Candidates play the blame game

The collapse of the $700 billion bailout plan was a major blow to Senator John McCain, who hours before the collapse, had bragged about his role in creating a coalition behind the rescue package. The Republican presidential candidate raised stakes for himself by halting his campaign last week and returning to Washington to support the bailout plan. So when the deal fell apart on the House floor on Monday, he was blamed by both supporters and opponents of the rescue plan. It did not help that a majority of McCain's Republicans had voted against the plan by a 2 to 1 ratio. McCain's first defense from the potential damage to his campaign was offense. In a media interview shortly after the vote, the Arizona senator started to blame his Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama, for infusing "...unnecessary partisanship into the process". Senator Obama responded to the jab with his own set of attacks, telling Congress, "Get this done, Democrats. Republicans, step up to the plate". Despite the blames from the McCain campaign, a CNN poll found that on the topic of who showed better judgment in the economic crisis, Obama leads McCain 49% to 43%. The bailout plan may have impacted both candidates negatively; still, analysts claim that McCain's campaign will feel the fallout far more than Obama. Ross Baker, political scientist at Rutgers University, summarizes, "There's nothing worse than prematurely claiming victory and then finding you've been handed a defeat. It's a sign of the impulsiveness that he's often been accused of."