CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Acutely aware of the delicate nature of the situation and its increasingly central role in the presidential race, both candidates moved cautiously Friday in their proposals for what to do about the financial crisis on Wall Street.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain both called for bipartisanship amid a search for government remedies on a day when the Department of Treasury said it was crafting a plan to rescue banks from billions of dollars in bad debt.

McCain also said the Federal Reserve needs to stop bailing out failed financial institutions and stick to its core mission of managing the nation's money supply.

Obama, for his part, said the Treasury and Federal Reserve need "as broad authority as is necessary" to stabilize markets and maintain credit.

With the Wall Street bailouts expected to cost hundreds of billions, the economy could easily remain shaky for whoever is elected as the next president. Still, Obama told reporters he would push for tax cuts.

"Now more than ever, we've got to have the kind of broad-based, middle-class tax cut that I've talked about," the Illinois senator said. "I think it is very important that even as we stabilize the financial system that we understand that people have been hurting long before Wall Street was hurting."

Asked later whether a struggling economy would hamper his domestic agenda should he be elected, an Obama aide dismissed such suggestions.

"He's not going to sacrifice a health plan or an energy plan," said Jason Furman, Obama's economic policy director.

After meeting with his top economic advisers Friday morning, Obama said this was not the time to present specific details for his plan to fix the immediate problem, a reversal from what aides had indicated a day earlier.

"You don't put together something like that on the come," he said, referencing a gambling term. "You don't do it in a day. We've got to do it in an intelligent, systematic, thoughtful fashion."

Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs said the decision to not offer more specifics was made in the interest of bipartisanship, not because of any specific requests by Treasury or Federal Reserve officials.

"We're a candidate and a legislator here," Gibbs said, noting that Obama is still waiting to see details of the Treasury plan.

During a rally at the University of Miami designed to woo women voters, Obama suggested that McCain is "a little panicked" because he has lost some ground in recent state and national polls. "At this point, he seems to be willing to say anything or do anything," he said.

Both sides also criticized each other for their fundraising and other ties to lobbyists and executives from the housing and financial services sector.

(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.