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Ballot Bowl 2008

Continuing the Debate on the Federal Bailout

Aired September 28, 2008 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN' "Ballot Bowl." I'm Jessica Yellin in Detroit, Michigan where Barack Obama has just wrapped up an event. We are following all the developments on the campaign trail with just 37 days to go until the election. And, of course, we're also following developments on Capitol Hill with the bailout plan that has been working its way through Congress. I'm joined right now by my colleague CNN's Dana Bash who is there In Capitol Hill. Dana. we're calling this bailout bowl.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is. I mean, as you are well aware because you've been reporting on what's going on here in Congress as we all have over the past 24 to 48 hours. All eyes from where you are, Jessica, on the campaign trail have been and right now, are right here on Capitol Hill. Why?

Because there has been an intense flurry of negotiations going on all through the weekend, all through last night, into today and, in fact, we have news that we have been telling you about over the past five or ten minutes. And that is that the tentative agreement that has been worked out between democrats and republicans and the White House is now posted, in fact. The fine print is now out there and everybody is combing through it. In fact, my colleague, Brianna Keilar who has been pounding the marble floors all day and probably all night joins us now. And I want to go to Brianna now. And Brianna, basically tell our view the gist of what they can find if they go online or if they hear your report in terms of the details of this $700 billion.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we do know, Dana, we have to tell you, we have our first draft here of the legislation. It's pretty big. 106 pages. I haven't made it in the last hour all the way through it. But what we know about this plan is as expected, $700 billion in taxpayer money for bailing out the financial markets, $250 billion available immediately to the Treasury Secretary. There are some curbs on CEO pay especially on golden parachutes and how much corporations can deduct in terms of what they are paying their CEOs for their annual salary.

And we've heard a whole lot about oversight. There is going to be an oversight board and we have a better sense now of exactly who will be on it. The Fed chairman, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary as well as the head of the S.E.C. and the director of the Federal Home Finance Agency, the person who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and also under certain circumstances the Treasury is going have the option to take its ownership stake in the companies that it bailed out. So obviously, a lot of discretion on the part of the Treasury Secretary.

Right now as we speak, there's a whole lot of finalizing going on with this tentative deal that we saw last night. As I said, there's the first draft of the legislation, but at this point, as we speak, there are those key negotiators who are going back if they haven't already to their rank and file members to see if they can get some broad support. We understand there is broad support from Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats but we're particularly keeping our eye on House Republicans because as you know they were the hold outs in this whole thing. Just to give you a sense of though of how that sort of, I guess attitude from House Republicans is persisting a little bit and why it's important to watch them listen to Congressman Eric Cantor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), VIRGINIA: The devil is in the details. And as you know in Washington there may be a tentative deal but oftentimes when the writing starts the renegotiations begin. So we are looking very much forward to seeing what is in the bill when it hits the paper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So we're watching as well House Democrats because of the so- called blue dog democrats, those fiscally conservative democrats in the house. But in terms of moderate democrats, Dana, we understand that there is some broad support among those House Democrats feeling they've got gotten a good deal, a good shake out of this tentative agreement.

BASH: Well, we're certainly waiting for everybody to read the fine print. And I think we are going to have in the next couple of hours of "Ballot Bowl." We are going to see, I think the House democrats and the house Republicans go into caucus and conference meetings, basically the rank and file are all going to meet and get together to figure out if they can, in fact, at least for the most part put their support behind this.

I want to ask you a quick question about something that happened overnight that seems to be part of the break through here. And that is, this whole - everybody has been talking about taxpayer protection. That has been kind of the buzz word but from democrats and republicans. Apparently there was some kind of provision in here that the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi put forward where the Treasury, if the Treasury is not paid back by this deal, the $700 billion, if they don't get that back in five years then there would be some kind of provision to basically force Wall street to pay it back.

KEILAR: That's right. You heard last night Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid crediting Nancy Pelosi with sort of a break through in the last moments before they came to a tentative agreement and that is, indeed, what it is. If there are corporations who participate in this bailout and come some years five years down the road the difference has not been made up it will be the responsibility of those corporations to make up the difference, which certainly, you know, for all these taxpayers, Dana, who have been so outraged about the idea that their money is being used to bailout these corporations. You know when you at least see it on the surface and we're going to wait to see the details of this are, perhaps that gives them some pause knowing it's the responsibility of these corporations to payback the money.

