Obama says expects eventual deal on bailout

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Thursday he expected an agreement would eventually be reached on a $700 billion plan to rescue the troubled U.S. financial system.

"I think eventually we're going to get a deal," Obama said on CNN. "I think there's still some work that needs to be done."

"I think there's going to have to be some discussions between the president, (Treasury) Secretary Henry Paulson, House Republicans, perhaps Senate Republicans ... to figure out what exactly they want additionally to see to make this thing work."

Obama was speaking after a meeting at the White House with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, President George W. Bush, Paulson and the Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress and important committees.

McCain suspended his campaign and returned to Washington to participate in the tense negotiations over a package to save financial institutions mired with troubled real estate-related assets.

Obama warned that having both candidates in Washington for the talks could be distract the negotiation process.

"Senator McCain spoke briefly. I think he still wants to see something happen. The concern that I have ... is that when you start injecting presidential politics into delicate negotiations, then you can actually create more problems rather than less," Obama said.

"I think both myself and Senator McCain need to be very careful in terms of how we inject ourselves into this process."

(Reporting by John Poirier and Doug Palmer; Editing by Peter Cooney)