Almost half of Americans expect Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) to win this Thursday's debate against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), a new poll released Tuesday said.
45 percent of those surveyed said they expect Biden to win, while 36 percent said they expected Palin to be the victor. Biden inspires more confidence from members of his own party, with 71 percent of Democrats expecting him to win, contrasted with the 66 percent of Republicans who said Palin will top Biden.
The poll found that voters also expect Biden will be better informed than Palin on the issues in the debate. 61 percent of those surveyed said they expect Biden to be better informed; 28 percent said Palin will be better informed.
Voters did indicate that they expect Palin to be more likeable. She bested Biden 65-23 in that category.
The Marist Poll, conducted between September 24-25, has a 3.5 percent margin of error.
Blaming Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rep. James Moran (D-Va.) said Tuesday that there were enough votes to pass the $700-billion bailout before the White House meeting last week with congressional leaders and presidential candidates.
Moran's comments, made during an interview on WTTG-Fox 5 Tuesday morning, run contrary to remarks made by both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Moran said "up to that point [of the White House meeting], we had the votes," adding that McCain injecting presidential politics was partly to blame for the collapse of the House bill on Monday.
But many lawmakers and aides say that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's initial plan had little support among House Republicans and has been criticized by Democratic leaders.
Democratic leaders have acknowledged they didn't have enough support on their side of the aisle and needed significant GOP support to pass the controversial bill. Striking the deal over the weekend, which was endorsed by House GOP leaders, convinced dozens of Republicans to back the bill.
Moran, who backed the compromise legislation on Monday, said he was surprised that 60 percent of House Democrats voted for what he called a "Bush-Cheney bill." Even though it was difficult to back the bill, Moran said it was the "right thing" to do.
Dueling ads from Barack Obama and the Republican National Committee (RNC) Tuesday sought to define the Democratic candidate's economic position, with the RNC ad claiming Obama's economic plan would make the economy worse.
"Barack Obama's plan: it'll make the problem worse," a narrator in the RNC ad charges. The ad says Obama's economic plan would result in more taxes, spending, and debt, in addition to another $1 trillion in spending.
"Instead of prosperity trickling down, pain has trickled up," Obama says in his new, two-minute ad in which the Illinois Senator addresses viewers. In the ad, Obama draws contrasts against Republican John McCain on taxes, outlining the particulars of Obama's tax care reform plan. "It's time we had a president who puts you first," Obama says.
CBS's Katie Couric interviewed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) again today in Ohio, after footage from their last interview has led to widespread criticism of Palin's preparedness to serve as vice president.
According to excerpts released by "CBS Evening News," Palin acknowledged the criticism, telling Couric she is ready to assume the office and highlighting her executive experience as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and as governor of the state:
Couric: Gov. Palin, since our last interview, you've gotten a lot of flak. Some Republicans have said you're not prepared; you're not ready for prime-time. People have questioned your readiness since that interview.
John McCain called dozens of House Republicans over the past few days, trying to get them on board with the Wall Street bailout plan that failed by 23 votes in the House of Representatives today, a McCain economic adviser said this afternoon.
"He called dozens," McCain senior economic policy adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin told reporters today on a conference call.
"I won't go through all of them--they had their reasons" for opposing the bill, Holtz-Eakin said, "Certainly he checked in at every point with the Senate side as well."
House Republicans had held out support during the negotiating process over the past week. Over two thirds of House Republicans (133) voted against the bill today, while just under two thirds of Democrats (140) voted for it.. McCain's campaign has suggested that McCain's main role in the negotiating process was to convince House Republicans to engage more actively in talks with Democrats.
"He certianly made calls today," Holtz-Eakin said. "He was engaged in the process today as he was in the previous days."
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, speaking to reporters outside the White House, urged immediate reconsideration by the House, stressing emphatically that the stakes were dire. Paulson said he is conferring with House leaders.
"We need to get something done as soon as possible," Paulson said. "We need to put something back together that works... We believe our plan and the plan we developed with congressional leaders is a plan that works. We need it as soon as possible. We're committed to working with congressional leaders to get it done."
Paulson said he had no qualms about the effectiveness of the plan that had been forged, and that he doubted another was necessary.
