Ford political director calls McCain's campaign suspension 'high-risk, high-reward'

John McCain: Getty Images PhotoThe political director for President Gerald Ford's 1976 re-election campaign said you can't draw parallels between a tactic Ford used in that race and Republican presidential nominee John McCain's announcement Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign to work on the country's economic crisis.

Stuart Spencer, who now lives in Palm Desert, said Ford adopted what was known as the "Rose Garden strategy" of staying in Washington, D.C. because he dropped in the polls whenever he went out to campaign.

"That was a strategic decision, there was no crisis," said Spencer, who later worked on President Ronald Reagan's presidential campaigns. "This is a crisis, and McCain's made a strategic decision."

Whether it works, Spencer said, will depend on how McCain's opponent, Democrat Barack Obama, reacts.

Obama can fairly point out that while both men as sitting U.S. senators are obligated to cast a vote on the economic bailout plan being discussed, they also have an obligation to tell voters how they'll address the situation if elected president, Spencer said.

"It's a high-risk, high-reward strategy," Spencer said, pointing out that McCain has not been directly involved in discussions of the bailout plan. "He's one senator, one vote. Obama is one senator, one vote."

Voters are more interested right now in what Obama and McCain will do about economic issues, Spencer said. Neither man is especially tested in that area, with Obama relatively new to national politics and McCain focusing most of his career on foreign affairs and military issues.

"The economy is paramount on the minds of voters," Spencer said. "They're scared to death. And they want to know what the policy will be."

He said of McCain's move Wednesday: "I wonder if it will be that helpful."