Mr. Dodd, looking tired and annoyed, complained that the late complications were making the episode sound more like “a rescue plan for John McCain,” the Republican presidential candidate, than one for the financial system.

It does no good, Mr. Dodd said, “to be distracted for two or three hours by political theater.”

The senator was apparently alluding to a growing revolt by conservative Republicans, and the fact that Mr. McCain had not yet endorsed the plan, whose concept runs contrary to the policy positions he has taken.

Mr. McCain and his Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama, left the White House by a side entrance without commenting. The initial silence of the presidential candidates reinforced the impression that thorny issues still need to be addressed.

Shortly afterward, Mr. Obama said in an interview on CNN that he was confident that a deal would be reached “eventually,” but he said, “I think there’s still some work that needs to be done.”

Mr. McCain said he, too, was optimistic, at least in the long run. “I am confident that we will reach an agreement that gets a majority of my colleagues on my side of the aisle as well as a majority on the other side,” he said on CBS.