As the financial rescue plan went down in flames in the House and the big drop in the stock market accelerated, the initial reactions from the two presidential campaigns were dramatically different in tone and tenor.

Barack Obama delayed a rally in Westminster, Colo., to make calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The Times' Maeve Reston was with the campaign, and she reports that when Obama eventually took the stage he appelaed for calm -- an