Fate of Friday's presidential debate remains a question

ByABC News
September 25, 2008, 12:46 PM

— -- The fate of Friday night's first presidential debate hung in the balance Thursday as John McCain confirmed that he would not attend during the economic crisis and Barack Obama said the American people deserved to hear from the candidates.

The debate is scheduled for Friday night at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., with Jim Lehrer, of PBS' NewsHour moderating.

"I cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a solution were at hand, which it clearly is not," the Arizona senator said.

Obama, noting the election was 40 days away, said he believes the American people deserved to hear from the two candidates at a time of economic crisis and while the county is engaged in two wars abroad.

"The times are too serious to put our campaigns on hold or to ignore the full range of issues that the next president will face," the Illinois Democrat said.

Both spoke to the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. McCain addressed the gathering in person and Obama by satellite TV.

The two candidates planned to attend a White House meeting later Thursday of congressional leaders that was called by President Bush to try to speed up the congressional negotiations.

Obama said he would fly to Mississippi after the meeting.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, which is sponsoring the debate, said it is "moving forward" with its plans.

"We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled," the commission said in a statement.

Gloria Kellum, vice chancellor of the university, told CNN that there has been no talk of any cancellation or other contingency plans.

"We have a strong belief that tomorrow night this debate will be right here," she said.

Kellum said that $5.5 million in private funds had gone into the preparations for the debate.

Despite disagreement over the debate, the two candidates did release a joint statement Wednesday outlining their concerns over the economic crisis.