Recalling the nation's unity in a time of peril seven years ago, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama placed their partisan contest on hold Thursday and spoke as one in honoring of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Obama and McCain made ground zero in New York their common ground, joining in homage to the dead from the fallen Twin Towers and the hijacked planes flown into them. The candidates walked down a ramp together to the site where the World Trade Center once stood, and threw flowers into a reflecting pool.
Cindy McCain and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg accompanied the two candidates. Obama and McCain greeted family members of the victims.
Beforehand, McCain spoke briefly at a simple ceremony in remote, rural western Pennsylvania, held on a large hilly field close to where United Airlines Flight 93, the third of four airliners commandeered by terrorists, crashed. Investigators believe some of the 40 passengers and crew rushed the cockpit and thwarted terrorists' plans to use that plane as a weapon like the ones that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. All aboard all planes died.
The Arizona senator said those on the flight might have saved his own life, as some believe the terrorists wanted to slam that plane into the U.S. Capitol. He said the only way to thank those who died on the flight is to "be as good an American as they were."
"We might fall well short of their standard, but there's honor in the effort," McCain said.
Obama, in a statement, said that on Sept. 11, 2001, "Americans across our great country came together to stand with the families of the victims, to donate blood, to give to charity, and to say a prayer for our country. Let us renew that."
The Illinois senator added: "Let us remember that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large, and must be brought to justice."
Left unstated by both was their sharp disagreement over the Iraq war, which McCain supported and Obama opposed as a distraction from the Afghanistan war and broader fight against terrorism.
It was not a day for spelling out differences but rather a respectful time out in a campaign with 54 days to go. Both agreed to suspend TV ads critical of each other.
Bipartisan memorial
In Pennsylvania, grieving family members and a few dignitaries sat in front of a chain-link fence adorned with flags and mementos that serves as a temporary memorial while a permanent one is built. Bells were rung as the name of each victim was read. McCain and others laid wreaths at the foot of two flagpoles and a large wooden cross.
The political truce was evident in remarks thanking McCain for traveling to Shanksville by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who occasionally speaks against the Republican nominee as an Obama campaign surrogate. "It's an honor to have him here, not just as a presidential candidate but as a great American patriot," Rendell said.
On Thursday night, Obama and McCain appeared separately at Columbia University for a forum on public service.
Obama's also lunched Thursday in New York with former President Clinton.
Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, visited an American Legion post in suburban Cleveland for an invitation-only gathering of area police, firefighters and other first responders.
"Part of today is reminding Americans that every single day there are acts that are both ordinary and profound," Biden said in recalling the attacks. "You suit up, head out on that vehicle not knowing what you're going to find. If, God forbid, anything remotely close to that happens, it's going to be you guys trying to save all of us."
The Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, was in her home state of Alaska to attend an Army ceremony to send her eldest son, Track, off to duty in Iraq. She also was to be interviewed by ABC News.
Obama and McCain last appeared together in August when they shook hands at minister Rick Warren's megachurch in Orange County, Calif., where they spoke separately about faith and values. In June they attended the funeral of NBC newsman Tim Russert, sitting next to each other at the family's request.
