McCain’s Attendance Record

Here’s why I can’t view McCain’s plan to suspend his campaign and return to Washington until the economic crisis is fixed with anything but cynicism: He hasn’t voted in the Senate since April 10, more than five months ago.

To be fair, Obama has missed a lot of votes as well. But McCain has missed 64% of votes in the 110th Congress to Obama’s 46%.

And while the current economic crisis presents a very unique situation, McCain has missed some pretty major pieces of legislation, most notably a vote to prevent the Medicare payment system from essentially collapsing. The first vote essentially ended in a tie, with only Senators McCain and Ted Kennedy absent. And Kennedy even managed to make it for the second vote (a man with a brain tumor has voted more than McCain has during that time).

I understand that presidential candidates have to make some sacrifices, and I don’t expect them to attend every hearing or vote. But I began periodically checking in on candidates’ attendance records last November because, well, they still have jobs to do as Senators, and at some point poor attendance becomes unacceptable. In that time, McCain has consistently had the worst attendance record (even when many more candidates were involved), and it has only gotten worse.

So when he says he is going to suspend his campaign, I don’t know whether he’s just trying to trap Obama and score political points or if he is incapable of doing his current job at the same time he’s campaigning for a promotion.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s going to Washington to vote on the legislation, but that’s nothing to hold a press conference and boast about. It is, after all, his job.