A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Really, for all practical purposes, it's true:

Former President Bill Clinton defended Sen. John McCain's request to delay the first presidential debate, saying McCain did it in "good faith" and pushed organizers to reserve time for economy talk during the debate if the Friday plans move forward.

Appearing on Good Morning America Thursday, Clinton told ABC News' Chris Cuomo that McCain's push to postpone the debate would only be a good political move if both candidates agreed. McCain announced on Wednesday that he would "suspend" his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill.

"We know he didn't do it because he's afraid because Sen. McCain wanted more debates," Clinton said, adding that he was "encouraged" by the joint statement from McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.

"You can put it off a few days the problem is it's hard to reschedule those things," Clinton said, "I presume he did that in good faith since I know he wanted -- I remember he asked for more debates to go all around the country and so I don't think we ought to overly parse that."

I have to think that stories like this should attract more attention from the media. Clinton clearly does not want Obama to win (here are some other holidays the former President can observe if he really wants to make the Obama folks sweat), is doing everything in his power to ensure that Obama does not win and is being super-extra-special-nice to John McCain. He is also hurting Democratic Party unity by doing so. If this isn't a major story, I don't know what is.