BASH: Absolutely. I mean that has been the thing that everybody up here, as you well know, has been hearing from their constituents, why are we, the taxpayers footing the bill for these people on Wall Street? And if members Congress can go back to their constituents and say see you're basically giving them a loan but you'll get your money back. We promise, we'll make sure of it. That could make a difference. Brianna, thank you so much for that reporting. We know we'll get back to you as you're talking to your sources and to members of Congress up here and they are here on this Sunday trying to figure out if they can support this. Now, we obviously are talking about something that's going on very important here on Capitol Hill but this is absolutely critical to what is going on on the campaign trail to both John McCain and Barack Obama and they actually both spoke about this working deal at least a tentative agreement this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not going to all of a sudden, wow, everything is turned around, everything is going to be fine now. We got a lot of other difficulties including the continued decline in housing, home values. That has to reach a point where it is stabilized and again hopefully will go up in America. But let's look at this, let's look at this particular proposal, let's get it through the Congress and the Senate and then sit down and see what else needs to be done before we say got to do this, this and this.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ultimately, I believe that we have to get something done. So if I feel that those are meaningful provisions that provide some constraints on how the Treasury operates and this is not going to be welfare for Wall Street, then my inclination is to support it because I think Main Street is now at stake. This could affect every sector of the economy. If the credit crisis continues or worsens then suddenly small business people can't make their payroll. You have large businesses who can't sell corporate debt which could bring the entire economy to a grinding halt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That's Barack Obama and John McCain talking about this tentative agreement this morning. I've been covering the John McCain campaign. John McCain is here in Washington. He is not on Capitol Hill. But I've been following him. And I want to bring in my colleague, Jessica Yellin, who is on the trail with Barack Obama. Jessica, I just spoke with one of Senator McCain's chief advisors on this who said you we think we're OK with this but just like we're hearing from members of Congress we want to hear the fine print or we want to see the fine print rather before we absolutely sign on and John McCain says yes I'll cast my vote, a vote for - what are you hearing from Senator Obama's campaign?

YELLIN: And they both Dana have the time as we've been reporting to do that since it looks like a Senate vote isn't likely until Wednesday morning. Of course, since there's still some holdouts within the especially House Republicans and elements of the bill could possibly change, both men and their advisors are going to be sitting down, I'm sure, and going through the fine print of this bill. Obama this morning went a little further than McCain saying that he's inclined to support it but still, of course, that's pending any final bill being written. And just as McCain has talked about this bill as a piece of his overall economic vision and what has to change in America's economic picture, Barack Obama has been doing the same on the stump. Here, he went hard at the Bush administration and at John McCain for allowing our economy to get to a state where this bailout was necessary. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: This administration started off asking for a blank check to solve this problem. Joe Biden and I said absolutely not! I said it was unacceptable to expect the American people to hand this administration, of all administrations a $700 billion check with no conditions, no oversight when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this situation in the first place.

If the American people are being asked to help solve this crisis, then you have the right to make sure that your tax dollars are protected. That's why I laid out a few conditions for Washington when this whole process began. I said we need an independent board to provide oversight and accountability for how and where this money is spent at every step of the way. I said that if American taxpayers are financing the solution, then you should be treated like investors and that means when the market stabilize that means that Wall Street and Washington should give you every penny of your money back.

I said that we cannot and will not simply bailout Wall Street without helping the millions of innocent homeowners who are struggling to stay in their homes. They deserve a plan too. And I said, this was important. I said I would not allow this plan to become a welfare program for Wall Street executives whose greed and irresponsibility has brought on this disastrous situation.

Today, thanks to the hard work of Democrats and Republicans, it looks like we have a rescue plan that includes these taxpayer protections. It looks like we will pass that plan very soon. But our job is far from over. Because now that we're fixing the mess on Wall Street, we need to move with the same sense of urgency to help families on Main Street. We don't just need a plan for bankers and investors, we need a plan for auto workers. We need a plan for teachers. We need a plan for small business owners.

And that's why Joe Biden and I have continued to fight for an economic stimulus plan for working families. A plan that helps folks cope with rising food and gas prices. Save one million jobs by rebuilding our schools and our roads. Help states and cities avoid budget cuts and tax increase. A plan that would expand expiring unemployment benefits for those Americans that lost their jobs and can't find new ones.

