Democrats blame the failure of the bailout bill on Republicans (even though 95 Dems voted against it). Republicans blame it on Nancy Pelosi. But the truth is that representatives on both sides of the aisle were primarily afraid of voters. If the plan passed and yet failed to turn the economy around by November 4 (and no one expects it to do that), anyone who voted for the plan will have a hard time getting re-elected.
But everyone in Washington agreed Something Must Be Done, and the Paulson proposal, as modified by Chris Dodd, was the only major plan on the table. So the real question was, which members of Congress had safe enough seats that they could vote for the plan?
