McCain suspending campaign to deal with Wall Street crisis

NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Wednesday said he will break off from campaigning to help on a Wall Street rescue plan and asked that a Friday night debate with Democrat Barack Obama be postponed.

McCain, in a statement to reporters, said he would suspend his campaign on Thursday to return to Washington and called on Obama to join him, saying he had spoken to the Democrat.

He said he did not believe a current $700 billion rescue plan would pass the U.S. Congress in its current form. He urged President George W. Bush to call for a bipartisan meeting of lawmakers to try to find an agreement.

"It's time for both parties to come together to solve this problem," he said.