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John McCain vs. John McCain’s campaign

The Republican candidate and his campaign staff offer conflicting explanations for why he came back to D.C. during negotiations on a Wall Street bailout.

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John McCain, to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, on why he left the campaign trail as Congress worked on a Wall Street bailout deal: “I came back because I wasn’t going to phone it in.”

McCain senior advisor Mark Salter, to the New York Times’ Elisabeth Bumiller, on what McCain was doing in Washington to help reach a deal: “He’s calling members on both sides, talking to people in the administration, helping out as he can … he can effectively do what he needs to do by phone.”

By Mike Madden

Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here.

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