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Opposition Targeted Vulnerable Lawmakers

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The Associated Press

Published: September 30, 2008

WASHINGTON - 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 massive 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 coupled with lawmakers forced to weigh the vote against their political careers weakened the chance of 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.

The opposition on the House floor came from an unlikely coalition of conservatives and liberals. The progressive grass-roots 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 approve 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 of 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.

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