WASHINGTON—The first presidential debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama remained in doubt today, the very day it was to be held, embroiled in the same partisan divisions that were holding up a Wall Street bailout plan.
Obama said he intended to travel to the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where the debate had long been scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. EDT. McCain, who had proposed delaying the contest so the two presidential hopefuls could help negotiate an economic rescue plan, wouldn’t commit.
“I’m very hopeful that we’ll get enough of an agreement tomorrow so we can make this debate,” McCain said Thursday on NBC’s “Nightly News.”
Obama tried to press McCain into showing up for the first of three scheduled debates between them, saying they should be able to handle the 90-minute forum and the financial crisis at the same time.
“Senator McCain has no need to be fearful about a debate,” Obama told reporters. “He’s a person of strong opinions and he’s been expressing them on the campaign trail.”
Both McCain and Obama returned to Washington on Thursday at the urging of President Bush, who invited them to a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House. But a session aimed at showing unity in resolving the financial crisis broke up with conflicts in plain view. McCain would not commit to supporting a plan worked out by congressional negotiators, said people from both parties who were briefed on the exchange.
McCain’s campaign said the meeting “devolved into a contentious shouting match” and implied that Obama was at fault—on a day when McCain said he was putting politics aside to focus on the nation’s financial problems.
Democrats differed.
The effort stalled late Thursday, with talks set to resume Friday. McCain was returning to Capitol Hill on Friday, his campaign said.
Meanwhile, debate preparations continued in Oxford, with streets blocked off and big TV screens set up on campus and near City Hall for large debate-watching parties.
Television network officials were left with the uncertainty of whether their Friday night programming would be the scheduled debate or something else arranged at the last minute. Pressed in an interview on the “CBS Evening News” about whether he would show, McCain responded: “I understand how important this debate is and I’m very hopeful, but I also have to put the country first.”
Obama told NBC that, should the debate go on, he would raise the economy even though the focus was supposed to be foreign policy.
“It’s one of the fundamental differences that I have with John McCain, and it’s something that I think we need to explore in a debate format,” Obama said. “We’re only talking about 90 minutes here.”
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On the Net:
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Debates can swing an election
E 1960: Richard Nixon and John Kennedy inaugurated the age of TV presidential debates, also on Sept. 26. Both men were well-spoken. But Nixon looked hollow-eyed, and his gray suit blended into the gray studio background. Kennedy was tanned and relaxed and wore a blue suit that provided a good contrast to the black and white screen. That’s what ended up mattering.
1976: President Gerald Ford found himself in need of a forum to make headway against Democrat Jimmy Carter. But Ford made the great blunder of the debates by claiming, “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.” That was wrong, but Ford wouldn’t correct himself. He’d been gaining on Carter, but not after that.
1980: President Carter was the debater on the defensive, up against the polished Republican Ronald Reagan, who countered each criticism with a weary “There you go again.” Style, not substance, but it worked in their one debate.
F 1984: President Reagan rambled through a halting, confused performance in his first debate against Democrat Walter Mondale. He was 73, and his age was becoming a concern. The president neutralized that with a quip in the next debate, when he was asked whether he had the strength for the job at his age. “I will not make age an issue of this campaign,” he said. “I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Even Mondale had to laugh.
1988: The memorable moment was an ambush question aimed at Democrat Michael Dukakis. A TV panelist asked Dukakis whether his opposition to capital punishment would stand if his wife were raped and murdered. Dukakis answered dispassionately and stood by his position. It fit the picture of Dukakis as a cold technocrat. All George H.W. Bush had to do was watch.
2000: When flub-prone George W. Bush went up against Al Gore — a practiced debater and policy wonk — Bush held his own. Gore shrugged and sighed as Bush spoke, then backed off into a sedate, almost deferential style, then approached Bush aggressively. Bad show. Style points count.
Sources: The Associated Press; Cox Newspapers; Commission on Presidential Debates
Debates ready for big audience
After months of caucuses, primaries and political attacks, the pivotal moments in one of the most historic U.S. presidential elections might play out on television starting tonight. Once considered yawners, the presidential and vice presidential debates could top the record-breaking 40 million viewers who tuned in to watch the candidates’ acceptance speeches at the conventions. Though somewhat unsettled because of John McCain’s proclamation that he would skip tonight’s debate unless a deal on the Wall Street bailout is in place, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it expects to move forward, and Democrat Barack Obama says he will attend.
Tonight: Foreign policy and national security
7 p.m. MDT
University of Mississippi-Oxford
TV: All networks and cable-news channels plan to broadcast the debate.
The moderator: Jim Lehrer, PBS
Anchor of “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” he has moderated 10 nationally televised debates in the past five presidential elections. Lehrer told The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday that he had already drafted his questions and “shared them with nobody, cleared them with nobody.”
The format
• 90 minutes
• The same question will be asked of each candidate.
• Each candidate has two minutes to answer.
• After both answers, the candidates can question each other for five minutes.
• The goal is to instigate a dialogue between the contenders and provide more information than a standard stump speech.
• McCain and Obama have chosen to stand at lecterns for tonight’s debate.
The rest of the schedule
Vice presidential debate
7 p.m. MDT Thursday
Washington University in St. Louis
Moderator: PBS’s Gwen Ifill
Second presidential debate
7 p.m. MDT Oct. 7
Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
Subject: Issues raised by audience members and submitted by Internet participants; a town-hall format
Moderator: NBC’s Tom Brokaw
Third presidential debate
7 p.m. MDT Oct. 15
Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
Subject: Domestic policy
Moderator: CBS’s Bob Schieffer
