McCain suspends campaign to work on Wall St plan

He warned he did not believe the Bush administration's proposed legislation on the bailout plan for the financial industry would pass the U.S. Congress in its current form and that he and Obama were needed in Washington to help reach a broad consensus.

Democrats called for the debate to proceed.

"We need leadership; not a campaign photo op," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told McCain in a phone call, a day after Reid had said on the Senate floor that McCain's help was needed.

McCain denied political motivations.

"I don't think, at this time, that we can worry much about politics," McCain told the "CBS Evening News," calling the country's financial condition "dire" but disagreeing with Palin that a repeat of the Great Depression could be in the offing.

A senior aide said McCain spoke to billionaire Warren Buffett by phone and Buffett gave him a dire prediction of what would happen to the U.S. economy if no rescue deal were reached.

The U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates, which organizes the debates, said it would hold the debate on Friday as planned. The University of Mississippi, host of the first debate, said it knew of no plans to delay it.

McCain's move, aimed at projecting leadership during the greatest U.S. financial crisis since the Depression, came at a time when Americans have been telling pollsters they believe Obama could handle the economy better than McCain.

An ABC News-Washington Post opinion poll said Obama had climbed to a 52 percent to 43 percent lead over McCain, a survey the McCain camp questioned.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles, John Whitesides and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Peter Cooney)