Republican candidate Sen. John McCain asked that Friday’s first presidential debate be postponed to allow him and Democratic rival Barack Obama to return to Washington and work on the proposed $700 billion economic bailout, but his suggestion was quickly set aside by Obama and the U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates.

“I think that it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once,” Obama said addressing McCain’s request at a news conference in Tampa, Fla., adding that he and McCain can fly to the debate in Oxford, Miss. from Washington “fairly quickly.”

Later in the afternoon, the U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates said the debate, which will be moderated by the NewsHour’s Jim Lehrer, would still be held as planned.

“The CPD mission is to provide a forum in which the American public has an opportunity to hear the leading candidates for the president of the United States debate the critical issues facing the nation,” a statement from the commission said. “We believe the public will be well served by having all the debates go forward as scheduled.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that the presence of the two candidates — both of them senators but neither of them members of the Senate Banking Committee — would “not be helpful” during negotiations.

“If there were ever a time for both candidates to hold a debate before the American people about this serious challenge, it is now,” Reid said in a statement.

The bailout plan has met stiff opposition from Democrats and conservative Republicans in Congress as they continue to question Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson about the details. The plan is geared to rescue a flailing financial system and restore the confidence of U.S. consumers.

Wednesday afternoon, McCain told reporters that he did not believe that the bailout would pass Congress as proposed and called for a bipartisan meeting to negotiate an agreement.

“It’s time for both parties to come together to solve this problem,” McCain said in his statement.

As the news wires first picked up McCain’s statement Wednesday afternoon, Obama’s press secretary Bill Burton quickly sent out an e-mail saying that Obama called McCain earlier in the day asking him to issue a joint statement that would outline “their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal.”

According to Burton, McCain agreed to a joint statement and the two are “working on the details.”

On the campaign trail, the two have been eager to one-up each other in reacting to the bailout, though both have stressed the need for increased oversight.

On Monday, Obama said, “We cannot give a blank check to Washington with no oversight and no accountability when no oversight and accountability is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place.”

McCain has pushed for oversight to extend beyond the Treasury secretary, who according to the proposed plan, would hold all oversight power.

“We won’t solve a problem caused by poor oversight with a plan that has no oversight. And part of the reason we’re facing this crisis is an antiquated regulatory system of uncoordinated agencies that just haven’t been doing their job. We must help keep people in their home, we must protect American savings, and we must keep students with loans in school,” McCain said.

McCain’s proposal came as testimony continued on Capitol Hill. President Bush is set to address the nation Wednesday evening to encourage Congress to back the plan.