The GOP nominee was silent for much of the session. A veteran at Capitol Hill negotiations, McCain is mindful of seniority and was outranked. He deferred to House GOP leader John Boehner and other senior Republicans. Aides said McCain also didn't want to get into the "contentious shouting match."

When McCain spoke, it simply was to voice support for the general principles offered by House Republican critics of the administration's proposal, and urge a resolution that could satisfy the concerns of all parties.

As the crisis began, McCain was aggressive in offering a bunch of solutions, making him seem all over the map at times but also engaged in the mess.

The Republican called for stricter financial industry regulations. He essentially advocated the firing of the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, though the president has no such power. He outlined recommendations for stabilizing markets. And, he urged the creation of a commission modeled on the one after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to investigate potential Wall Street wrongdoing.

Obama was more reserved.

He rehashed economic plans he's been talking about for months and backed giving "broad authority" to the Treasury Department to deal with crisis. He promised fresh ideas to calm the meltdown — but then said he wouldn't spell out details to avoid roiling the markets. Rather, he was careful and waited to flesh out proposals until after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson did.

The candidates acted in dramatically opposite fashions as Congress haggled with the Bush administration over its $700 billion bailout plan.

In a move that came as polls showed him trailing Obama, McCain announced he would halt campaign events, fundraising and advertising to return to Washington to try to help negotiate a compromise, and he called for a delay in Friday's debate.

"The debate that matters most right now is taking place in the United States Capitol — and I intend to join it," McCain said. Though his campaign activities were scaled back, they did not entirely stop. And, McCain's intervention either hurt or helped, depending on who was judging.

Obama balked at McCain's challenge and preferred to stay at arm's length from the negotiations. He said the debate in Mississippi should go on because the country needed to hear from both candidates and presidents need to "deal with more than one thing at once."

"My preference is to use the phone," Obama said, "in a way that's not a photo op because I think that sometimes prevents things from getting done."

In the end, both candidates ended up back in Washington for a day, the debate was held — and the jury was out on whose leadership style was best suited for this crisis and others.