Democratic Sen. Barack Obama rejected Republican Sen. John McCain’s dramatic call Wednesday to delay Friday’s presidential debate because of the economic crisis. The McCain campaign said McCain would not show up for the debate unless a deal to address the crisis was reached.

The Commission on Presidential Debates and the University of Mississippi, the scheduled host of Friday night’s first debate, said the debate would go forward. They did not say what they would do if McCain failed to show up in Oxford, Miss.

Speaking to reporters in Clearwater, Fla., Obama said he and McCain agreed on the need to issue a joint statement of support for legislation to rescue the banking industry. But he declined McCain’s call to postpone the debate.

“This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Obama told reporters in Clearwater, Fla.

“In my mind, it’s more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy,” he said.

A senior adviser to McCain told NBC News that Obama’s insistence on going ahead had not changed McCain’s position. The aide said McCain would stay in Washington and skip the debate unless a financial agreement was in place by Friday.

Speaking to reporters in New York, McCain said he would suspend his campaign to work on banking legislation, saying President Bush’s proposed $700 billion bailout appeared unlikely to pass.

Obama stopped short of following his model, saying he had told congressional leaders that he was willing to help out, but only if they thought it would be useful.

As for the debate, he said, “It’s going to be part of the president’s job to be able to deal with more than one thing at once.”

Obama camp sees political ploy

Obama said he and McCain discussed the economy in two telephone calls earlier Wednesday. Obama said it was he who proposed issuing a joint statement on the bailout plan.

He indicated that McCain’s statement seeking to delay the debate came as a surprise, saying McCain had told him in their second call only that he was thinking about the idea.

“I guess he was further along than I thought,” Obama said.

Aides to Obama characterized McCain’s proposal as a ploy to distract attention from his standing in the polls, which has fallen sharply in the last few days as Americans focus on the economic crisis on Wall Street.

Obama rejects McCain call to delay debate – Decision ’08- msnbc.com