Obama, McCain debate

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cnn.com — Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama traded jabs over each other's economic plans as they faced off in their first presidential debate.

McCain said the government needs to cut spending and repeated his call to veto every bill with earmarks.

Obama said the country "absolutely" needs earmark reform but said, "the fact is, eliminating earmarks alone is not a recipe for how we are going to get the middle class back on track."

McCain and Obama also tangled over who would cut taxes more.

McCain said he would lower business taxes in order to encourage job growth in the United States, while Obama said he would cut taxes for 95 percent of American families.

Obama also said that the United States was facing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

McCain said he was encouraged that Republicans and Democrats were working together to solve the crisis.

The first 30 minutes of the debate focused on the economy, even though the debate was supposed to be centered on foreign policy. The economy has dominated the campaign trail for the past two weeks.

Obama refused to be pinned down on whether he would support a $700 billion plan proposed by President Bush's top economic advisers, saying the final details of the proposal were not yet known.

McCain said he hoped to be able to vote for it.

Just hours ago, the fate of the debate was in limbo because it was unclear whether McCain would show up.