Portman's behind the scenes view of McCain's campaign suspension

Rob Portman: Politicker PhotoRob Portman, one of John McCain's close advisors, revealed the tension inside the presidential campaign in the lead up to McCain's dramatic decision to suspend his campaign last month and tie his fate to the financial bailout bill which was then making its way through Congress.

The former U.S. representative from Cincinnati, who is McCain's chief surrogate in Ohio, was brought aboard McCain's traveling inner circle a month ago as a stand in for Barack Obama in McCain's debate preparation.

"I was there when he made that decision, and it was a gusty decision," Portman told PolitickerOH.com after a Tuesday visit to volunteers in Lewis Center.

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, McCain was going to continue preparing for the debate in New York when Barack Obama called him at 8:30 a.m. to discuss issuing a joint statement about the bailout plan. During the next six hours McCain and his advisors, including Portman, discussed what McCain should do as the stock market collected triple-digit losses and voters began to anticipate the first presidential debate of the 19-month campaign.

McCain's campaign advisors told him to keep his focus on the campaign trail.

"I can tell you he was advised by some people, ‘This is a political campaign, you've got to focus on the politics,'" Portman said.

McCain spoke with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke and other economic advisors, who disagreed with the advisors who were pushing him to continue his campaign, Portman said.

"‘I'm going to do it and I don't care what my advisors say in terms of the politics," Portman recalled McCain's explanation being. "He was convinced by his economic advisors that this was serious and this had to be done," Portman summed up.

McCain was told that without a bailout, credit markets would freeze and immobilize the economy.

Asked if he spoke to McCain about the financial crisis and campaign suspension, Portman said he told the candidate what he thought.

"I was involved because I was there, but my role was the debate," he said. "I was not there to tell him what to do. But when he would ask my opinion, I would tell him."

In the end, McCain did announce a suspension of his campaign and go to Washington, D.C.

Portman said McCain went to convince House Republicans to support the bailout by changing the proposed bill. At the time only four Republicans were on record as supporting the bill, Portman said. 

The first version of the $700 billion bailout bill, however, was defeated in the House by a 228-205 vote on Sept. 29. Sixty-five Republicans voted in favor and 133 against it.

A revised bill, with some $250 billion in additional spending and incentives, eventually passed the House on Oct. 3. President Bush signed it into law the same day.

The bill became friendlier to taxpayers, Portman said, because it used government-purchased equity shares in banks to recapitalize them instead of loans, curbed executive compensation and created two separate rounds of investments.

While McCain was successful in getting the bailout passed, Portman said the initial bailout announcement torpedoed the GOP's polling numbers.

"As soon as treasury announced they were going to seek the rescue package, polls went down for all Republicans," Portman said. "It was just immediate."

A September "generic ballot" survey taken by Gallup showed Republicans leading Democrats by 5 percent, which flipped to a 9-point Democratic advantage in October.

"I don't know, politically, if it will ever be determined that it was the right thing to do or not, there were so many crosscurrents at that point," Portman said, adding that McCain's concern was over whether the bailout would help the economy, not his campaign.

Portman told supporters Tuesday that McCain can win the presidential race, especially in Ohio, because the GOP's get-out-the-vote efforts and Obama's tax policies are coming to light and being mostly rejected by the public.

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