What Is Politics?
By Marc Armbrinder

This is the time when politics matters the most, not the least.

* When the philosophical differences that each party organizes around are put to the test of reality.
* When conflict builds consensus.
* When the public craves answers and debate from their politicians.
* When the stakes of the presidential election could not be more acute.

Comparative advantage: the best thing the presidential candidates can do now is to practice their politics honestly, not to abandon politics altogether -- itself, of course, a political move.

Suspending your campaign basically says: all that over the past sixteen months? It wasn't important. Ignore what I said or did. Too late.

The tough thing here for McCain is that nobody in Washington asked him to come back; nobody seems to need him to come back; and that Democrats simply do not trust John McCain's motives.