I can tell that Barack Obama has learned his lesson about when to get to the Senate floor to speak on a major issue.

Earlier this year when Iraq was being debated, Obama didn't get to speak until after the evening news had started on the broadcast networks.

On Wednesday, Obama was front and center on the Senate floor at 5pm. That's more than enough time for producers and editors to get him ready for the 6:30pm EDT feed.

John McCain was also in town for the Senate vote, as he joined Obama in voting for the bailout bill.

But McCain wasn't seen on the Senate floor. McCain decided not to speak. Why? I really don't know. It couldn't be that hard to make a five minute floor statement.

And the networks certainly would have put his sound bite next to one from Obama.

Last weekend, when McCain came back to DC after the first Presidential debate, he was around, but not involved in the bailout negotiations at all.

I can understand that he might have wanted to stay a bit out of the limelight, but I also know that you can hold a photo opportunity, or make a short statement and get a lot of play out of that.

Instead, McCain stayed off camera.

There are less than five weeks to go until Election Day. You need to put your face before every single TV camera that wants to shoot pictures of you.

Those are missed opportunities.