Breaking News: McCain will attend presidential debate tonight at 9 p.m. EST

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will attend the first presidential debate as scheduled. An announcement from the McCain campaign will follow soon.

John McCain originally suspended his campaign to sort out the financial bailout crisis in Washington, and he announced then that he would not be attending the first debate. Now, McCain has changed his stance and his campaign says it will attend the debate as scheduled. DigitalJournal.com's live blogging coverage of the presidential debate will be located at this link (it's currently not active but will go live before the debate begins at 9 p.m. EDT. McCain originally planned to stay in Washington until a deal was sealed, but the bailout deal is still in the works. So, he will be attending the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi tonight. Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C., McCain’s representative, suggested earlier that McCain would find a way to attend the debate. He told the Today show on NBC:

"What's more important than anything that when we go to Mississippi tonight, both candidates can say that the Congress is working, back in business, that we have an outline or proposal that will protect the taxpayer and save the country from financial Pearl Harbor, as Warren Buffet called it...We are not there yet, but we will get there."

Democrat Barack Obama, left Washington this morning and will be ready to meet McCain tonight for the 90-minute debate. Obama told reporters earlier:

"Sen. McCain has no need to be fearful about a debate...He's a person of strong opinions and he's been expressing them on the campaign trail."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a McCain supporter, also urged McCain to attend the debate and said McCain will be making a “huge mistake” if he cancels. If you want to follow and participate in live blogging coverage on DigitalJournal.com, including play-by-play action of the debate, insight and analysis, and reader comments and live polls, check back tonight or set a reminder for yourself now: