In political terms, John McCain needed this bailout bill to pass. Now that its failed in the House, its clear that this could pose a serious blow to his campaign — and that his big campaign suspension gambit could backfire badly.

McCain said he was going to lead the Republican charge, he was going to make sure that this was a bipartisan success. He called CHARGE, and the Republicans RETREATED. Thats what happened here.

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked (700 points).

The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder that will prolong the McCains campaigns difficulty in finding a winning message on the economy.

Think about how bad this is for McCain. He suspended his campaign last week and promised to get the House GOP on board.

The bill failed because those very same Republicans bailed once Pelosi hurt their feelings. McCain put his leadership credentials on the line and failed.

Not a little fail, but an Epic Fail. A FAILURE of EPIC PROPORTIONS.

And the worst part about it is that he and his campaign have been claiming for the past 48 hours that it was McCains leadership that got the bill passed...