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In the end, the financial markets didn't stand
a chance against voter antipathy, partisanship and election year
politics.


      The defeat of the extraordinary $700 billion financial rescue
package represented a perfect collision of the forces of modern
politics - a fast-moving Internet campaign, vulnerable incumbents,
a weakened and unpopular president, and a roiling presidential
campaign - all working against the so-called Titans of the
Universe.


      Polls showed widespread public opposition to the plan - the
biggest federal intervention in financial markets since the
Depression - and many Republicans saw such an enormous set-aside of
taxpayer money as an unnecessary intrusion into free markets. Of
the 19 most-endangered House incumbents, 13 voted no.


      "This is one of those scenarios where nobody really wanted to
do it," said House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, who
played a leading role in the final negotiations.


      Such a roaring confluence of opposition could only have been
overcome with strong party discipline and presidential power. But a
weakened and unpopular President Bush and lawmakers forced to weigh
the vote against their political careers conspired against success.


      Outside Congress, however, furious pressure built up against the
bill in e-mail campaigns and on Internet Web sites. The Club for
Growth, a conservative free-market oriented group, warned lawmakers
that it would count a vote in favor of the legislation against
lawmakers seeking the group's support. Club for Growth is viewed
with apprehension by many Republicans because it has been known to
support challengers running against GOP incumbents.


      Longtime conservative activist Richard Viguerie warned that
lawmakers who voted for the rescue package would be targeted for
defeat. "Republicans and Democrats alike who support this
monstrosity will face the wrath of the voters if they stand
side-by-side with predatory politicians and bureaucrats and their
greedy friends who got us in this mess," he said.


      The opposition on the House floor came from an unlikely
coalition of conservatives and liberals. The progressive grassroots
group MoveOn.org aired an ad blaming the financial crisis on John
McCain and his allies.


      All those forces worked against powerful special interests. The
U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a diverse group of industry lobbying
organizations ranging from the National Association of Realtors to
the American Hotel and Lodging Association pressed Congress to back
the bill, pointedly noting that they too would consider this a key
vote when ranking members.


      The vote also represented an extraordinary rejection of Bush,
who personally called wavering lawmakers and delivered a last-ditch
public appeal Monday morning, as well as Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.


      "Despite days of negotiating, this is still the same bailout
bill, written by a Wall Street guy with a Wall Street solution to a
problem created on Wall Street," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.
"This bill was still a blank check to Henry Paulson."


      The vote also did nothing for the presidential contenders,
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. Both stepped into
the fray last week and boasted of exercising leadership in the
negotiations. Not only did a majority of McCain's Republican
colleagues vote against it, so did all his fellow Arizona
lawmakers. Obama was unable to sway many House liberals, including
a majority of the Congressional Black Caucus.


      House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, in a crowded
Capitol corridor after the vote, accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
of delivering a partisan pre-vote speech that caused some
Republicans to refuse to back the proposal.


      Blunt said the speech could have cost the bill about 12
Republican votes. He did not identify those lawmakers.


      Pelosi earlier had delivered a tough attack on Bush economic
policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no
supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets -
a pointed critique not much different than what she has been saying
for days.


      But Boehner said Pelosi's speech "poisoned our conference,
caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go
south."


      House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., known
for his quick, often acerbic wit, said the GOP leaders' complaints
meant that some Republicans "decided to punish the country"
because their feelings were hurt.


      "Give me the names of those 12 people and I'll go talk
uncharacteristically nice to them," he said.


      Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Tom Raum contributed
to this article.

Gallery

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How Minnesota's delegation voted on the bailout

House rejects bailout plan

The defeat of the extraordinary $700 billion financial rescue
package represented a perfect collision of the forces of modern
politics. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says "we have to move forward" and that she hopes the capital and world markets get that message.

An array of forces lined up against bailout

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