In addition to a whopping 9% of Americans thinking the country is headed in the right direction, USA Today reports that the financial meltdown has demolished retirement savings, wiping out $2 trillion  - or about 20% of value - in the past 15 months.

The House of Representatives will take up the Senate version of the bailout bill today.  A vote is expected midday.  AP wonders whether the votes will be there this time.

The Senate passed its version of the $700 billion bailout bill 74-25.   Arkansas Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln both votes in favor of the measure.  So did Barack Obama and John McCain.  Here’s the list of those that voted No.  The bill heads to the House for a vote that is likely to come on Friday.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 44% of Americans believe that Republicans are responsible for the defeat of the bailout bill.  21% believe it is the fault of the Democrats.

And despirte rhetoric to the contrary, the country seems split on the plan.  47% oppose it, 45% favor it.

Steven Hurst of AP has a tough analysis piece on John McCain’s campaign in light of yesterday’s vote to reject the $700 billion bailout plan.  If you recall, McCain suspended his campaign and returned to Congress to work on the problem.  As early as yesterday morning McCain projected the plan would pass due in large part to his own bipartisan leadership.  Not only did the bill fail, two-thirds of Republicans voted against it including the entire Republican delegation from Arizona.  This prompted Hurst to opine, “All in all, McCain might have been better served by staying out of the mess and above the fray.”

For people who think that the failure to approve a $700 billion bailout plan only effects Wall Street CEO’s need to think again.  The ramifications are felt all the way to Arkansas notes a story by James Jefferson and John Lyon of Arkansas News Bureau.   The good news is that Arkansas banks are still lending money consistently.  However, retired people and those with substantial 401(k) plans are in real trouble.  “I would say that the immediate impact is more on the retired person than it is on the 401(k) person.  Their portfolio is diminished in value, but many of them have some time for that to come back, whereas the retirees have to take whatever’s out there in the marketplace,” says former U of A business professor Phil Taylor.

For the record, all members of the Arkansas House delegation voted in favor of the bailout yesterday.

$700 billion and lots of strings attached. It’s the necessary first step to getting this economic crisis under control. But it’s not the complete answer. There’s a lot of maneuvering that has to be done to get a return on this investment. Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has a good op-ed in today’s Washington Post explaining the matter.

UPDATE: So we thought.  The House of Representatives rejected the measure by a vote of 228 - 205.

The day ends without a deal on the bailout of the U.S. financial system.  According to this report from the Washington Post there was a deal agreed to last night, but today House Minority Leader John Boehner, a Republican, raised concerns that House Republicans couldn’t support the deal.  Reports the Post, ” The proposal angered Democrats, who accused Boehner of acting on behalf of GOP presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) in trying to disrupt a developing consensus. It also displeased White House officials, including Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who — half-jokingly — dropped to one knee and pleaded with the lawmakers not to “blow up” the deal, according to two people present at the meeting.”

There is still no word as to whether McCain will attend the debate Friday night.  Today, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, said the debate would go on.  Here’s the latest from the AP.

MSNBC is reporting that Congress is close to reaching a deal on the bailout.  Top leaders are huddling today at 10:00 a.m. to work out the details before taking the plan to the White House where President George W. Bush will be meeting with Barack Obama and John McCain.  Sen. Olympia Snowe said that she wasn’t sure that the deal would be complete before the end of the week.

The timing of the deal will have a huge impact on whether McCain will attend tomorrow night’s debate in Oxford, Mississippi.  I still don’t understand McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and get involved in this problem.  He doesn’t sit on a committee with jurisdiction and several outlets are quoting sources from inside the Treasury suggesting that McCain’s decision has unnecessarily politicized the situation.

Chuck Todd reports that House Republicans were on the verge of killing this bailout plan, which would have resulted in a negative that McCain could not have survived.  He also notes that polls were moving quickly to Obama and McCain needed to get away from the bad political week he was having.  “At the photo op, he’ll declare victory,” Todd said.

John Dickerson of Slate writes, “John McCain has launched his second Hail Mary pass in a month. On Wednesday he called for a suspension of the presidential campaign—no events, no ads, and no debate Friday—so that he and Barack Obama can head to Washington to forge a bipartisan solution. Even more than his selection of Sarah Palin as running mate, this gambit feels like a wild improvisation someone in the McCain team mapped out on his chest: OK, you run to the fire hydrant, cut left, and then when he gets to the Buick, John, you heave it.”

Barack Obama and John McCain will return to Washington today to meet with President George W. Bush to discuss the state of the economy.

There is still no word whether McCain will participate in Friday’s debate in Oxford, Mississippi.

On Nov. 21, the PRSA Arkansas Chapter will be dedicating its monthly meeting to brainstorming public relations and marketing strategy for two winning nonprofit organizations. The winning nonprofits will engage our members in an hour of FREE public relations and marketing consultation. If you have any questions about the application process or the Nov. 21 session, please contact Natalie Ghidotti, APR, at ghidotti@sbcglobal.net.

Over on the blogroll you will find a link to conservative columnist George Will.  His work appears most often in the Washington Post and then, through syndication, finds its way onto the op-ed pages of local newspapers like the one in my home state.  I anticipate that his piece from today will circulate around newsrooms from Los Angeles to New York.  That’s because of its tone against Republican presidential candidate John McCain.  Interestingly, although not surprisingly, Mr. Will expresses deep concern for McCain’s judgment and decision-making in light of statements he made regarding (a) firing Securities and Exchange Commission Christopher Cox and (b) replacing him with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the son of former governor Mario Cuomo, a Democrat.

In a harsh collection of sentences that has been circulated across the World Wide Web, Mr. Will writes, “It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?”