Tight House Races Feel Bailout Fallout

[Purveyor]

By John Fritze, USA TODAY
Political drama over the $700 billion Wall Street bailout began seeping into the nation's most competitive House races Tuesday as candidates tried to measure public reaction to the bill's fate.

Republican challengers criticized a handful of Democrats in close races who voted for the bailout measure, injecting a new wrinkle in an election year when Democrats hope to expand their House and Senate majorities.

"This crisis and the way it's been handled is another example of how Washington has changed Dennis Moore more than Dennis Moore has changed Washington," Republican candidate Nick Jordan said of his opponent, a Kansas Democrat who voted for the bill.

Jordan, who held a news conference in Mission, Kan., to discuss the bailout vote, is locked in a tight race with Moore, according to the non-partisan Cook Political Report. In a statement, Moore said, "I voted for this bipartisan compromise because it took the necessary steps to protect American taxpayers."

Most House incumbents in close races voted against the bill that even supporters acknowledged was unpopular. Of 37 Republicans in races that Cook has identified as competitive, 32 voted against the bill. Of 29 endangered Democrats, 18 voted no.

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USATODAY: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-30-houseraces_N.htm

[bluestateguy]

1. This is why the vote should have been held after the election

You hold a vote on something like this a month before an election, and the politicians will act like little children.