"Republican lawmakers offered a plan calling for Wall Street firms to purchase insurance on mortgage-backed securities and advocating tax cuts and relaxed regulations. Treasury officials had previously rejected a plan focusing on insurance in favor of one that purchased troubled assets, Cantor said. "


"Dodd said on CNN that the Republican plan threatens to force negotiations to begin anew. He said the White House meeting ``looked like a rescue plan for John McCain for two hours, and it took us away from the work we were trying to do today.''

Obama suggested the talks were damaged by politics.

``When you start injecting presidential politics into delicate negotiations you can actually create more problems rather than less,'' Obama said on CNN.

McCain's Campaign

McCain's campaign said more negotiations were needed to draft legislation that would pass Congress.

``There is not yet a majority of Democrats and Republicans who are willing to vote yes for anything,'' said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to McCain's campaign.

Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Republican Leader John Boehner, said the speed with which Dodd's plan was put together was designed ``to deny Senator McCain a role in trying to craft a bipartisan solution.'' "