McCain Will Attend Debate, Cites Progress on Bailout

The debate is on. With lawmakers vowing to stay on the Hill as long as it takes to get a bailout deal, John McCain’s campaign said today that he would attend tonight’s debate with Barack Obama, the New York Times reports. McCain is “optimistic that there has been significant progress towards a bipartisan agreement” that takes into account the views of dissenting House Republicans, said a campaign statement.

“What's more important than anything is that when we go to Mississippi tonight,” said McCain ally Lindsey Graham, “both candidates can say that the Congress is working, back in business, that we have an outline or proposal that will protect the taxpayer and save the country from financial Pearl Harbor, as Warren Buffett called it. We are not there yet, but we will get there.”