While McCain campaign attacks continue, Fox News, CNN asserted as fact that McCain "suspended" or "suspends" his campaign

On Fox News and CNN, several news anchors have asserted as fact that Sen. John McCain "suspended" his presidential campaign, even though McCain campaign surrogates continue to appear on cable news networks attacking Sen. Barack Obama, and McCain's television campaign ads have aired on affiliates of broadcast networks the same morning. Additionally, in a September 25 entry on the Huffington Post, reporter Sam Stein stated that he "called up 15 McCain-Palin and McCain Victory Committee headquarters in various battleground states. Not one said that it was temporarily halting operations because of the supposed 'suspension' in the campaign."

For example, on the 11 a.m. ET hour of the September 25 edition of CNN's Newsroom, host Tony Harris said, "McCain, suspending his campaign to focus on the financial crisis." Onscreen text read, "McCain suspends campaign; debate in doubt." Similarly, on the 11 a.m. ET hour of Fox News' Happening Now, host Heather Nauert said that "McCain is suspending his campaign and is heading back to Washington today." Later, on the same show, host Jon Scott said that "he's suspended the campaign, he's headed back to Washington."

From the 11 a.m. ET hour of the September 25 edition of CNN's Newsroom:

HARRIS: America's money crisis: Where do things stand right now? Well, here's the big picture, details will follow: Congressional negotiators behind closed doors at this hour drafting a compromise bailout bill. The politicians leading the effort say they are on the verge of a deal. President Bush calling John McCain, Barack Obama, and members of Congress to the White House this afternoon, following up on last night's speech. The president warning the economy is in danger. McCain, suspending his campaign to focus on the financial crisis. Tomorrow night's presidential debate in some doubts.

Ali Velshi taking your calls on his radio show; so many of you furious about the $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street and the financial industry.

From the 11 a.m. ET hour of the September 25 edition of Fox News' Happening Now:

NAUERT: Senator John McCain is suspending his campaign and is heading back to Washington today. Both he and Senator Obama will be at the White House for a 4:00 p.m. Eastern time meeting to talk about the bailout plan. So, will the deal be done by then, and will tomorrow night's debate go on as planned? We'll have a live report on that, and that's straight ahead.

[...]

SCOTT: Barack Obama, saying moments ago, that after the White House powwow on the bailout, he is heading to Oxford, Mississippi, for the first presidential debate tomorrow night. Obama, speaking by satellite to former president Clinton's Global Initiative event in New York. Earlier, Senator McCain addressed the same audience. Shannon Bream is live in Washington. All right, first of all, Shannon, that debate tomorrow night, is it on, as of now, or is it off?

BREAM [Fox News correspondent]: Well, Jon, as we have heard from Senator Obama, he intends to show up. You mentioned that he talked about this in his speech this morning to the Global Initiative, and he did get a lot of applause for that particular line, so, certainly the folks there think this debate should go on, as well the Commission on Presidential Debates. They say, you know, a year-and-a-half of planning has gone into this, millions of dollars have been poured into it, so we plan on having the debate tomorrow night as well. McCain still saying this morning, talking about harkening back to his days as a Navy pilot, saying, "I know when a crisis demands all hands on deck, I think that's the crisis right now for America. It's in Washington. That is where the debate is -- that's the debate I'm going to." So, Jon, it seems out of two out of the three key parties here are saying, debate, yes; McCain still saying no.

SCOTT: All right, but he's suspended the campaign, he's headed back to Washington, and, apparently, not everyone's gonna be happy to see him there?

BREAM: Yeah, as you can imagine, a lot Democrats say that he's playing politics with this, that they don't need him there on the Hill to get this done, but it's an interesting reversal for one of the key players -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is a Democrat, of course. He, just a couple of days ago, was saying how important it was that the nominees be involved in this whole package and getting things done. Well, when McCain kind of called his bluff and said, "Well, I'm coming to Washington, suspending my campaign, that's what I'm going to do," now Harry Reid is saying, "We don't need you here, and this is not what you should be doing."

This is the same Harry Reid, though, who, back in July, when Obama left the campaign trail to come back for some key votes here on Capitol Hill, praised him, and really gave McCain a hard time, saying, "Well, you must care more about campaigning than doing the hard work." Barney Frank, another very prominent Democrat, also giving McCain a hard time, saying, "If I thought that somebody from the presidential ticket on the Republican side needed to be here, I'd ask Sarah Palin for her advice."