White House summit

President Bush, the two presidential nominees and congressional leaders pledged to keep working on a Wall Street bailout plan after their White House meeting Thursday failed to produce the expected deal.

“Members of the administration and the congressional leaders pledged to continue working together to finalize a bill that will address concerns and solve the problem as soon as possible,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

{mosads}All parties were expected to work into the night.

After the White House meeting, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) met with reporters and said his and Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presence during the negotiations had not aided in their progress. He also hinted their return to Washington may have hindered efforts to strike a deal.

“What I've found, and I think was confirmed today, is that when you inject presidential politics into delicate negotiations, it is not necessarily as helpful as it needs to be because there's a lot of glare of the spotlight, there's potential for posturing or suspicion,” Obama said. “It's not clear that, in a very difficult situation like this, that doing things in the spotlight and injecting presidential politics is necessarily useful.”

Obama pinned the blame for the stalled talks on House Republicans and said the administration is responsible for resolving the problem. “My impression from the meeting [Thursday] is that the persident and the secretary of the Treasury still have some work to do with the House Republicans," he said.

Also undecided Thursday evening was the status of Friday night's first presidential debate. Obama told reporters he plans to be there.

“My hope is that the debate goes forward and I intend to be there,” he said.

Thursday was full of continuous back-and-forth with deals announced and then as quickly dismissed.

Confusion quickly also became the watchword of the bipartisan White House meeting, which began at 4 p.m., as Wall Street closed.

Bush started on a note of optimism, saying a bailout deal would be reached “very shortly.”

He thanked the parties’ leaders for coming, saying the economy is in trouble and Congress must act as quickly as possible.

“We are in a serious economic crisis in the country if we don’t pass a piece of legislation. I want to thank the spirit of bipartisan cooperation that’s taking place here in Washington,” the president said. “I know we’ve got to get something done as quickly as possible. And this meeting is an attempt to move the process forward. My hope is that we can reach an agreement very shortly.”

At the table in the Cabinet Room, GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama were seated far apart.

Bush sat in the center, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and McCain on his right and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Obama on his left.

Both presidential candidates have sought to distance themselves from the unpopular administration.

But the nation’s financial crisis has become the top campaign issue this week, forcing both candidates to adjust their messages.

After the meeting, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), one of 15 participants at the meeting, came out to address reporters. After revealing that there was “no agreement” on a bailout, he noted that Obama and McCain were “courteous and respectful.”

{mospagebreak}It was a marked change of pace for the two candidates, who Wednesday argued about whether to postpone Friday night’s first presidential debate.

But they released a joint statement on Wednesday night, saying, “Now is a time to come together — Democrats and Republicans — in a spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people. … This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country.”

On Wednesday night, Bush invited Obama and McCain to the White House to try and suspend the politics of the negotiations, Perino said.

{mosads}The idea for the meeting came about after McCain announced Wednesday afternoon he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington. He also called on the president to gather congressional leaders from both parties, himself and Obama for a meeting to try and work towards a solution.

Obama’s campaign announced Wednesday night that the Illinois senator would fly to Washington the next morning to join McCain at the meeting.

McCain started Thursday in New York City, where he spoke to the Clinton Global Initiative.

He told the crowd he suspended his campaign because a deal on the proposed economic bailout wasn’t close, despite reports to the contrary.

“I’m an old Navy pilot, and I know when a crisis calls for all hands on deck,” McCain said. “That’s the situation in Washington at this very hour, when the whole future of the American economy is in danger. I cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a solution were at hand, which it clearly is not.”

After he arrived in D.C., he met with House Republicans at the Capitol in Boehner’s office.

While McCain was on the Hill, Democratic Senate leaders accused the Arizona senator of grandstanding during the bailout negotiations.

“I think he’s standing in the way of our efforts at approving this legislation now,” Reid said. He added McCain was standing in the way of progress on the package.

“Bringing a presidential political campaign to the halls of the Capitol is not going to make this any easier,” said Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who said McCain’s arrival was a diversion to negotiating the elements of the bailout legislation.

“If we lose progress on this because of one person, that’s John McCain,” Reid said.

During a two-minute walk across the Capitol, surrounded by a swarm of reporters and photographers, McCain repeatedly ignored shouted questions about Democratic claims that he was “interfering” with delicate talks on a financial bill.

Meanwhile, Obama began his day in Florida before heading to Washington. He addressed the Clinton Global Initiative via satellite Thursday morning.

Obama also made a brief stop on Capitol Hill, where he visited his Hart office for approximately 40 minutes on Thursday afternoon.

The Illinois senator also called the two lead Senate negotiators on the proposed bailout just before they announced a tentative deal on Thursday afternoon, according to a Democratic source.

Obama spoke with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), a member of the Banking Committee and a close confidant of McConnell’s. It is unclear what they discussed.

The Obama campaign also released a new ad on the economic situation on Wednesday. In it, Obama does not directly address the financial bailout but does say: “Now we know the truth. Instead of prosperity trickling down, pain has trickled up. We need to change direction. Now.”

J. Taylor Rushing, Walter Alarkon and Jeffrey Young contributed to this article.