The Debate is On

John McCain will drop work on the nation's recent financial unpleasantness - or, rather, work on making sure the unpleasantness doesn't continue being unpleasant - to attend tonight's presidential debate in Mississippi.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ended three days of suspense on Friday morning and announced that he will leave bailout negotiations in Washington and fly to Oxford, Miss., for tonight's opening presidential debate.

McCain had previously said that he would suspend his campaign — and so would not attend the debate — until an agreement was reached on the administration's $700 billion mortgage proposal.

Methinks Obama was hoping to stage a debate against an empty podium.

My predictions: there'll be a lot of talking. The talking will be followed by spinning. The spinning will be followed by counter-spinning, which will lose steam quickly (it is Friday night, after all, during football season) and, by Monday, will be carrying on only in the most dedicated corners of the political blogosphere.

I may not have a chance to watch, so I'll tune in for those last fleeting moments next week.