Debate Fate Uncertain Amid Economic Crisis

Sept. 25, 2008— -- Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain will go to the White House for an economic summit this afternoon, but it's not clear whether McCain will join Obama in Oxford, Miss., on Friday for the first presidential debate.

McCain says he will be a Mississippi no-show if Congress and the White House are still haggling over terms of the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout.

The McCain campaign insists that he's not playing chicken, but rather that he is trying to put politics aside and deal with the fiscal crisis in a bipartisan manner.

The Republican presidential candidate announced that he would suspend his campaign Wednesday in favor of traveling to Washington to help nail down a deal. He suggested that Friday's debate be postponed until the crisis is resolved, but Obama and the Commission on Presidential Debates have both rebuffed McCain's suggestion and were acting as if Friday's showdown is still on.

McCain has sprung campaign surprises before, so it's not clear whether Obama would end up in Mississippi by himself.

Raising the specter of skipping the debate is the latest in a series of unpredictable moves by McCain, following the selection of virtual unknown Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate and delaying the GOP convention because of Hurricane Gustav's threat to New Orleans.

Obama made clear during remarks Friday in Clearwater, Fla., that he was ready to rumble. "The American people deserve to hear directly from myself and Senator McCain about how we intend to lead our country. The times are too serious to put our campaign on hold," Obama said.

It wasn't clear whether McCain's latest move would help fashion an economic agreement. Members of Congress and the White House began meeting in the morning to hammer out a deal. McCain and Obama will meet with Bush at the White House at 4 p.m., possibly to applaud a done deal.

But McCain's approval has been considered essential for any agreement. Without it, key Republicans weren't going to buck their own presidential candidate, and Democrats weren't going to give McCain the opportunity to attack Obama over the bailout.