I will fight every day of this campaign and every day of my presidency to make sure that a crisis like this never ever happens again. (END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Barack Obama speaking here in Detroit just a short time ago. and he proposes to help working families with an immediate economic stimulus plan, something that John McCain when asked this morning by George Stephanopoulos, I think well he'll consider it's not his first idea. For more on John McCain's view on where we should go with the economy, I throw it back to Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Dana.

BASH: Thanks, Jessica. And actually before you go, I think I just want to mention that I think it's interesting that as we're talking, both of our blackberries are buzzing with response and information coming from members of Congress and their offices and, in particular, I think we're both getting right now that House Republicans are saying hold on, we definitely think that we made great progress.

But there are things inside this negotiated agreement that was just posted online, Brianna Keilar just reported on it, that still in brackets. Meaning that there are some provisions that haven't quite been finally negotiated. And that's why one of the reasons why they are holding out until they finally read the fine print but maybe do a little bit further negotiation on some of these issues. We're not sure if they are through deal maker or breaker issues. But it just goes to show that this is such a roller coaster issue in terms of whether there's a deal or no deal.

There definitely seems to be a agreement but this critical group of House Republicans we still have to wait and see what they decide to do and they're going to have a meeting again in a short while. We're going to definitely bring that to you as we report during "Ballot Bowl."

Back to John McCain and on the issue of this. I mean, he has definitely kept his cards close to his vest. He's still waiting to see the fine print because politically just like Barack Obama they need to make sure on both sides this was campaign, democrats and republicans that things are pretty much settled here before they sign on to this politically. But with regard to what we have been talking about over the past two or three days, the issue that has been, you know, front and center also has been the first presidential debate and that happened on Friday night in the state of Mississippi. There had been a lot of (chewing) and throwing talk about who won, who didn't win, who did well, who didn't do well and why.

Well, John McCain actually weighed in on his performance and he did that speaking via satellite last night to a sportsman group. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: It was clear that Senator Obama still sees the financial crisis in America as a national problem to be exploited first and solved later. What he doesn't seem to get is that if we don't deal with it right now by working together for the common good, then this crisis could turn into a far reaching disaster for workers, businesses, retirees, and the American middle class. My friends, this is a moment of great testing when the future of our economy is on the line. And I'm determined to help achieve a legislative package to help avoid the worst and set our economy back on the path of stability, confidence and growth.

Finally, I noticed during our debate that even as American troops are fighting on two fronts, Senator Barack Obama couldn't bring himself to use the word victory even once. The Obama campaign saved that word for the spin room where they tried to convince themselves and others that their man had left the stage victorious.

Well, maybe this attitude helps explain why it wasn't such a good night for my opponent. When Americans look at a candidate, they can tell the difference between mere self-confidence and an abiding confidence in our country. They know that the troops who are bravely fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan want to come home in victory and in honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: John McCain doing his own post-debate analysis of his own performance and Barack Obama's performance in Friday night's debate. And Jessica you heard McCain say Obama didn't use the word victory once. As you well know, the Obama campaign said wait a minute, John McCain didn't use the word middle class once to describe who he cares or doesn't care about with regard to the economy.

YELLIN: And Dana, coming up to the other side of the break we're going to talk to our own Bill Schneider who will give us the people's analysis of who won the debate. He has the poll numbers and the latest break down on what the voters really thought of what they saw on Friday night. That's on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Ten days ago John said that the fundamentals of the economy are sound.

JIM LEHRER, MODERATOR: Say it directly to him.

OBAMA: John, ten days ago you said the fundamentals of the economy are sound.[

(LAUGHTER)

MCCAIN: Are you afraid I couldn't hear him?

(LAUGHTER)

LEHRER: I'm just determined to get you two to talk to each other. I'm going to try.

(END VIDEO CLIP) YELLIN: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl." I'm Jessica Yellin in Detroit where Barack Obama has just wrapped up a rally here with his wife and both of the Bidens. And I'm joined on "Ballot Bowl" by our very own professor, Bill Schneider who is an expert at those polls. He's going to tell us later on about the public's views of the debate and who won. But first I wanted to get to, Bill, you are in Missouri, the site of the next debate. Tell us what the latest CNN poll is showing about the state of play in Missouri.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The state of play in Missouri is very close. We have Missouri classified as a state leaning towards John McCain and the most recent poll this one is by the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" shows the dispatch leaning but only by the narrowest margin, 47 percent for McCain, 46 percent for Obama. Missouri, you may know is a bell weather state. It has voted for the winner in every presidential election for the last 100 years except once in 1956.

