Sen. John McCain wants to delay this Friday's presidential debate in Oxford, Miss., because of the U.S. economic crisis and is asking for Sen. Barack Obama to join him.

"I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night's debate until we have taken action to address this crisis,” McCain said.

He said he will stop campaigning after addressing former president Bill Clinton's global initiative session, which is Thursday. He will return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

As of now, there is no official word on whether this will actually happen; it was just a suggestion by McCain. Obama said that despite the financial crisis, it's more important than ever to have the presidential debate this Friday.

"With respect to the debates," said Obama, "it's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess. And I think that it is -- it is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."

Ole Miss released the following statement: “The University of Mississippi is going forward with the preparation for the debate. We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned. At present, the University has received no notification of any change in the timing or venue of the debate. We have been notified by the Commission on Presidential Debates that we are proceeding as scheduled.”