House Steels for High Noon Bailout Vote

Leaders and lobbyists are scrambling to marshal support for the revamped bailout bill before it returns to the House at midday today, the Washington Post reports. Democratic and GOP chiefs believe they can sway enough votes to swing it—although only a few have switched so far. Some Republicans who backed it the first time around are considering nixing it this time, annoyed by the tacked-on special-interest tax breaks.

The bill is likelier to be saved by wooing Democratic skeptics, according to one observer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed that she would cancel the vote rather than send the bill to another defeat. "We're not going to take a bill to the floor that doesn't have the votes," she said. "I'm optimistic that we will take a bill to the floor." (More bailout stories.)