2 cities joined in a cycle of angst

"Down 600!" New York Rep. Joe Crowley yelled to Republican colleagues half an hour into the vote. It would get worse, sinking 777 points for the day.

In New York, trader Theodore Weisberg of Seaport Securities injected an understatement: "People are going to go home and look at their 401(k)s and not be very happy, and these are not just people from New York but Iowa and everywhere else."

Two cities joined Monday in a mutually reinforcing cycle of angst and fear that shook the nation's political and financial foundations and sent the Dow spiraling into its worst one-day loss.

A dismayed Republican House leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, had his hands stuffed in his pockets for much of the vote. He recounted later that he could just not get enough people on his side to support the package. "Nobody, nobody wanted to vote for this," he said. "Nobody."

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In Washington beforehand, leaders on both sides knew trouble was ahead for a bailout plan more expensive than the Iraq war.

GOP Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., laid out the picture for Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.: Republicans could deliver 65-70 votes for the package, not enough. About an hour before the vote was to begin, Blunt reported back to Boehner.

"We're going to have a tough time getting there," Blunt said, according to the GOP leader. Together, the two parties needed to change about a dozen minds.

That was tough indeed. Boehner had gone earlier to members "who'd do anything for me." Not this time. "You can't break their arms," Boehner said. "You can't put your relationship on the line."