Tuesday Morning: What's Next for the Bailout, Palin's Cocoon, and TV on the Radio

Good morning, and L'Shanah Tovah, merry readers. Five weeks until election day! And, you guys, I will admit to being in the tank for NPR, but Morning Edition today was extra awesome and informative. Don't fret if you missed it, though -- you can still listen online!

Lawmakers will be dipping apples in honey and casting off their sins for the next couple of days (or at least they've been given the days off in case they want to avail themselves of some introspection, prayer, and Jewish New Year traditions). As a result, we won't see any more action until at least Thursday on the economic rescue package that failed yesterday and prompted a blizzard of partisan blame-slinging from members of Congress and presidential nominees. In the meantime, ABC's George Stephanopoulos does some speculating for us about what the House leadership might do next: will the bill be jammed through as-is to stanch the market bleeding? Passed through the Senate first? Tweaked a little to woo fence-sitters? Or beefed up with plans Democrats favor and passed along party lines? One change that may be in the offing...Barack Obama and John McCain McCain both came out this morning in favor of increasing FDIC bank deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 in the next version of the bill.

The bailout's failure is ricocheting around global markets today, causing Asian indexes to dip and creating such fear in Russian markets that trading there was suspended for two hours immediately after opening. President Bush appeared on television this morning to try to calm things down, assuring "our citizens and citizens around the world that this is not the end of the legislative process." The President acknowledged lawmakers' discomfort with the bill, but also had a stern warning for lawmakers that "we're in an urgent situation and consequences will grow worse each day we do not act." And, perhaps out of renewed optimism after the President's statement, the Dow got a little boost after the opening bell.

On the campaign front, this morning we heard (as promised) Nina Totenberg's profile of GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin. Nina has been jumping on the plane with VP candidates since 1984, but there was one big difference between most of those stories (including yesterday's profile of Democrat Joe Biden) and this one: no interview -- Palin's handlers wouldn't grant one. Nina's take on Palin, as told to NPR's Steve Inskeep: "It's about the oddest Vice-Presidential campaign I've ever seen...they keep her in a cocoon except when they throw her in the deep end."

Relatedly, Palin went another round with CBS's Katie Couric last night, this time with Senator McCain in tow. The meeting got a little prickly, with Palin and McCain both accusing Couric of "gotcha journalism." Couric had asked Palin about her recent comment to a voter about possible cross-border attacks into Pakistan -- a position that seems to contradict McCain's own policy. (As our Scott Horsley pointed out yesterday, this controversy comes hot on the heels of the McCain camp's own exploitation of a Joe Biden rope-line remark about clean coal that clashes with the Obama campaign's position.) Meanwhile, a McCain strategist told Fox News that moderator Gwen Ifill "will have some questions to answer" if she asks too much about foreign policy at Thursday night's VP debate, because that subject matter favors Biden. At this point some notable Republicans are starting to voice concerns about the the Veep nominee's isolation and readiness. In response, Jonathan Martin reports that Palin is gearing up for a round of interviews on conservative talk radio to re-energize the base.

And finally, early voting in Ohio has begun before the registration deadline -- meaning there's a several-day window during which voters can register and vote on the same day. Both campaigns are urging their supporters to take advantage (even as a lawsuit filed by state Republicans tried -- and failed -- to disallow the overlap.) As a result, the always-targeted swing state now finds itself in the midst of a full-on political advertising bonanza. And yesterday, NPR's Robert Smith boldly went where, well, actually a lot of people have gone before. He spent the day watching TV in Columbus, Ohio to get the real down-low on the political ads that are running there, and has a story on today's Morning Edition describing the experience. We appreciate your sacrifice, Smitty. Jeff Brady does us the same solid in Denver for this afternoon's ATC.

-- Evie Stone

11:02 AM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

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