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John McCain, Barack Obama battle in Mississippi

John McCain and Barack Obama finally took the gloves off in a head-to-head debate Friday night, pointing fingers of blame at each other over the financial crisis that has gripped the nation and the world.

Bailout talks are moving again, but bitterness lingers

The Wall Street bailout talks are on again. But House Republicans, who walked out Thursday, said this time their proposal needs to be taken seriously.

Who do you think won? Obama? McCain? Join the debate!

John McCain, Barack Obama debate economy, bailout and Iraq

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Saturday, September 27th 2008, 2:18 AM

John McCain and Barack Obama trade barbs on Mississippi stage.

John McCain and Barack Obama finally took the gloves off in a head-to-head debate Friday night, pointing fingers of blame at each other over the financial crisis that has gripped the nation and the world.

In one of the most eagerly awaited presidential debates ever, the candidates took 90 minutes out from the Washington wrangling over a $700 billion financial bailout of Wall Street to get into the ring for the first of three slugfests.

The agenda was supposed to be foreign affairs, but against the frightening backdrop of the Wall Street meltdown, the first 40 minutes were dominated by each man's claim that only he could restore America's financial sanity.

SCORECARD: EXPERTS EVALUATE THE DEBATE

Obama struck first - it took him less than two minutes - laying the blame for the current economic mess squarely on the door of Washington's Republican leadership.

"This is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush [and] supported by John McCain," Obama said.

McCain - who had pledged to skip the debate unless lawmakers could agree on a Wall Street bailout plan, a position he reversed only Friday morning - tried to strike a more bipartisan note on the economy.

"We are seeing for the first time in a long time Republicans and Democrats together, sitting down, trying to work out a solution to this fiscal crisis we're in," the Arizona senator said.

OBAMA AND McCAIN: KEYS TO THE DEBATE

Neither candidate flatly committed themselves to a bailout plan, but voiced belief a deal would be reached.

"I am optimistic," said Obama.

"I hope so, and I believe so," said McCain.

There were no knockout punches and no major gaffes as each side seemed focused mostly on getting across their main talking points, often with direct lifts from their daily stump speeches.

For McCain, that meant casting himself as the race's tax-cutting elder statesman - and Obama as its naive, liberal upstart, especially in foreign affairs, an area that McCain said at least eight times that Obama doesn't understand or "get."

"There are some advantages to experience and knowledge and judgment," the 72-year-old McCain said at one point. "And I honestly don't believe that Sen. Obama has the knowledge or experience" to serve as commander in chief.

For Obama, the goal was to position himself as the fresh face who cannot only deliver a large middle-class tax cut but also stand on the same stage as McCain when it comes to projecting an aura of confidence and competence abroad.

After reversing on debate, John McCain looks like John McCan't

DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

Friday, September 26th 2008, 7:04 PM

OXFORD, Miss. - At a difficult moment in the Vietnam War, crusty Republican Sen. George Aiken of Vermont offered a novel solution - simply declare victory, and leave.

John McCain resurrected Aiken's playbook Friday - except he declared defeat, and left.

RELATED: McCAIN, OBAMA BATTLE AT OLE MISS

The collapse of McCain's Hail Mary intervention capped a tumultuous week which saw the Arizona Democrat's lead over Obama evaporate and his running mate deliver a ragged and at times impenetrable TV interview. With economic jitters playing to traditional Democratic dogma, McCain's Big Mo suddenly reverted to his challenger.

"This is the attention-deficit-disorder campaign," said a bewildered senior Republican operative. "They've had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week."

In the process, McCain invited questions about his judgment and ability to work his will in Washington if elected.

"This raises the fundamental issue of how a guy who is hated by his own party can govern," fretted a GOP mandarin who worked for several Presidents. "If he can't control the Republicans, how can he run a country?"

Initially, McCain's dramatic decision to suspend his campaign, opt out of the debate and rush back to Washington smacked of bold, gutsy leadership. Even some Democratic strategists grudgingly admitted it was the sort of thing Presidents do.

But McCain ignored the first rule of high-stakes summitry: before committing precious credibility, make sure a deal's in hand, or at least in sight. In this case McCain, who probably has more Democratic friends on Capitol Hill than Republicans, couldn't even deliver his own side.

In rolling the dice yet again in his storied career, McCain should have pondered the last time a presidential contender tried this gambit. In 1980, with the Iranian hostage crisis in its second year, President Jimmy Carter suspended his campaign against Ronald Reagan and vowed to stay in the White House until Americans held by Tehran's Revolutionary Guards were released.

After a couple of weeks, Democratic leaders revolted. Answering a planted question at a White House event, Carter announced the crisis was now "manageable," so he could resume campaigning.

He looked weak, indecisive, blatantly political - and the hostages weren't freed until the day Reagan took office and Carter limped away in defeat.

The parallels to McCain's misstep are eerie and ominous.

Who do you think won? Obama? McCain? Join the debate!