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Wednesday September 24, 4:01 PM McCain, Obama plot tricky course on finance crisis Photo: AFP Click to enlarge SAGINAW, Michigan, (AFP) - White House foes Barack Obama and John McCain Tuesday unveiled proposals to improve a bailout for crippled Wall Street but stopped short of rejecting the 700-billion-dollar plan outright. Two days ahead of their first face-to-face debate Friday, the rivals picked their way through the political minefield sown by the crisis, seeking to win spurs for leadership and support from US workers. Their latest gambits came as a flurry of new polls suggested voters may be blaming President George W. Bush's Republicans for the meltdown, which could be troubling news for McCain. The Arizona senator warned time was running short for Congress to pass the bailout, as lawmakers from both parties vowed they would not vote for it as it was currently constituted. "Inaction is not an option. The American people are watching, history will be our judge and it will judge us harshly if we do not put our country first," McCain said in his first press availability in six weeks. McCain has raised concerns about what he sees as a lack of oversight for the plan to buy up bad debts of finance firms, which he said puts historic levels of wealth and power in the hands of one official -- US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the key architect of the bailout . "Can you promise me that this sacrifice -- 10,000 dollars -- for every household in America, that it's going to work?" McCain said. With dire warnings from government officials of a financial catastrophe without immediate action, McCain did not say whether his disquiet would prompt him to oppose the bill as it is currently framed in Congress. He said taxpayers must be guaranteed a route to recover money put into the fund, he said, adding there also must be complete transparency in how the bill makes its way through Congress. No Wall Street executive from a bailed out firm should be paid any more in severance pay than is earned by the top US government official, McCain said, and warned lawmakers should not be allowed to add on funding for pet projects. McCain spent the day touring factories and attending small events in battleground states in Ohio and Michigan, in an attempt to reassure worried US workers that he cares as much about "Main Street" as Wall Street. Democrat Obama also warned that disgraced business tycoons should not get a bonanza in taxpayer funded bonuses. "This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives," Obama told a press conference in Florida, setting out four demands including that a board be set up to oversee the economic rescue plan. "The power to spend 700 billion dollars of taxpayer money cannot be left to the discretion of one man, no matter who he is or which party he is from. I have great respect for Secretary Paulson, but he cannot act alone." The Illinois senator, 47, in Florida preparing for Friday's presidential debate , also called for taxpayers to be treated as investors in the crisis and to share in the profits when Wall Street recovers. But he also raised the possibility that the huge expenses tied to the worst financial crisis in decades could delay some of his plans promised in his campaign. "Does that mean that I can do everything that I've called for in this campaign right away? Probably not," he told NBC television. "I think we're going to have to phase it in. And a lot of it's going to depend on what our tax revenues look like." Among Obama's proposals that would add to the US federal deficit are tax cuts for the middle class, but in Florida Obama stressed he would not delay his tax cuts if elected. "When it comes to middle-class tax cuts that I've called for, that is something that is absolutely necessary to strengthen an economy that is sliding, probably, into a deeper recession," he said. McCain too has promised tax cuts, and has said he would trim the budget in part through eliminating wasteful spending, ending certain subsidies and closing under-performing government agencies. A flurry of new polls in battleground states Tuesday showed Obama winning a boost from the financial crisis as voters blame Republicans for the meltdown. Fresh Quinnipiac University surveys in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin put Obama mostly ahead, six weeks from the November 4 election day. They came the day after a CNN poll showed voters by a margin of two to one blame the Republicans for the crisis which has swept the country and rocked global markets. In Colorado, Obama led McCain by 49 to 45 percent. In Michigan, Obama led 48 to 44 percent. In Minnesota, Obama held a two percentage point lead and in Wisconsin, Obama led 49 to 42, though his advantage has narrowed from 50 to 39 percent in July.