The bailout failed because of pure political cowardice. I used the Rothenberg Political Report to find the House incumbents who are in tough races (i.e. ones they could lose). There were 44 House members listed — 20 Democrats and 24 Republicans. Of those 44, only eight voted for the bill.

That pattern does jump out at you when you look through the roll call. But it’s also worth remembering that most of the no votes came from people in safe seats.