Incumbents facing tough re-elections overwhelmingly vote no on bailout

Voting no was the safe move.

Members of Congress in tough re-election battles apparently decided that it was safer to vote against the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan than to vote for it.

There are 41 incumbent House members on Politicker.com's The Pindell Report of the nation's most competitive House races. Of that group 31 voted against the bailout, possibly proof that that a yes vote might be politically toxic just a little over a month from Election Day. Of the four House members running for the Senate only Maine's Tom Allen voted for in favor.

The vote was described by some members of Congress as the most important since the one authorizing force in Iraq. The heightened importance of the issue lead to two different presidential addresses in less than a week. President Bush and Congressional leaders urged passage of some sort of bailout bill for fear that inaction would lead the country to another Great Depression.

To be sure, there are many reasons besides election season politics to vote against the bailout. Even Congressional leaders admitted on the House floor that this was less than a perfect bill for any member. Conservatives said the bill would was basically socialism. Liberals said the bill didn't do enough to protect the Middle Class.

But Wall Street registered their displeasure with the largest sell off in the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The ten House members who may win a courage award, but lose re-election include: Paul Kanjorski (D-Penn.), Tom Mahoney (D-Fla.), Jon Porter (R-Nev.), Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), Chris Shays (R-Conn.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Jim Marshall (D-Ga.), Mark Kirk (D-Ill.), Jim McCrery (R-La.), and Patrick Murphy (D-Penn.).

While we don't know in November what voters will see as the right move today, clearly if members were on the fence they felt the better move was to vote no on this first round. It isn't over yet.