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.

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.”