You almost get that impression from the Times account of the campaign suspension:
The debate on Friday was to focus on Mr. McCain’s perceived strength, foreign policy. Mr. McCain had not planned to devote large blocks of time to debate practice as did Mr. Obama, who was holing up with a tight circle of advisers at a hotel in Clearwater, Fla., on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to prepare. Mr. McCain had a preparatory session on Wednesday afternoon at the Morgan Library in Manhattan, but advisers said it was interrupted by his decision, announced immediately afterward, to suspend his campaign.
It's like they were sitting around going through their flash cards, or whatever, and McCain said, "Aw, screw it. Let's just bag on this one."
--Noam Scheiber