Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper

« Previous | Main | Next »

McCain Campaign Staffer to Attend White House Meeting*

September 25, 2008 1:54 PM

The White House's official list of those planning to attend the hastily-convened meeting called by President Bush this afternoon to discuss the Wall Street bailout bill, includes a senior policy adviser to the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Douglas Holtz-Eakin. (Please note update at the bottom of this post.)

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., had been told not to bring any campaign staff. He will be bringing a member of his Senate staff, Ian Solomon, a legislative assistant focused on economic issues.

His campaign adviser's presence notwithstanding, McCain announced Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign activities to focus on getting the people's business done.

"I don’t know about what they were told," McCain spox Brian Rogers tells ABC News, but Holtz-Eakin is "Sen. McCain's top economic policy adviser. They've been working on this stuff over the last weeks; he's the go-to guy."

Holtz-Eakin is a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. His name appears on the following list of those who will be present at the meeting this afternoon, sent to attendees:

The President

The Vice President

Administration Officials

Secretary Hank Paulson, Department of Treasury

Kevin Fromer, Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Department of Treasury

Members of Congress

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-08), Speaker of the House

Senator Harry Reid (D, NV), Senate Majority Leader

Senator Mitch McConnell (R, KY), Senate Minority Leader

Senator Chris Dodd (D, CT), Chairman, Senate Banking Committee

Senator Richard Shelby (R, AL), Ranking Member, Senate Banking Committee

Senator John McCain (R, AZ)

Senator Barack Obama (D, IL)

Congressman Steny Hoyer (D, MD-05), House Majority Leader

Congressman John Boehner (R, OH-08), House Minority Leader

Congressman Barney Frank (D, MA-04), Chairman, House Financial Services Committee

Congressman Spencer Bachus (R, AL-06), Ranking Member, House Financial Services Committee

Congressional Staff Attending

John Lawrence, Chief of Staff, Speaker Pelosi

Gary Myrick, Chief of Staff, Senator Reid

Kyle Simmons, Chief of Staff, Senator McConnell

Doug Holtz-Eakin, Senior Domestic Policy Advisor, Senator McCain

Ian Solomon, Legislative Assistant, Senator Obama

Terry Lierman, Chief of Staff, Congressman Hoyer

Paula Nowakowski, Chief of Staff, Congressman Boehner
         
White House Staff Attending

Joshua Bolten, Chief of Staff

Joel Kaplan, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy

Ed Gillespie, Counselor to the President

Keith Hennessey, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy

Barry Jackson, Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs

Dan Meyer, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs

Dana Perino, Press Secretary

Eddie Lazear, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers

John Emling, Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs

Chris Frech, Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs

Barrett Karr, Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs

Margaret Stewart, Assistant to the Vice President for Legislative Affairs

- jpt

UPDATE: The McCain campaign calls and says Holtz-Eakin has been "bounced" and will not be at the meeting; they had also been told not to bring campaign staff, so there was some sort of mix-up.

September 25, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (119)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

McCain just puts their lobbyists in charge... I suppose it is easier just to put one of your lobbyists in the White House... rather than send donations and hope it earns influence.

Posted by: blip | Sep 25, 2008 4:38:56 PM

Why is Palin not in charge by now? A little sorcery and witchcraft by Palin should do the trick.

Posted by: Adam | Sep 25, 2008 4:37:29 PM

!****************************************************************Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has demonstrated what it means to be a leader and a patriot. Sen. Obama is neither.


******************************************

STUNNING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!


According to the website OpenSecrets.org, Senator Barack Obama is the 2nd HIGHEST recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac!! In the Senate ONLY 3 YEARS and ALREADY the 2nd HIGHEST recipient?? Stunning!! Sen. Christopher Dodd is 1st! Wow, the audacity of Dodd and Obama know NO bounds. NOTICE, Sen. John McCain is NOT on the list. I repeat, Sen. John McCain is NOT on the list. Sen. McCain has been in Congress the entire time the list was compiled and is NOT on the list. Well done, Sen. McCain. My Democratic Party should be ashamed. This Democrat will proudly support John McCain for President. McCain is a true leader and patriot. Obama is neither.

The following list of the top ten recipients from Open Secrets.org website. Stunning.

"All Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008"

Name Office State Party Grand Total Total from
PACs Total from
Individuals
Dodd, Christopher J S CT D $165,400 $48,500 $116,900
Obama, Barack S IL D $126,349 $6,000 $120,349
Kerry, John S MA D $111,000R $103,300 $70,500 $32,800
Blunt, Roy H MO R $96,950 $78,500 $18,450
Kanjorski, Paul E H PA D $96,000 $57,500 $38,500
Bond, Christopher S 'Kit' S MO R $95,400 $64,000 $31,400
Shelby, Richard C S AL R $80,000 $23,000 $57,000
Reed, Jack ...


visit

RealDemocratsUSA.org


Taking back our party, one neighborhood at a time


Join us!!

Posted by: t | Sep 25, 2008 4:35:16 PM

Only 4 women in the entire meeting???
Hillary Clinton should be the Dem nominee and the next President.

My Democratic party foolishly nominated the wrong candidate(s)

Obama is not qualified to be President and Biden is an old gaffe a minute fool.

Hillary could have won this election in walk.

