The presidential candidates have found another conflict of interest before the debates begin.

The fate of the first presidential debate scheduled to take place today remains to be seen. Sen. John McCain put his campaign on hold to focus on fixing the economy. Sen. Barack Obama feels the debate should happen.

Top Democrats in Congress ridiculed McCain’s role after a chaotic end to a White House summit meeting that McCain had requested, which included Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

“John McCain did nothing to help,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who attended the meeting. “He only hurt the process.”

Negotiations that for days had centered on a $700 billion plan the Bush administration presented last Saturday seemed to fall apart. An alternative plan drafted by conservative House Republicans was discussed at the White House meeting, and McCain’s level of interest was

unclear.

“As far as I know, Sen. McCain has not endorsed this plan,” said Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), its chief sponsor. A senior McCain official said McCain hasn’t signed on to any proposal yet.

Locally, McCain’s actions have received mixed feelings.

College Republicans President Meagan Szydlowski feels McCain would thrive in the debate Friday.

“This is an environment that he does very well in. When he isn’t in front of a teleprompter he’s able to speak freely. I think he’ll impress everyone,” she said.

College Democrats President Tony Wadas agrees with going forth with the campaign.

“Having the debates will allow the candidates to lay out their plans of action,” he said. “It may look good for them to appear at the meeting, but realistically they won’t be contributing very much. They aren’t writing any bills; they’re just voting and swaying votes on what they believe should

happen with the economy.”

Junior photography major Kelly Krupa would like to hear both sides Friday.

“Pushing the campaign back isn’t going to solve anything. We need to finish this campaign and get someone into office who can work towards solving these issues,” Krupa said. “If one of these candidates is going to be the president of our country, they ought to be able to take care of more than one thing at a time.”

Staff writer Amanda Walde contributed to this story.