What happened in 1956? Why it voted for Stevenson I don't know. But in every other election for 100 years Missouri has been a reliable indicator of the winner. Right now slightly McCain, but very, very close.

YELLIN: Bill, I think that's the first time I've heard you not know something but you're allowed. Let me ask you about the electoral map. It's good to admit. Let me ask you about the electoral map. One of the things we've been hearing out of the Obama campaign is that they are not focused on big polls. They are not focused on who is up or who is down in the national picture. They are looking at the electoral map. So how does CNN's electoral map look for both of these men?

SCHNEIDER: Well in CNN's electoral map, Obama is ahead. He hasn't quite clinched it. Our calculation is right now, and this was before the debate, but as of just before the debate Friday night, Obama had 240 electoral votes. Those are in states either solidly for Obama or leaning towards Obama. You need 270 to win. So he's shy of the majority and he needs to win.

McCain 200 electoral votes. So still pretty close with 98 electoral votes in toss up states that have still yet to be determine where the race is very close. We are counting Missouri as a state that's leaning towards John McCain but as I indicated, it's leaning by the narrowest of margins in the latest poll.

YELLIN: All right. Thanks so much, Bill Schneider coming to us from Missouri. And the next big event on the campaign trail is the face- off between the two vice presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. We're going to be hearing from both of them after this break. So stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to "Ballot Bowl '08." I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill today where we are monitoring the negotiations over a bailout package. So today we're kind of calling this a bailout bowl not "Ballot Bowl." But we definitely are still keeping track big time of has been going on on Capitol Hill. And in "Ballot Bowl" we bring you the candidates and their running mates unscripted and in their own words.

And there's going to be an interesting piece of sound, actually, that we're going to show you right now of John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin. She went out on an unannounced campaign stop, actually just to stop, to get some food. She has been in Philadelphia. She has been working with some of her aides in preparing for next week's debate. And so she went out in Philadelphia. What else do you do in Philadelphia? She went out to get a cheese steak.

Well, while she was there, she didn't take reporters questions but there was a student who saw her getting a cheese steak in that restaurant and came up and asked her a question. A pretty tough question about policy with regard to Pakistan. Listen to what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(INAUDIBLE)

BASH: A little bit hard to hear there. But the gist of what she said was that it's OK for the United States to go into Pakistan, which the United States considers an ally if the United States is pursuing terrorists. This has been a controversial subject between the man at the top of her ticket, John McCain and Barack Obama whether or not it is appropriate to do that. McCain has mocked Obama for saying that it is OK to do that because he said it shows naivete because you don't threaten an ally who is helping in the war on terror. So that was certainly an interesting moment. Definitely an unscripted moment on the campaign trail.

Sarah Palin getting questioned not by reporters but by a regular citizens, by a student in that restaurant last night getting a cheese steak. I want to send it over to my colleague, Jessica Yellin, who is on the campaign trail covering Barack Obama. And I think you have a little bit from Joe Biden who is not necessarily getting cheese steaks but holding rallies.

YELLIN: That's right, Dana. And he's going to be questioning Sarah Palin and she's going to questioning him later this week at the much anticipated vice presidential debate. That's happening later this week on Thursday near where we just saw Bill Schneider in Missouri. Joe Biden is known actually for the opposite of Sarah Palin for saying an awful lot, sometimes more than his advisers want him to but this week he was on message, appearing in Fredericksburg, Virginia, hitting McCain for his approach to the economy. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Last night we saw that John McCain continues to be out of touch with the American people. He embraces and continues to defend George Bush's failed philosophy of the last eight years. Look at foreign policy and national security. The focus, the focus of last night's debate. This was supposed to be John McCain's home turf. But Barack owned that turf last night.

