Financial crisis looms large over presidential debate

With the Wall Street crisis as their backdrop, John McCain and Barack Obama tussled in their first debate Friday night over who would best safeguard the interests of the middle class in a colossal taxpayer bailout of the investment industry.

The 90-minute debate, the first of three scheduled, was supposed to focus on foreign affairs. But the fragile condition of the markets led moderator Jim Lehrer to devote nearly half of it to the economy.

Both White House contenders saw the debate as a crucial opportunity to seize an edge on the economy, by far the top issue for voters.

McCain made clear that a key goal was to distance himself from President Bush, whose unpopularity has proved a major burden for the Republican nominee.

"I have opposed the president on spending, on climate change, on torture of prisoners, on Guantanamo Bay . . . on the way that the Iraq war was conducted," said McCain, who described himself as an "independent and a maverick."

For his part, the Democratic nominee sought repeatedly to tie McCain to Bush, mainly on economic policies and the Iraq war.

Obama called the financial crisis "a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush, supported by Sen. McCain, a theory that basically says that we can shred regulations and consumer protections and give more and more to the most, and somehow prosperity will trickle down."

Obama also suggested that the bailout under negotiation in Washington must address people who were "struggling before this took place."

"That's why it's so important, as we solve this short-term problem, that we look at some of the underlying issues that have led to wages and incomes for ordinary Americans to go down, a healthcare system that is broken, energy policies that are not working," he said. "Because, you know, 10 days ago, John said that the fundamentals of the economy are sound."

McCain stressed that the bailout was not just about the "failure of institutions on Wall Street."

"We're talking about failures on Main Street, and people who will lose their jobs, and their credits, and their homes, if we don't fix the greatest fiscal crisis, probably, in -- certainly in our time, and I've been around a little while," he said.

McCain's main focus was on the need to cut government spending, chiefly by eliminating the system of earmarking money for lawmakers' pet projects. "Do you know that it's gone completely out of control to the point where it corrupts people?" he said.