Five callers to Sen. Mark Pryor’s Washington office got quite the surprise this afternoon when Pryor answered the phone himself.

Constituents rarely have such access to U.S. senators, who are usually shielded from public phone calls by an army of gatekeepers. Aides almost always field phone calls to an office’s main line.

Pryor’s spokeswoman, Lisa Ackerman, said the state’s junior senator wanted to answer his own phone to get a feel for what constituents think about the proposed government bailout of imperiled financial institutions.

They were all uncomfortable with the proposal, she said.

“Some wanted him to do what’s best for the country. Others were just all-out opposed to it,” Ackerman said.

She said Pryor didn’t identify himself as the senator until after callers voiced their concerns. He answered the phone with, “Sen. Pryor’s office,” Ackerman said.

The calls came from all three of the state’s area codes, she added.

Now if Pryor ever loses his Senate seat, he might qualify for a job at a call center.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., was critical Thursday of John McCain’s decision to suspend his presidential campaign to return to the Senate as Congress considers a massive bailout of financial institutions:

“I think he’s distracting things (with) the idea he’s got to stop what he’s doing and come back and rescue the Congress,” Lincoln said during a conference call with reporters.

McCain is a Republican senator from Arizona.

Lincoln said members of Congress have been working for nearly a week to find a solution to the nation’s economic crisis. The Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout proposal was met with tepid support on Capitol Hill.

“There’s a lot of us that have been working on this over the past five to six days,” she said. “We certainly hope Sen. McCain will come back and vote on it and participate if he wants. We’re doing that now. I don’t think he needs to halt this campaign.”