledging to stay in Washington to do whatever it was he was going to do to build consensus around the bailout issue, he has just announced that he will attend tonight's debate.

This was dumb from the beginning. Did he expect such a complex issue to be resolved by marching into Washington on a white horse with doves fluttering about? He's not on the Banking Committee and by his own admission he doesn't know about this stuff. He showed up at the White House meeting yesterday and said nothing. He gave three network interviews last night in which he said nothing and nobody is even talking about today. He overestimated his own party's willingness to set aside ideology for the greater good, and he may have even set discussions back a few days. Then this morning he tried to blame Obama - for speaking at the meeting. What did he think he was going to accomplish?

This morning Dodd and Reid basically said that the interjection of presidential politics into the discussion of a very complex issue hurt the process. Nobody came to bat for McCain.

It's a long way from the election and while this might not be fatal, it certainly doesn't help. He looks impulsive, clueless, and now weak as he's reversing himself without apparently having even put up a fight. And still nobody knows where he stands on the bailout proposals.

Meanwhile, his insistence on sheltering his VP candidate from the press has not only annoyed the media and most Americans - it seems to have sapped her own confidence as she's giving really air-headed answers to questions in the few interviews she's granting.

Both McCain and Palin had better shine in the debates, or this race is over.