Did McCain Blow Off Letterman to Pre-Empt Sarah and Katie?

Help me with the timing on this.

Sometime–either earlier today or earlier this week–Sarah Palin sat down and taped an interview with Katie Couric. The first part of that interview airs this evening.

Then instead of showing up for a scheduled interview with David Letterman, and at a time when he said he had to run back to DC for emergency work to save the American economy, McCain did an interview with Katie Couric. In other words, after the McPalin campaign assessed how the Palin-Couric interview went, they put together a last minute interview between McCain and Couric.

As of this moment, CBS News has, as its lead story, McCain’s debate cancellation stunt. Not Sarah Palin’s second interview with a straight reporter. McCain has effectively pre-empted the interview with his running-mate. 

I get the feeling that Palin-Couric interview went even worse than the Charlie Gibson one.

And perhaps not coincidentally, McCain is now trying to postpone the VP debate.