Questions about the economy were front and center, and the war was close behind, as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain squared off Friday night in the first of three presidential debates.

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It was a debate that almost didn't take place amid the drama unfolding in Washington, D.C., over a proposed $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout of the nation's roiling financial industry.

Two days previously McCain said he was suspending his campaign and going to Washington to take part in the negotiations over the White House-backed bailout. And he said he wouldn't debate his Democratic rival, Obama, until Congress approved the plan.

Both men ended up going to Washington at the request of the Bush administration. But Obama, for his part, insisted the debate go on as scheduled. And as the bailout ran into roadblocks Friday morning, McCain relented.

Asked directly Friday night whether he intended to vote for the plan taking shape, McCain said, "I hope so. ... sure."

"We haven't seen the language yet," Obama said. "I do think there is constructive work being done."

The debate was to have centered on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and foreign policy, but with the nation's economy in turmoil, moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS kept the questions focused on the economy -- and what both men might do to lead the nation toward recovery -- for almost the first half of the 90-minute meeting.

Obama wasted little time in going on the offensive, using the first question of the night to launch his first attack. Speaking of the crisis that has gripped Wall Street, he said, "We also have to recognize that this is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain."

"And we can't afford another four," he added several moments later.

McCain sought to turn the tables on his rival by pointing out Obama has requested millions of dollars in congressional earmarks that he called pork-barrel spending, including some after he began running for president.

As he does frequently while campaigning, the Republican vowed to veto any lawmaker's pork-barrel project that reaches his desk in the White House. "You will know their names, and I will make them famous," he said.

"This is a classic example of walking the walk and talking the talk," he added, accusing Obama of becoming a recent convert to the cause of opposing wasteful government spending.

McCain proposed a spending freeze on all federal government programs but defense, veterans affairs and entitlements such as Social Scurity pension payments and medicare insurance for the elderly.

Obama said such a move would be using a hatchet on an ailing patient, the stumbling American economy, when the surgeon needed to be using a scalpel.

Once the debate turned to the war against terrorism and foreign policy, the rivals took pointed jabs at each other. McCain accused Obama of being wrong not to support the introduction of 30,000 additional troops last year, and Obama fired back that McCain once suggested the U.S. "muddle through" in Afghanistan -- where more U.S. troops have died in the past than in Iraq.

McCain accused Obama of an "incredible thing of voting to cut off funds for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," a reference to legislation that cleared the Senate more than a year ago.

Obama disputed that, saying he had opposed funding in a bill that presented a "blank check" to the Pentagon while McCain had opposed money in legislation that included a timetable for troop withdrawal.

Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2002, before he was a member of Congress, while McCain o authorize the war as a member of the Senate.

"You were wrong" on Iraq, Obama repeated three times in succession. "John, you like to pretend the war began in 2007."

The two men stood behind identical wooden lecterns on the stage of a performing arts center at the University of Mississippi for the first of three scheduled debates with less than six weeks remaining until Election Day. The two vice presidential candidates will meet next week for their only debate.

The 47-year-old Obama is seeking to become the nation's first black president. McCain, 72, is hoping to become the oldest first-term chief executive in history, and he made a few jokes at his expense.

"I've been around a while," he said at one point. "Were you afraid I couldn't hear you?" he said at another after Obama repeated a comment.

McCain and Obama are scheduled to debate twice more, at Belmont University in Nashville on Oct. 7 and at Hofstra University in Hempsted, N.Y., on Oct. 15. Vice presidential contenders Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden are to square off in a single debate Oct. 2 at Washington University in St. Louis.