It's time to hold the DNC, the media, and Obama accountable for this 2008 campaign debacle and the rampant sexism, racism, classism (I just hate class warfare, don't you? Obama and the Dems should be ashamed!) voter disenfranchisment (isn't it ironic that the black candidate has worked to disenfranchise voters? what would MLK, who fought so long and hard for the right to vote for blacks, think of Obama? Not much I bet) and subversion of democracy in 2008.

"No self respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex" Susan B. Anthony

STand up, speak out, to vote for Obama is to condone what has been done. DON'T!

Obama is not a leader.

John McCain has demonstrated he's a leader and a patriot. Obama is neither.

Put our country first and your party second, vote McCain 08 and Hillary 2012!

Posted by: J | Sep 25, 2008 4:34:20 PM

Why isn't Binny N. Franks in pinstripes? Chris Dudd the same.

Posted by: Captain America | Sep 25, 2008 4:32:36 PM

I thought McCain had suspended his campaign... but he's got his campaign staff doing TV talk shows. And he is still running commercials.

What gives? It's starting to creep me out.

Posted by: blip | Sep 25, 2008 4:31:52 PM

"Don't bring any campaign staff? umm, in what respect Mr. President?"

Posted by: ctrll | Sep 25, 2008 4:27:13 PM

southern_conservative

You just repeated what you just said. With no evidence or no date.

Posted by: MM | Sep 25, 2008 4:15:09 PM

Just a few days ago Democrats in Congress were screaming that the bill would not get passed unless John McCain signed off on it.

Posted by: southern_conservative | Sep 25, 2008 4:13:09 PM

awesome.

Posted by: foomonkey | Sep 25, 2008 4:10:21 PM

southern_conservative

When did that happen???? In conservative land where McCain matters. McCain can't help he has been wrong on economic issues from DAY 1. Obama had foresight an actually proposed a plan to regulate the banks but the pain trickled up. People can't pay those mortgage loans, Banks run out of money because of bad loans, banks fails, people lose confidence in bank stocks, people panic and sell stock, investments in banks are gone and everybody losses money.

Posted by: MM | Sep 25, 2008 4:06:54 PM

McCain already has his posse stepping up to the mic. (This ones a drama king).
Country first, country first, 300 million people, Blah, Blah, Blah. These campaign advisors stop at nothing. I can't believe how low they are. The people in America have got to be "getting this" by now. The Senator from California said she knows this is a stunt. McCain arrived and was hiding in a corner until he was located. (her words)
Maybe McCain is not well, he really looks like he's in pain. He keep squinting that left eye. He looks aweful. Dunno.

Posted by: Dianna | Sep 25, 2008 4:02:57 PM

Do you democrats not remember a few days ago when democrats in Congress were screaming that the bill wouldn't get passed unless McCain signed off on it?

Posted by: southern_conservative | Sep 25, 2008 4:02:13 PM

marylou

If you believe that I've got a bridge to sell ya. Obama proposed the idea, McCain is grandstanding. No person has said that McCain was involve in the process before hand, but Obama was in contact EVERYDAY. McCain has the worst voting attendance in the Senate and not to mention was part of another deregulation scandel. So stop with the lies. McCain is playing politics with the economy, which is dishonorable.

Posted by: MM | Sep 25, 2008 4:01:50 PM

Looks like McCain never really stopped campaigning, several sources say his campaign is open for business, just another political stunt by John McCain and his inept campaign.

Posted by: Liberal4Obama | Sep 25, 2008 3:59:02 PM

Obama can get his supporters to believe anything! He didn't want to go to Washington and work on the bailout package because:

1. He didn't want to leave any fingerprints that might come back to haunt him should the bailout fail.

2. He's allotted three days to study up for the debate and didn't want to be bothered.

3. The Democratic leadership didn't want him there, preferring to do their bidding without his interference, and that's just okey dokey with him.

We've had two great opportunities to see how a President Obama would operate - Georgia and the Bailout - and he's failed both times. I'm not waiting for a Strike Three to declare this loser out!

Posted by: marylou | Sep 25, 2008 3:58:30 PM

mix-up, huh? What part of "Don't bring any campaign staff" is McCain unable to comprehend? Similar to how the word "suspend" holds an entirely different meaning than how McCains is going about things (ads still running, volunteers still working, campaign aids still crying to fox news), and how everyone else ascribes a different meaning to what the "fundamentals of the economy" are than McCain.

What version of reality is McCain living in, anyway, when words mean one thing to him and another to everyone else?

Posted by: ghost | Sep 25, 2008 3:56:19 PM

McCain probably asked for the meeting to see if he could get some pictures of Bush and Obama together - watch for an ad. Oh if he could only get Obama to give him a little hug!

Posted by: Larry | Sep 25, 2008 3:53:10 PM

Melvin, McCain just announced that the fundamentals of his integrity are strong.

Posted by: Tom | Sep 25, 2008 3:52:09 PM

Looks like this meeting was not even necessary as Congress has done their job in agreeing to a counter bill.

Looks like John McCain is just wasting everyone's time.

Another off-the-cuff, overreaction from McCain.

And another "mix up."

You do not look like a leader, John McCain.

Mavericks usually end up in prison, not the White House.

Posted by: Blue in Michigan | Sep 25, 2008 3:49:04 PM

Post a comment





 

POLITICAL VIDEOS