John McCain will attend presidential debate

McCain had said Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign and heading for Washington in order to help with a proposed $700-billion bailout of the troubled financial industry. Negotiations to resolve the bailout bill continued today.

Even with the economic issue unresolved, McCain said he would take part in the debate.

"Sen. McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House," the campaign statement said. "He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations."

McCain did not participate in congressional negotiation on the bill, although he did suggest a White House meeting Thursday that included President Bush, key lawmakers and the presidential candidates.

That meeting ended with no agreement, and some on Capitol Hill accused McCain of political posturing.

This morning, Sen Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that Bush needed "to respectfully tell Sen. McCain to get out of town. He's not helping, he is harming" the negotiation process.

Obama had urged McCain to go to the debate at the University of Mississippi, the first of three presidential face-offs before the general election Nov. 4.

"Sen. McCain has no reason to be fearful about a debate," the Democrat told reporters in Washington. "He's got his personal, strong opinions, and you know he's been expressing them on the campaign trail. This does give us an opportunity to go back and forth."

Officials, the major television networks and the nonpartisan commission sponsoring tonight's debate all indicated earlier in the week that they would proceed on the assumption McCain would show. But the prospect that he might skip the debate -- which would be unprecedented -- had elevated the political stakes.

"I could see it cutting either way," said John J. Pitney, Jr., a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. "Obama could cast this as McCain's effort to duck debates, and McCain could cast it as Obama putting political interests ahead of national interests. Since this is totally uncharted waters, I don't know whose interpretation is going to win."