"We had a plan that we worked very hard on, that did the job, gave us the tools we needed to protect the financial markets, to protect the American people," he said. "Where we go from here is something we're going to be working on with congressional leaders."
When asked if the U.S. banking system could handle continuing uncertainty, Paulson indicated he thought so.
"Our banking system has been holding up very well, considering all of the pressures," he said. "There's been a lot of work that's been done, and you've seen us now for a period of months and weeks taking strong actions and actions that are essential in order to protect the banking system and the economy. As I've said, we have significant tools in our tool kit, but they're not sufficient. So we'll continue to work with what we have until we get from Congress what we need."
Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), the Senate Republicans' lead negotiator on the bailout bill, again called for the passage of the economic rescue package while knocking those who voted against it Monday in the House.
Gregg said that the $700 billion package "is not just an exercise in political ideology," a thinly veiled shot at conservatives who opposed the bill because of free-market principles.
Here's the full statement:
Obviously this vote has severe ramifications as we've already seen a dramatic decline in the markets, which undoubtedly will have significant effects on Main Street and the everyday lives of Americans. This effort to stabilize the markets is not just an exercise in political ideology, but a critical and responsible measure to stave off serious fiscal trouble. It is now time for both sides of the aisle, in both chambers of Congress, to recognize the need to act. We must work together and find a way to advance this necessary legislation so we can begin to restore confidence in our markets, repair our economy, and make sure that American families can feel assured that their savings are secure, and their ability to finance their homes, cars, and children's education is possible.
UPDATE: Gregg
Speaking to reporters late Monday afternoon in the Senate, Gregg gave a spirited defense of the bipartisan plan, reports J. Taylor Rushing.
"Everybody pretty much got what they needed in order to make the package work the way they thought it should work," Gregg said. "It gave the Treasury Secretary the authorities he needed to get into the market and try to stabilize credit. It protected the taxpayer in an extraordinarily aggressive way
Barack Obama's campaign called for bipartisanship in the wake of the House's rejection of the economic bailout bill while also hitting back at John McCain's campaign for blaming the failure on Democrats.
Here's the statement from Obama spokesman Bill Burton:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back against Republican suggestions that she and Democrats are to blame for Monday's failure of the proposed $700 billion economic rescue package in the House.
"Today, when the legislation came to the floor, the Democratic side more than lived up to its side of the bargain," she said, noting that a majority of Democratic House members voted in support of the bill while most Republicans opposed it.
The bill failed 228 to 205.
Pelosi added that she told Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who has lobbied hard for the bill, that it wasn't her side that failed. She said that Democratic members gothis message that the package was needed to stabilize markets and protect taxpayers from a financial collapse.
"Clearly, that message was not -- has not been received yet by the Republican Caucus, but, again, we extend a hand of cooperation to the White House, to the Republicans so that we can get this issue resolved for the benefit of America's working families, to strengthen our economy and therefore strengthen our country," she said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is miffed at Congress and it wants lawmakers to know about it.
The powerful and influential Big Business lobby issued a harsh statement after the House's failure to pass the $700 billion Wall Street bailout/"rescue plan" legislation Monday.
"Make no mistake: when the aftermath of congressional inaction becomes clear, Americans will not tolerate those who stood by and let the calamity happen," Chamber President Bruce Josten wrote in an open letter to Congress.
The Chamber is made up of large corporations. Large corporations live and die on the availability of capital and credit. Those things are in short supply these days, a deficiency the bill was supposed to alleviate. Instead, the markets plunged as the vote slouched toward its ineffectual conclusion.
Earlier Monday, the Chamber sent another missive to Capitol Hill advising them it would designate lawmakers' tallies as "key votes" that would affect the Chamber's ranking of their legislative record. Some House members, then, took a demerit Monday.
Sizable contingents of Democrats (95) and Republicans (133) voted against the bill -- and against the expressed wishes of their respective leaders. But the Chamber's barbs are squarely directed at the GOP lawmakers, normally their allies, who opposed the measure.
"Today's failure to approve legislation addressing the financial crisis has resulted in uncertainty and turmoil that have dramatically affected the markets, and lowered equity prices, eroding individual savings and destroying billions of dollars of household wealth," Josten wrote.
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