John McCain is wrong. He's wrong. It's a matter of judgment. I'm refusing to shift responsibility to the Iraqis and set timelines to bring American combat troops home. Barack and I will end this war in Iraq. We will end it! John McCain was once again wrong. He insisted we continue to spend $10 billion a month while the Iraqis have $80 billion in oil surplus in European banks. Ladies and gentlemen, and I'm being deadly earnest about this. John McCain was most importantly wrong in not understanding where the central war, central front on the war on terror is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: And Joe Biden is going to be heading from Detroit here back to his home, he's going to Delaware for some debate prep for the rest of the week. He will be prepping with his advisors and we learn that the person who will be standing in for Governor Sarah Palin will be none other than the governor of the state I'm in, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. So later this week he'll be working on that. And the two again are facing off on Thursday night in Missouri and CNN is going to carry that live. So don't forget to check in for that event here on CNN Thursday night. Dana.

BASH: Well Jessica we obviously have been reporting on the developments here with regard to an agreement, a tentative agreement we should emphasize on this bailout package. After the break we'll go to our own expert, Ali Velshi who has been reading through the fine print, reading through what has been posted online. He'll try to break it down for our viewers as to what it means, what it really means with regard to them and with regard to Wall Street. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. BALLOT BOWL is your chance, usually to hear from the candidates on the campaign trail, one plugged, unscripted. But today this is kind of being turned into bailout bowl because we're on Capitol Hill. We're on the campaign trail but we are also covering in an intense way the negotiations and the potential agreement that has been forged here over this weekend on a potential bailout for Wall Street and in joining me in this discussion to talk about this is my co-anchor for BALLOT BOWL, Jessica Yellin who is with the Obama campaign in Michigan and our very own Ali Velshi who has been looking over the 100 plus pages of what was just released on this tentative agreement to see what exactly is in it and more importantly, Ali the fine print as you see it. What do you see in terms of any potential break through that might have been different from what we've been talking about over the past several days that might have changed?

VELSHI: If I were the Democrats, I would be pleased that while this is still a draft and we've been told that things could change in here over the course of the next few hours or the course of the next few days. Fundamentally the things that the Democrats wanted are addressed in there. The $700 billion dollars doesn't come out in one big chunk. It is going to start with $250 billion dollars. There will be an oversight committee with some pretty big names on it. It will be the chairman of the Federal Reserve, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other, including the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Big names overseeing how this money is spent.

There will be some curbs on executive pay. Not limits, not sort of bans, some curbs on executive pay from companies who are benefiting from this bailout and there are under certain circumstances a likelihood that the treasury on behalf of the government and the taxpayers might be able to buy equity, buy stock in the companies that are being bailed out and as a result might be able to make some money if as everyone says this won't be the disaster for taxpayers that it's supposed to be.

While there may be changing on this fundamentally the fact that those four points are in this agreement means that those Democrats who ten days ago said wait a second we are not giving you a blank check we need oversight and we need protection for taxpayers seem to have carried the day on this one and brought everyone else around.

Again, as you have pointed out so clearly, Dana, it doesn't mean this is a done deal. There are votes to get on this. It doesn't mean it won't change. Markets now in Asia in a couple of hours will open up with the understanding that there's broad agreement. Something has to be done. This does appear to be very positive for markets. In the end this will loosen up credit market. We expect we might even hear of some deals overnight, major deals in the financial world that have been held up because we didn't have this bailout plan, Dana.

BASH: Ali, it is Jessica you just said this is positive for markets. One of the things I've been hearing from some of the skeptics, particularly in the House of Representatives is that this is a deal that has been forced on them by Wall Street brokers, and by administration that says if they don't do this, crises will befall the nation. They feel there's a sense of urgency here that's not allowing them to take their time and do it as carefully as some would like. And that there is a sense of urgency that they don't really know what happens if they don't do it. Is this really an essential bailout?

VELSHI: Absolutely is. Here, let me give you three little examples of what's gone in the last ten days. Caterpillar a very secure stable company went to raise money. It was a first time a major company tried to raise money after the announcement that there might be a bailout ten days ago. They raised $1.3 billion and at almost double the cost it would have cost them a week earlier. General Motors drew down its entire credit line the last $350 billion dollars. So General Motors financing of its operation now depends entirely on revenue, being able to sell cars or make money through their financing department. They are out of credit.

Goodyear went to raise money and had problems doing so. They went to take money out of their own money market fund that they invested in and couldn't withdraw the money. They had to get a loan for it. These are companies that have payroll to pay and rent. If that money runs out that could affect Americans directly. While we would all love to have the luxury not having this bailout plan or the luxury to take a month to talk about it. Anybody that tells you that deadline was imposed upon them just doesn't know enough about financial markets to be involved in making those decisions. This was urgent.

