Ga. delegation sees change in sentiment on bailout

Washington — A day after the $700 billion plan to steady the financial markets went down in defeat, congressional offices Tuesday saw a shift in the weeklong angry torrent of calls and e-mails against the proposal.

A small but growing number of Georgians watched Wall Street stocks tumble after the House of Representatives rejection and began asking their lawmakers to try again to save their sagging retirement plans, their community banks, and their small businesses.

In the office of Rep. Nathan Deal, a Gainesville Republican who voted against the proposal, aides said comments had been running 9-to-1 against the bailout for the past 10 days. By Tuesday, the opposition was down to just 3-to-1.

Business groups, uncharacteristically quiet during the buildup to the vote, began to stir.

The Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce Tuesday sent an “urgent” e-mail asking members to call all the state’s lawmakers to “quickly pass a stabilization package, because Main Street Georgia and Wall Street relay on each other to survive.”

The uptick in support for congressional action is still measured against strong public opposition to a Wall Street bailout.

But among the 11 Georgia lawmakers who voted against the rescue bill, two were leaving the door open to voting ‘Yes’ when the House takes up a new version. Republican Rep. Jack Kingston and Democrat David Scott appear to be the most persuadable.

Kingston is one of Georgia’s seven Republicans who opposed the $700 billion plan. Visiting his hometown of Savannah Tuesday, he found worried insurance company executives, stockbrokers and others in the business community pressing for a rescue package.

“The average guy on the street is saying, ‘I’m glad to you voted No,’” he said in a phone interview. But “they do want us to do something to get this worked out.”

Kingston said that adding fellow Georgia Republican Rep. John Linder of Duluth to the Republican team drawing up the new version of the bill might help win over Georgia Republicans.

“I want to offer some conservative market oriented solutions,” Kingston said. “Maybe we can come up with a solution that everyone can live with.”

Kingston said he had not shared his idea with Linder, who has issued a statement saying that the defeat of the House measure on Monday “provides an opportunity to explore alternatives.”

Linder is sponsoring a proposal that would rely heavily on private capital and solutions, many of which have been rejected by Democratic lawmakers.

Democrat Scott was spending his day after the historic House vote “reaching out to local people he’s known for a while to get a pulse,” said his chief of staff Michael Andel.

“The congressman is very optimistic that we can make some changes,” Andel said.

However, the changes Scott seeks are generally in the opposite direction of the free market conservatives. For example, he has insisted on including a purchase plan for failing mortgages to help some owners come back from the brink of foreclosure.

Among the state’s six Democratic lawmakers, the only two who voted for the $700 billion proposal Monday were finding some “thank yous” among the deluge of negative calls and messages.

Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Macon, said he was “swamped” with e-mails but had “absolutely no” regrets about his vote.

“The regret I have is that we didn’t pass the thing,” he said. “We still have an opportunity to get something done Thursday or Friday, and I suspect we will.”

“We need to have more votes from the Republican,” Marshall said, adding that he doesn’t expect many to come from his state.

“Some of my Republican colleagues from Georgia are market fundamentalists” who reject any government intervention, the Macon Democrat said.

Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, the other Georgian to vote in favor of the bailout, was standing by his vote even as his in box continued to fill up with comments, most of them against the plan, his office reported Tuesday.

Among other Georgia Democrats, the most likely to switch his vote to yes for the financial market rescue is Atlanta’s Rep. David Scott, a member of the Financial Services Committee.

As the House struggled to agree on action, the much quieter Senate appeared to be ready to respond with a strongly bipartisan vote.

Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said Tuesday that he supports the current version of the $700 billion bailout plan that was defeated in the U.S. House.

“This bill answers the critics and addresses the crisis we have now,” he said at a press conference at Peachtree-DeKalb Airport.

A staunch ally of President Bush on most issues, Chambliss blamed the administration for bungling the rollout of the initial plan.

Chambliss said many lawmakers have had to confront an outpouring of constituent opposition to the plan.

“At the end of the day you have to listen to your constituents,” he said. “But you have to do what’s right for the country.”

Jim Tharpe contributed to this article.