Opinion: Friday’s Obama-McCain debate likely as bailout deal close

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(UPDATE: McCain hunkering down in DC for the night).

Yesterday’s back-and-forth over whether Friday’s first presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama should occur while the nation is mired in economic crises appears moot. A bipartisan bailout deal for the nation’s troubled financial firms appears increasingly likely to happen, and soon.

Congressional leaders from both parties have agreed in principle on the framework of a plan to fix Wall Street’s financial crisis and protect the $700 billion in taxpayer money that could be at stake. There may still be some discord -- Rep. John Boehner said House Republicans have not signed off on the deal.

But leaders from both parties plan to meet with President Bush this afternoon to discuss the agreement, as well as Obama and McCain, who left the campaign trail to return to Washington to help craft an agreement.

What all this means for political junkies is that the debate scheduled Friday at the University of Mississippi is likely to occur.

Yesterday, McCain halted his campaign and called for the debate to be postponed, but his staff earlier today told reporters traveling with the candidate to be ready to fly to Mississippi tonight.

(UPDATE: McCain staying in DC tonight; no future travel plans have been made, per campaign staff.)

The Commission on Presidential Debates, which vowed yesterday the debate would continue as scheduled, must be relieved. But perhaps no one will be happier than the University of Mississippi, which has spent $5.5 million to prepare for the debate, and is counting on the moment in the national spotlight to show its history as a violent, racist institution is well in the past.

-- Seema Mehta