BASH: And Ali I want to me ask you about this whole idea of cap on executive pay, on compensation, the whole idea of golden parachutes. That has been something that John McCain has been railing about on the campaign trail. Barack Obama has railing about. That's been basically what all of these members of Congress has been hearing from their constituents. Wait a minute, we're going to bail these guys out and they get millions and millions of dollars. With regard to what they have agreed upon to, up to $500,000 for an executive is that really a cap on compensation?

VELSHI: No. What it means is that above $500,000 if a company participates in this bailout and they want to pay their executives more than $500,000 they can't deduct that. They can outright pay it that is not a problem. They can give them stock options or, you know, restricted stock. The bottom line is there's a way to pay executives, you can tie to it compensation. You can give them a certain amount of restricted stock if the company does well they will benefit. This was a red herring to start with and it ends up as a red herring. It's a waste of the paper that it was printed on. But it wasn't going to be deal if they didn't have some sort of cap on executive compensation so here you go you got it.

YELLIN: Ali, one of the complaints from house Republicans is that they feel that this is a giveaway to Wall Street and then some others are saying no, no, it's creating a tax on Wall Street. It seems to be an inherently conflicted message. What are they talking about, and is either message possibly true?

VELSHI: Probably not. Wall Street has got itself into quite a pickle based on not just normal greed. Greed isn't going away. It is sort of what Wall Street runs on it. This was excessive greed and creativity. They made money on mortgages that were resold and resold again. Wall Street is not even a player in this negotiation; largely they are net recipients of charity at this point. I wouldn't call this a Wall Street bailout. We are going to continue to see bank failures, maybe not large banks. We'll continue to see stocks struggling. This is not a bailout. This was a necessary freeing up of the credit markets which is not Wall Street fat cats.

That's the way we raise money for companies and that flows down to people who get their mortgages. This was a Main Street issue. Washington did a very bad job over the last ten days of communicating that this was a Main Street issue. It got carried away with this whole Wall Street bailout talk. That's why Americans said why am I bailing out Wall Street. This was necessary. Wall Street will recover. Wall Street always recovers. This isn't the bailout everybody thinks it is.

BASH: Ali, as always, you helped our viewers cut through it all. Cut through a lot of the jargon and explain what this really means to them. So thank you very much. We'll get back to you. Jessica mentioned these house Republicans who are worried, skeptical. They are going to a meeting on Capitol Hill in about a half an hour. So we'll see what the reaction is among house Republicans just to see how far this deal goes this time. We'll be getting back to our viewers on that. We'll take a quick break. More BALLOT BOWL continues in just a couple of minutes. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08". I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill today because we've been following the fast moving developments, right now an basically all weekend long on negotiations and a potential deal with regard to a bailout of $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. But now we want to go back to the campaign trail and stay on this issue of the economy and take listen to what John McCain has been talking really for months and months on the campaign trail in terms of his economic plan. He focuses a lot on the issue of energy, alternative energy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the future of our economy, nothing is more essential than a secure and affordable supply of energy. As you well know, people are hurting. They are hurting because the cost of gasoline is out of control. Small farmers, truckers and taxi drivers in this city and elsewhere are unable to cover their costs. Small business owners are struggling to meet payroll. For American workers the cost of living is rising and the value of paychecks falling.

All of this in large part because the price of oil is too high and the supply of oil too uncertain. These citizens believe their government has a duty to finally assure the energy security of this country and they are right. Every form of economic activity requires the use of energy and that's why we need to draw on the best ideas of both parties on energy policy and work together for the common good.

Among our challenges is one that we hardly even understood back when America first learned to associate the word energy with crises. We now know that fossil fuel emissions by retaining heat within the atmosphere threaten disastrous changes in climate. No challenge of energy is to be taken lightly. And least of all, the need to avoid the consequences of global warming. Over time we must shift our entire energy economy towards a sustainable mix of new and cleaner power sources.

This will include some we use already, such as wind, solar, biofuels and other sources yet to be invented, it will include and must include a variety of new automotive and fuel technologies, clean burning coal, a new system of incentives under a cap and trade policy to put the power of the market on the side of environmental protection. To make the great turn away from carbon emitting fuels we need the genus of which America is capable. We will need as well an economy strong enough to support our nation's great shift towards clean energy.

