By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican John McCain says he’s going to be at the first presidential debate, even though Congress doesn’t have a bailout deal.

With less than 10 hours until the debate was scheduled to start, the McCain campaign announced that the Arizona senator would travel to the University of Mississippi. The campaign said after the forum he will fly back to Washington to continue working on the financial crisis.

The campaign’s statement said McCain is optimistic that there has been progress toward a bipartisan agreement. But earlier in the week, McCain said he would delay the debate “until we have taken action to address this crisis.”