With both candidates trying to convince voters that they view an exploding national debt as a serious problem, the taxpayers' $700 billion bailout of the financials has given Senators Obama and McCain a chance to show their true colors.

And deficit hawks won't like what they see. McCain said that the surprise $700 billion dollar expense doesn't change his conviction that the Bush tax cuts should be extended. He added, hilariously, that he thinks he can still balance the budget. Meanwhile, Obama told The New York Times that the $700 billion item essentially doesn't change any of his plans either.

Maybe someone can help me out on this: Did either of these candidates have such roomy budgets that an extra $700 billion here or there isn't material enough to throw things off? I suspect not, and I'm calling both their bluff.

As with any budget plan presented by presidential candidates, voters would do well to question the realism of the estimates being put out by either campaign. When both candidates say, with a straight face, that they can still do everything they want without changing anything in the face of a sudden expenditure like this, you pretty much have to stop listening.