Global warming presents a test of foresight, of political courage and of the unselfish concern that one generation owes to the next. We need to think straight about the dangers ahead and meet the problem with all the resources of human ingenuity at our disposal. We Americans like to say that there's no problem we can't solve however complicated. And no obstacle we can't overcome if we meet it together. I believe this about our country. And now it's time for us to show those qualities once again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: John McCain talking about energy and the economy. Obviously, in the news of the past week, two weeks has between crises on Wall Street but still in terms much voters and what voters care about one of the big things is their high gas prices. And I know Jessica you have been hearing from Barack Obama, I've been hearing from John McCain, energy is what they've been talking about throughout the entire summer. John McCain continues to talk about energy and his policies and Obama has as well.

YELLIN: That is right with gas prices so high throughout the summer both men have focused on that as the key issue to hit on as a reflection of where people are hurting in their pocketbooks. Now that the economy as a whole is seeming to falter, both men are broadening it out to talk more about an economic vision in general and how they would change America's economic picture. Barack Obama accusing John McCain of becoming a Johnny come lately pop lift and even last night in Washington, D.C. he told the congressional black caucus that John McCain basically stealing his lines. Let's listen.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The truth is through 90 minutes of debate; John McCain had a lot to say about me. But he had nothing to say about you. He had nothing to say about the struggles Americans are facing today. He didn't even mention the word middle class. He didn't talk about working families. Not once. Senator McCain doesn't get it. Well, I do get it. And you get it. And I think the American people get it. I think they understand we can't afford another four more years of misguided policies.

We know many Americans are outraged about the economic crises we're in. I'm outraged too. It was reckless for speculators on Wall Street to game the system. Irresponsible for regulators in Washington to look the other way. But now we're here Every American. All of us have a stake in making sure that this crisis doesn't consume the entire economy. We all have a stake in making sure the financial system is saved from collapse because our families' jobs, life savings, economic security are all at risk.

It is unacceptable, though, to expect the American people to hand this administration or even any administration a $700 billion blank check with no conditions and no oversight when lack of oversight in Washington and Wall Street is what got us into this mess in the first place. Now is the time for us to make a decision that we want to make life better for working Americans, those who are going and getting a paycheck because they are working as teachers and nurses and bus drivers and postal workers. .

The same folk whose are the backbone of our community. Understand what we have seen in recent days and weeks is nothing less than a final verdict on a failed philosophy. A philosophy that says if we give more and more to those with the most, prosperity will trickle down on everyone else. That says no harm will be done if we let lobbyists shred consumer protections and fight every regulation that's out there. You wouldn't know it from listening to my opponent last night but he's embraced this philosophy for 26 years. George W. Bush embraced this philosophy. And that's the philosophy that I will change if I'm president of the United States of America. [Applause]

BASH: Barack Obama speaking in Washington, D.C. last night, insisting he's the real agent of change in this race.

And for a change of pace, we will bring you another look at the candidates on the other side of this break, "Saturday Night Live". We have some clips coming to you so stay with us.

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(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Jim, I would like to take this opportunity to make my opponent a proposal. Effective immediately each of us suspend our campaigns and instead hold a series of three pie eating contests. [ laughter ] next Tuesday Kansas City lemon meringue. Saturday Jacksonville blueberry. The following week in Dallas, coconut custard.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Senator Obama?

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): I don't see the value of this. Maybe the blueberry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: A pie eating contest. You know what, Jessica? The way this campaign has been going it wouldn't surprise me if we end up in the next 37 days with a pie eating contest or something like that. But I think knowing John McCain he might want a cookie eating contest. I'm not sure he likes pies.

YELLIN: I saw the email from the McCain campaign making fun of Joe Biden for not being included in "Saturday Night Live." Who knows it's an upside down world these days. We'll have a lot more of all of this coverage, including a look at the bailout plan with Ali Velshi and our own Bill Schneider talking about the polls and the state of the race. That's coming up on the other side of the break. Everybody stay with us. We have BALLOT BOWL here on CNN.

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YELLIN: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. I'm Jessica Yellin coming to you from Detroit, Michigan, where Barack Obama and Joe Biden have wrapped up a rally here with just 37 days to go until the election we're following all the developments on the campaign trail and bringing the candidates in their own words. Today we're calling BALLOT BOWL bailout bowl because we're also covering the negotiations on the bailout package on Capitol Hill. They are intense and on going and that is we find my co-host Dana Bash.