CNN

McCain campaigned in Iowa earlier Thursday.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CNN) – John McCain attacked Democrat Barack Obama Thursday over his handling of the financial crisis, criticizing the Illinois senator and his party's congressional leadership for delaying a solution until after the election. The criticism comes just two days after his own domestic policy adviser said a complete plan from the Republican presidential nominee would not be revealed until he was in the White House.

Watch: McCain says Obama never took a position on the important issues

"Congressional leaders who give Senator Obama his marching orders are now saying incredibly that this mess isn't their fault, and they aren't going to take any action on this crisis until after the election," McCain said at an Iowa campaign stop.

But on Tuesday, when asked how much worse the economy would have to get before the campaign released a specific plan, McCain senior adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin said that it wasn't "imperative" for an "exact" plan to be drawn up yet.

"I think the moment when we write down a specific plan is the moment we send legislation from a McCain administration to Congress. That's the moment when that happens," he said.

McCain also told that same audience moments later that "Sen. Obama's own advisers are saying that the crisis will benefit him politically."

Listen: Obama advisors fight back on a campaign conference call

A McCain campaign spokesman could not point to any specific instance of an Obama adviser or surrogate making such a comment about the Wall Street crisis in recent days.

Instead, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers referred to television news reports citing Obama advisers who believe that economic anxiety could lift the Democratic ticket in the polls.

Listen: McCain senior advisor Doug Holtz-Eakin talks about McCain's economic vision