Early this afternoon, the House of Representatives, on a vote of 228 to 205, voted down the Bush administration's proposed $700 billion bailout plan. Despite being urged to vote aye by their president, 133 Republican members of the House voted thumbs down. They were joined by 95 rejectionist Democrats, mostly liberals, who chose not to heed the requests of their own leadership, or the wishes of their presidential nominee. Leaders of each party immediately blamed each other, which only underscored the mood of partisanship and sense of failure permeating Capitol Hill today. 

President Bush issued a statement expressing disappointment. On Wall Street, the mood was one of despair: The Dow Jones average began declining even as the vote was taking place, and has plummeted more than 715 points as of this writing. Here's a good account on the breaking news story. Loose Cannon will have a complete blog post, along with an analysis of today's events, a little bit later today.