After debate, candidates back on campaign trail
WASHINGTON -- Republican John McCain made plans Sunday to return to the campaign trail this week, while Democrat Barack Obama stressed proposals to "help families on Main Street" during a rally in Detroit.
Both presidential candidates tentatively endorsed the Wall Street bailout during television appearances Sunday and gave each other bad reviews from Friday night's first debate.
In offering support for the deal, Obama and McCain cited changes to the initial $700 billion bailout plan, including new provisions to create an independent oversight board and restrict CEO pay. Both said action is needed to protect the financial system, despite failures in Washington and on Wall Street.
"It is an outrage, an outrage, that we are now being forced to clean up their mess," Obama said in Detroit. He appeared earlier in the day on CBS's Face the Nation.
McCain, appearing on ABC's This Week, said the outline of the bailout looks like "something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with."
McCain, who had suspended his campaign on Wednesday because of the financial crisis and threatened not appear at the debate, plans to hold a rally today in Columbus. He also has events scheduled this week in Iowa and California.
The Arizona senator said he left the campaign trail to participate in congressional bailout talks. Top Democratic negotiators, such as Mass. Rep. Barney Frank, called McCain's involvement political and counter-productive.
On ABC, McCain said he helped address the concerns of critical House Republicans, making the current plan a bipartisan one. "I won't claim a bit of credit, OK, if that makes them feel better," McCain said of the critics.
After a day of phone calls on Saturday, McCain spoke by satellite to the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance in Columbus, and knocked Obama's debate performance. "It was clear that Sen. Obama still sees the financial crisis in America as a national problem to be exploited first and solved later," he said.
At a Democratic rally in Detroit, Obama said McCain echoed President Bush throughout the debate on issues ranging from taxes to health care to Iraq.
Obama also recalled McCain's comment earlier this month that the fundamentals of the economy remain strong, describing that as a "Katrina-like response."
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., a McCain supporter who caucuses with the Democrats, said during a conference call with reporters that the comment was "outrageously unfair." He said McCain was referring to the strength of the American workers.
While endorsing the Wall Street bailout, Obama advocated "the same sense of urgency" for Main Street. The Illinois senator discussed plans to rebuild schools and roads, send federal revenue to cities and states, and extend unemployment benefits.
McCain and Obama do not debate again until Oct. 7 in Nashville. Before then, on Thursday night in St. Louis, running mates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden meet for their only debate.
While introducing Obama in Detroit, Biden said McCain proved on Friday that he is "literally out of touch with the American people."
Palin met Sunday with military mothers in Philadelphia, where she spent the entire weekend. Asked about the Wall Street bailout, she said "I'm glad that John McCain's voice was heard."