From the Financial Times:

The fight over the Bush administration’s plans for a $700bn financial rescue package unnerved markets and spilled over into the US presidential race on Wednesday as John McCain, the Republican nominee, said he would put his campaign on hold until a deal was reached.
Amid uncertainty about the plan’s prospects, US money market funds controlling thousands of billions of dollars in assets led a stampede to safety, buying short-term government debt, selling commercial paper and withdrawing funds from the interbank market. As a result, the rates that banks charge each other soared, while yields on Treasury bills plunged.
The difficulties facing the White House were highlighted by Mr McCain, who announced he would suspend his campaign today and called on Barack Obama, his Democratic rival, to agree to delay a widely anticipated presidential debate scheduled for tomorrow.
“It’s become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration’s proposal,” Mr McCain said. “I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands and we are running out of time.”
Mr Obama said that he had originally proposed forging a common front on the rescue package to his Republican rival. But he said he wanted to go ahead with the debates.
Republicans and Democrats, including Mr McCain and Mr Obama, have criticised the proposals for lacking provisions for oversight and curbs on executive pay – and have questioned the size of the package.
On Wednesday nght, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Boehner, her Republican opposite number, said the two parties had made progress in agreeing “key changes” to the proposals. These included “rigorous and independent oversight, strong executive compensation standards and protections for taxpayers”, they said.
In a further indication that differences with the administration were narrowing, Democratic senator John Kerry said the two sides had reached agreement in principle on the government purchasing equity stakes in groups assisted under the scheme.