McCain, Obama come together in remembrance

New York — Pausing politics for a silent moment on a day of shared pain, John McCain and Barack Obama strode side by side into Ground Zero on Thursday to pay their respects as the nation remembered the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The presidential candidates descended a long ramp into the pit where the World Trade Center once scraped the sky. At the bottom, the Republican and Democrat threw roses into a reflecting pool already filled with flowers from a day of mourning.

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Julie Jacobson/AP

Presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain walk down a ramp to ground zero. Accompanied by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, each candidate met with family members and paid their respects to those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

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They then stood quietly, their heads bowed.

Only 54 days remain in the close race for the White House, but both campaigns agreed to a political truce Thursday, suspending all negative television ads on this seventh anniversary of the attacks.

The afternoon visit followed memorials at the sites where four hijacked airliners crashed, killing nearly 3,000 people. At each place — lower Manhattan, the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and a field near Shanksville, Pa. — the families of those killed gathered to mourn.

In New York, people wept and held photos of lost loved ones at a park near Ground Zero, which is now an active construction site forging new skyscrapers.

Four moments of silence marked the times when the two jetliners struck and the two towers fell.

Family members and local students representing the more than 90 nations that lost people on 9/11 read the names of the 2,751 people killed at the trade center.

Three children began the annual readings by honoring their father, John Salamone, a Cantor Fitzgerald broker who worked in the north tower.

“I remember playing in the yard with him. I remember him pulling me in my wagon. He was strong. He always made me feel safe. He was funny. He always made me laugh,” said Alex, the eldest, who was 6 when his father died.

He was joined by his sister, Anna, and brother, Aidan. Both boys wore soccer team jerseys — their father had been the coach.

“I wish I could remember more, but we were so young when he died,” Alex said. “But I do remember how much he loved us, and I know how much we miss him.”

In Washington, President Bush and first lady Laura Bush held a moment of silence on the White House South Lawn and then traveled to the Pentagon.

There, the president spoke at the dedication of a 2-acre memorial park, located where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon’s west wall.

“Thanks to the brave men and women, and all those who work to keep us safe, there has not been another attack on our soil in 2,557 days,” Bush said.

Memorials are years away from completion in Pennsylvania and New York.

In Shanksville, several hundred people gathered near the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93, whose passengers are believed to have fought the hijackers before the final moments.

McCain attended the simple ceremony. The Arizona senator noted that the terrorists may have sought to crash Flight 93 into the U.S. Capitol.

“Hundreds if not thousands of people would have been at work in that building when that fateful moment occurred and been destroyed along with a beautiful symbol of our freedom,” he said. “They and, very possibly I, owe our lives to the passengers who summoned the courage and love necessary to deny our depraved and hateful enemies their terrible triumph.”

Obama issued a morning statement online and by e-mail, praising the emergency workers who responded to the attacks and warning that “the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large and must be brought to justice.”

The Illinois senator also called for national unity.

“On 9/11, 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,” Obama said. “Let us renew that spirit of service and that sense of common purpose.”

Continuing that theme, both men were to speak separately at a Columbia University forum Thursday night, sharing their views on public service.

McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, was attending an Army ceremony in her home state of Alaska to send her son, Track, to duty in Iraq.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden visited an American Legion post near Cleveland for a gathering of police, firefighters and other first responders.

At Ground Zero, first Obama and then McCain with his wife, Cindy, arrived at about 4 p.m. amid tight security. The candidates shook hands and then walked down the long ramp, with McCain’s wife, Cindy, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg following close behind.

At the bottom, the men spoke with people representing police, rescue workers and family members of 9/11 victims. The joint event lasted about 15 minutes.

The two senators are not the first politicians to seek a delicate balance on the 9/11 anniversary.

Last year, some victims’ family members criticized former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for speaking at the annual ceremony while he was a Republican presidential candidate.

While some questioned the Obama and McCain visit, criticism was muted.

The candidates likely want “to really affirm the fact that this is sacred ground for America,” Sally Regenhard, whose son, Christian, was killed at the trade center, said before the day’s ceremonies.

Giuliani, who led the city during the attacks, spoke again Thursday, as did New York Gov. David Paterson, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Bloomberg.

“We come each year to stand alongside those who loved and lost the most,” Bloomberg said. “To bear witness to the day which began like any other and ended like none ever has.”

As has become tradition, New York planned to end this day by shinning two brilliant beams of light into the night, briefly healing the wounded skyline.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.