Bailout bill crashes and burns; candidates play blame game

The much-discussed $700 billion government bailout bill, which would have authorized the U.S. Treasury to purchase up to $700 billion in failed mortgages and loans from America's troubled banks and investment firms, was voted down today in the House of Representatives.

Setting aside, for a moment, the potential economic implications of the issue if no legislation is passed (the democrats are likely to propose a new, revised bill as soon as possible), the event throws yet another major twist into the 2008 presidential race.

(To read more about the financial crisis and the bailout plan, click here and here. To read about today's planned vote, click here.)

Last week, John McCain suspended his presidential campaign, declaring in a risky and high-profile move that he would be returning to Washington to help deal with the financial crisis.

The conventional wisdom throughout the past few days has been this: The bailout plan would pass with bipartisan support, and regardless of what role McCain played in crafting and advocating for he proposal, he would take credit.

That was true even this morning, with a McCain campaign spokesperson attributing the bill's expected success to the Republican candidate:

"Sen. McCain interrupted his campaign, suspended his campaign activity to come back to Washington to get Republicans around a table,” she told Politico.com. “Without Sen. McCain, House Republicans would not have appointed a negotiator, which would not have moved this bill forward. It’s really Sen. McCain who got all parties around a table to hammer out a deal that hopefully is in the best interests of the American taxpayer."

Obama, on Fox News, said that McCain should get no credit for the plan, as his involvment was a stunt rather than a genuine help.

Now, ironically, the campaigns are facing the flip side of this argument: rather than fighting over credit, they must fight over blame. Each will have to convince voters, at the very least, that he was not responsible for the plan's demise.

McCain has already jumped on this point; after the bill failed, a campaign spokesperson told the press that "This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.

--Matt Skibinski

What do you think? Does either candidate deserve credit -- or blame -- for the plan's demise? Let us know in the comments section below.