Sen. John McCain may have suspended his presidential campaign today, but that doesn’t mean his troops are getting any time off.

The parking lot outside the McCain/Palin Victory ‘08 headquarters in Albuquerque was full and the office was buzzing with activity this morning just hours after McCain announced he was temporarily halting his campaign to work on the nation’s economic crisis.

Three volunteers sat at a bank of phones in the sunlit front of the office building near Interstate-25 and Jefferson Boulevard Northeast, fielding calls and helping a elderly McCain supporter pick up yard signs and bumper stickers. “Be sure every one gets used,” said one young volunteer. “Oh, I will,” the man replied as he walked out the door with his hands full.

In the warehouse-like rear of the building, another dozen or so people put together yard signs, pored over clipboards and grazed at a table laid out with fruit, pastries and drinks. The walls were hung with giant blue McCain signs and banners and a large TV burbled in the corner, tuned to a news channel.

Office manager Burley Cain stood talking with an aide, but said he couldn’t answer questions about the campaign suspension and whether it was meant to trickle down to the local level. He referred all questions to regional campaign spokeswoman Ivette Barajas. “Sorry I can’t help you,” he said, then got back to work.

The McCain camp had earlier given its field workers a list of talking points about the suspension, which said the campaign would halt its advertising and fundraising. Though the communique was supposed to be for staff only, it was inadvertently sent to the Independent’s sister site, the Colorado Independent.

The memo also told campaigners to “not proactively reach out to the media on this.”

When reached this morning by phone, Barajas told the Independent she didn’t have time to talk. She had a teleconference to participate in, she said, but asked for questions via e-mail.

As of 2 p.m., Barajas had not responded.

McCain and Sen. Barack Obama have agreed to meet at the White House today to discuss the proposed $700 billion federal bailout of Wall Street. The fate of Friday’s scheduled debate in Oxford, Miss., the first of three, remains up in the air. The Huffington Post reports that Obama has said he will be there but might conduct it as a town hall meeting or a one-on-one meeting with host Jim Lehrer if McCain refuses to participate.