Tag: Bailout

The political blog State of the Union compares John McCain's support on daily tracking polls with the S&P 500 over the past two weeks.

Republican Wayne Allard, retiring after two terms in the Senate, wants Colorado residents to know he has appreciated the cards and letters over the years but will no longer be taking e-mails from constituents. With more than three months to go before his successor is sworn in, Allard's Senate office this week posted a "thanks, but no thanks" valedictory from the former Fort Collins veterinarian.

A $56-billion plan to extend unemployment benefits, pump billions into infrastructure projects and increase funding for low-income nutrition and health-care programs passed the House — and died in the Senate as too expensive. Trickle-down economics lives on. Read the rest of Mike Lillis' story at The Washington Independent.

Colorado Democrats Mark Udall and John Salazar and Republicans Marilyn Musgrave and Doug Lamborn stuck with their opposition to a massive $700 billion emergency plan to rescue the nation's troubled financial credit markets on Friday morning, but House leaders corralled enough votes to pass the bailout 263-171.

LOVELAND - When Democrat Betsy Markey booked a town hall meeting in Loveland Wednesday to talk about the economic bailout, er, rescue plan, she probably expected to say more than the couple of sentences she was able to squeeze in, between a barrage of questions and comments from a group of about 50 people talking about the worries, fear and anger they have over America's troubled economy and the credit crisis that caused it.

Retiring Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-English) could have a future writing speeches for Sen. Barack Obama after his term winds down in January. In a speech urging bipartisan support for the financial rescue plan on Wednesday, Obama echoed lines about the crisis from a statement Tancredo issued Monday.

Embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens may have caught a lot of flak for calling the Internet a "series of tubes," but House techies today used a tunnel analogy to explain how they will handle ever-increasing amounts of traffic from people looking to learn about their representatives online. Welcome to the 21st century, guys, it's pretty darn cool.

Read more of Jeff's commentaries: • Presidential slugfest hits the airwaves • By the numbers: Obama's got the edge • McCain's Southern-style 'mission accomplished'

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A day after watching the U.S. House of Representatives kill a $700 billion financial package as the stock market dropped more than 700 points, voters continued to vent their rage toward Washington. But fewer of them did than in the days preceding the vote, and more of them encouraged lawmakers to support the package—or simply to do something.

I just got a twitter alert from CNN that John McCain has suspended campaigning to work on the economy, and asked Barack Obama to postpone Friday's debate and do the same. Interesting request, considering McCain's top advisors helped get us into this mess. If he really wants to fix the economy McCain should start with some pruning of his own backyard.

Read more of Jeff's commentaries: • Love the Wall Street bailout? Try McCain on health insurance deregulation • Sarcasm on the campaign trail • Musgrave-Markey: Sticks and stones in CD 4 • It's the economy, stupid

Obama's campaign talked up a new TV spot about healthcare today, and it's a good one. The ad quotes a new article where John McCain says he'd like to deregulate health care "as we have done over the last decade with banking." Huh?! I assume the magazine had already gone to print when the banking industry came crashing down around us, but this quote could kill McCain — and numerous Americans, too, should he ever get his way.

Read more of Jeff's commentaries: • Sarcasm on the campaign trail • Musgrave-Markey: Sticks and stones in CD 4 • It's the economy, stupid