BARACK OBAMA has rejected John McCain's call to postpone the first US presidential debate in order to work on legislation dealing with the worst US financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Mr Obama made his statement shortly after Mr McCain called for tomorrow's presidential debate to be postponed until Congress and the White House agree on a plan to deal with the economic crisis caused by Wall Street's meltdown.
"What I'm planning to do now is debate on Friday," Mr Obama said. "It's my belief that 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," he said. "I think that it is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."
His republican opponent said he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington for talks on a $700 billion nationalisation of distressed mortgage assets proposed by President George Bush.
"It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time," Mr McCain said. "I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."
Mr Obama said he had told congressional leaders who are trying to hammer out an agreement on the bailout plan that he was prepared to go to Washington if it would help. "What is important is that we don't suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics."
Mr Obama has opened up a clear lead in the race as voters identify the economy as a central issue and enthusiasm fades for Republican running mate Sarah Palin, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
Mr Obama now has the support of 52 per cent of likely voters, compared to Mr McCain's 43 per cent and the Democrat has a 24 point lead as the candidate who better understands the country's economic problems.
In the same survey two weeks ago, Mr McCain enjoyed a two point lead and yesterday's poll represents the first clear lead for either candidate since the general election began. Neither John Kerry in 2004 nor Al Gore in 2000 ever moved above 50 per cent in the Washington Post poll and no candidate since 1948 has lost a presidential election after gaining such a big lead at this stage in the campaign.
Although Ms Palin remains popular, her unfavourable rating has risen sharply among independent voters, particularly independent women and white Catholics, an important category of swing voters.
Mr Obama owes most of his poll boost to a 12 point jump in the number of voters who identify the economy as the single most important issue in the campaign. The Democrat has also closed the gap with Mr McCain on national security, however, and voters are now evenly divided over which candidate would be best at handling that issue.
Mr McCain's chief pollster Bill McInturff dismissed the Washington Post/ABC News poll as an outlier and pointed out that the race remains very close in most key battleground states. "We're not seeing any volatility that's been so great in public opinion", he said. A poll of 14 battleground states by National Public Radio appeared to confirm this view, putting Mr McCain two points ahead in a statistical dead heat.
Democratic pollster Mark Mellman suggested, however, that the fundamentals of the race were trending towards Mr Obama before the two parties' conventions produced temporary spikes for each candidate. "If you can tune out all the noise, the patterns are pretty clear. The fundamentals forecast an Obama lead, which was increased by his convention, while McCain's vice-presidential pick and convention gave him a bounce too. As the effects of both extravaganzas fade, the race is back to where the basics suggest it should be," he wrote in The Hill.
- (additional reporting Reuters)