In this game, McCain’s game, the possible moves and their consequences:

To a large extent, McCain has taken a riverboat gamble because (1) he is not even on the Senate banking committee and Dodd won’t give him the time of day, let alone a real role in shaping the bill, (2) the ranking member of the banking committee (Shelby) opposes the bill, and (3) the House Republicans are in open revolt against the President. If McCain tucks his tail between his legs and flies to Mississippi to debate Obama at Ole Miss, he will hardly look like a man of action who flew to Washington, banged heads together, and got a bill. On the other hand, if he stays in Washington to work on the bill (meaning fighting Dodd, Shelby, and the House Republicans) Obama will ask the moderator, Jim Lehrer, to moderate a town hall meeting with questions from the audience. That would be an unmitigated disaster for McCain. Obama would get at least an hour of free TV time and look like a President at a press conference fielding questions in a mature way and McCain would look like just another squabbling congressman. Of course, McCain knows this very well so he will try really, really hard to get a bill today so he can fly off to Mississippi in triumph. Dodd, of course, knows all this, too, and will try to extract huge concessions from McCain (which he knows Boehner will never swallow) in return for a bill today. It’s all high-stakes poker with Paulson, Bush, Dodd, Boehner, McCain and Obama all having different interests. Anything is possible at this point.