the McCain campaign. This prompted calls from Republican donors to "return the money." Legacy New York Times journalist David Brooks says that, in nominating Palin as his running mate, McCain "took a disease that was running through the Republican party – anti-intellectualism, disrespect for facts – and he put it right at the centre of the party". Laura McGann in Vox says that McCain gave the "reality TV politics" and Tea Party movement more political legitimacy, as well as solidifying "the Republican Party's comfort with a candidate who would say absurdities ... unleashing a political style and a values system that animated the Tea Party movement and laid the groundwork for a Trump presidency." Post-convention poll surge and retreat After the Republican National Convention, McCain saw his poll numbers increase nationwide, traced in part to movement among previously undecided voters. From mid-September to mid-October, however, the trend lines were all in Obama's direction. For example, the RealClearPolitics electoral map went from an Obama 228–163 electoral vote lead on August 20 to a 227–207 McCain lead on September 17 and then back to a 306–157 Obama lead on October 24. U.S. financial crisis In September 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis worsened and precipitated the financial crisis of 2007–2008; the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was quickly followed by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, sale of Merrill Lynch, and government bailout of American International Group. At first McCain emphasized that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong", but when questioned on that statement he clarified that the fundamentals refer to the American workforce. He then recast his message into emphasizing that the country's economy was in "a total crisis", condemning "greed", and proposing that a national commission be set up to study the situation, akin to the 9/11 Commission. He later commented on the Federal Reserve loan of $85 billion to AIG by saying, "I didn't want to do that...and I don't think anybody I know wanted to do that." McCain then said that government regulators had been "asleep at the switch" and said if he were president he would fire U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox. On September 24, McCain announced that he would "suspend" his campaign and seek to delay a debate with Barack Obama scheduled for September 26 so that he could work with Congress toward a reworking of and agreement on the Paulson