Is he planning to reject the President’s bail-out plan?

Ever since this picture was taken at a rally six months ago it has proved to be a major embarrassment to the McCain campaign which has been desperate to detach itself from the man who has become the most unpopular president in American polling history, George Bush.

But a striking image is worth so much more than even the most power set of words and the picture has been used time and time again by the Democratic party and the Obama campaign.

But has McCain now got a plan to produce a public split with Bush on an issue that could endear him to the core GOP base? Is he preparing to oppose the massive bail-out plan that has been prepared to stop a massive financial collapse?

What we do know is that for the past 24 hours the White House race has been electrified by John McCain’s moves, his suspending of his campaign and his call for tomorrow night’s first debate to be postponed. What’s he up to?

There’s one theory that all this is designed to stop a VP debate taking place where it’s assumed that Sarah Palin’s inexperience will be exposed thus leading to questions about McCain’s judgement. They scrap tomorrow and use all the remaining dates for the encounters with Obama.

But there’s another theory – that McCain, ever the massive gambler, is planning to reject the bail-out plan that Bush is arguing is so important. It could be.

As one senior Democrat is quoted as saying: “.. McCain’s true motivation for calling off his campaign and coming back to DC is simply to cast a “no” vote against the bailout, despite his private statements to the contrary. And it’s a smart maneuver: nothing says “maverick,” like voting against Bush and standing with the American public, who remain very wary of the proposal.”

This is getting onto very dangerous territory.

Mike Smithson