Congressional candidates across the country lashed out at Congress’s $700 billion bailout package even before the House rejected it Monday, highlighting the political pressure faced by many of the members who ultimately sent the package to its defeat.

Challengers and open-seat candidates were the quickest to denounce the package as inadequate, and some are already up with ads on the topic.

Democrats who came out against the bill were casting it as President Bush’s proposal, even as congressional Democrats spearheaded the final measure.

In the end, the vast majority of vulnerable incumbents voted against the bill, including a slew of freshman Democrats, three of the four House members running for Senate, and almost all vulnerable Republicans.

Among the first Democratic candidates to say no to the bill were Oklahoma Senate candidate Andrew Rice, New York congressional candidate Dan Maffei, and Miami-area congressional candidate Raul Martinez.

Rice, who is running against Sen. James Inhofe (R), said the package didn’t do enough to rein in so-called “golden parachutes” — large compensation for CEOs of bailed-out firms.

“This bill gives too much away to the people who created these problems, without guaranteeing that it won’t happen again,” Rice said.

Maffei, who is the favorite for retiring Rep. James Walsh’s (R-N.Y.) open seat, said the proposal “simply gives President Bush too much discretion, and we have seen the disastrous effects of these kinds of policies in the past with this administration.”

Martinez echoed Maffei. He is challenging Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who wound up voting against the bill.

“The same people who rushed us to war in Iraq and rushed us into a stimulus bill that has not worked are trying to rush us into another bad idea,” Martinez said.

In Oregon, Democratic Senate challenger Jeff Merkley went up with an ad late last week criticizing Sen. Gordon Smith (R) for supporting a “trillion-dollar blank check for Wall Street.”

Smith’s campaign shot back that Merkley was criticizing legislation that didn’t even exist yet and on which Smith hadn’t even cast a vote.

Rep. Steve Kagen’s (D-Wis.) GOP opponent, former state Assembly Speaker John Gard, went up with a similar ad.

In the ad, Gard said the proposal is tantamount to “they break the rules, and Congress hands them more money.” His campaign said he would have voted no, as Kagen did.

Other GOPers expressing opposition include Rep. Chris Carney’s (D-Pa.) challenger, businessman Chris Hackett, and Rep. Nancy Boyda’s (D-Kan.) challenger, state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins. Carney and Boyda both voted no.