It now appears pretty obvious that in anticipation of yesterday's vote the Democrats built the smallest possible coalition on the guarantee that Republican leaders would deliver a comparable coalition on their side resulting in just enough (of course, now we know too little) votes to pass yesterday’s bill and no more. This was, in effect, an attempt by both sides to reduce the collateral election year damage of voting in favor of an incredibly unpopular bill.
Given this level of high stakes strategic politicking, what are the chances of Congress actually passing a bailout bill before the election?
