In reintroduction, Palin to do more interviews and “tell her story”  —  Tacitly acknowledging criticism that she's been diminished in part by an overly protective media shield, Sarah Palin will take a more forward-leaning approach and do additional interviews in the weeks ahead, a top aide said today.

Stephanopoulos: What's Next?  Congress Mulls Four Options  —  ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports: There are meetings going on right now on Capitol Hill to try to figure out what to do about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill that failed to pass the House today.

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition - hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.  —  The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder …

Rep. Pelosi's Remarks on Floor Ahead of House Bailout Vote  —  Her remarks, as prepared for delivery, according to Rep. Pelosi's office:  —  “Madam Speaker, when was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion?  —  It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs …

OK, we are a banana republic  —  House votes no. Rex Nutting has the best line: House to Wall Street: Drop Dead.  He also correctly places the blame and/or credit with House Republicans.  For reasons I've already explained, I don't think the Dem leadership was in a position to craft a bill …

Fed Pumps Further $630 Billion Into Financial System  —  Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.

McCain's Moment  —  No one wants to take ownership of the task of rescuing the economy right now.  The Bush-Paulson plan has failed.  The administration, House Democrats, and House Republicans (above all) have all proved unable to deliver.  But there is someone who might be able to save the economy …

Swing District Congressmen Doomed Bailout  —  This was predictable, I suppose, but it's remarkable to see how strong a relationship there is between today's failed vote on the bailout and the competitive nature of different House races.  —  Among 38 incumbent congressmen in races rated as …

A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: “Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true.  We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona.  Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae.  Editor refuses to publish anything …

Bailout questions answered  —  I'm being asked two big questions about this thing: (1) Was it really necessary?  (2) Shouldn't Dems have tossed the whole Paulson approach out the window and done something completely different?  —  On (1), the answer is yes.

FOX/Rasmussen Swing State Polling - September 28, 2008  —  Overview  —  Polling this week in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia shows that Barack Obama has gained a net 3 to 5 percentage points in each state compared to the previous Fox News/ Rasmussen Reports poll.

Prisoner's dilemma  —  Dan Drezner has a great post: … I think Aesop described the problem rather well: … Or as Grandma used to say, “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”  12 congressmen need to switch their votes.  But whoever does will suffer mightily not merely …

The Stalled Deal  —  The Bailout of All Bailouts just got voted down, 228 to 205.  There's the expected partisan finger-pointing but House leaders will schedule another vote as soon as they can convince twelve of the nay-sayers, from either party, to approve.  —  Wild card: Angry voters who go to the polls in five weeks.