Burton says Obama reached out to McCain

A spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that Obama reached out to Republican rival John McCain Wednesday morning about issuing a joint statement “outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal.” 

{mosads}Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that Obama called McCain at 8:30 a.m. EST, asking the Arizona Republican to join him in a statement calling on “Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal.”

“At 2:30 this afternoon, Sen. McCain returned Sen. Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement,” Burton said. “The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.”

Burton's statement came just minutes after the McCain campaign released remarks from McCain in which the GOP candidate said he is suspending his campaign and calling on Obama to join him in postponing Friday night's debate to focus on a solution to the current financial crisis.

The McCain campaign explained that Obama did indeed call McCain early Wednesday, but that the Arizona senator was busy meeting with economic advisers throughout the day and was thus unable to call Obama until 2:30 p.m.

At that time, the McCain camp said, the GOP nominee “expressed deep concern that the plan on the table would not pass as it currently stands. He asked Sen. Obama to join him in returning to Washington to lead a bipartisan effort to solve this problem.”