Candidates Spar Over Bailout Credit

Both Barack Obama and John McCain claimed credit on the Sunday talk shows for ushering through the bipartisan bailout plan, Politico reports. The highlights:

• “What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all the parties to the table, including the House Republicans,” GOP strategist Steve Schmidt said on Meet the Press.

• McCain himself was more modest, crediting congressional negotiators on ABC's This Week: "It wasn’t because of me. They did it themselves.”
• On Face the Nation, Obama claimed that the deal includes his key suggestions, like taxpayer protection, and said that, "For two weeks I was on the phone every day with Secretary Paulson and congressional leaders.”
•  On Meet the Press Bill Clinton tried to assuage concerns he holds a grudge against Obama, praising the candidate and promising to do "every single thing he asks me to do."

(More John McCain stories.)