Sep. 30--WASHINGTON -- A majority of congressional lawmakers from Kansas and Missouri aided in the defeat Monday of the largest financial bailout in American history.

Of the 13 House members from both states, eight of them -- five Republicans and three Democrats -- opposed the $700 million plan.

Opponents included liberals who wanted more protections for homeowners and fiscal conservatives who derided it as government socialism. Among them: U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, a Republican from Columbia, who is in a tough race for governor against Democrat Jay Nixon.

The bailout lost 205-228, with Wall Street watching as if it were game seven of the World Series.

Hulshof said he opposed the bill because it remained "flawed in several respects." One of them: "The price tag of this bill is excessive."

Ken Warren, a St. Louis University political scientist, called Hulshof's vote, just 36 days before the election, highly risky.

"By not voting for this, he could look like he voted for something that did not save the economy," Warren said.

In Kansas, Rep. Dennis Moore of the 3rd District, a Democrat, backed the bill. He said the measure "took the necessary steps to protect American taxpayers."

Moore's opponent, Republican Nick Jordan, said he would have opposed the bill and blamed Moore for not doing more to stem the problem. "Washington needs to stop asking the American people to pay for Congress' mistakes."

Rep. Nancy Boyda, a Democrat, was one of three Kansas House members to oppose it. She faces a tough re-election effort for a seat she won two years ago from a Republican who held the seat for years.

"If we spent $700 billion ... and it doesn't work, then we don't have that money to spend on doing what really needs to be done to strengthen our economy," Boyda said.

Her Republican opponent, Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, said she, too, would have voted "no," calling the legislation "hastily" crafted. "The government gets a lot more money, the CEO can get more money, and the taxpayer is left holding the bag."

Kansas Reps. Jim Moran and Todd Tiahrt, both Republicans, also opposed the bill.

University of Kansas political scientist Burdett Loomis said Boyda's stand made sense because she had cast herself "as a person who speaks for ordinary Kansans." Ordinary Kansans, he said, were against the bailout.

Moore, on the other hand, has a record of backing business. His vote suggests that "he feels very safe in his district," Loomis said.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri also voted against it, even though the Democrat supported the bipartisan effort last week to reshape the White House-initiated plan into a more taxpayer-friendly bill that Congress would approve.

Cleaver said he entered the House chamber after the vote count showed that the bill was doomed. The Kansas City lawmaker said he decided to vote with public sentiment because he knew the bill would come up again.

"I voted 'no' to send a message that the administration is going to have to bring over Republicans," he said. "The president apparently has no clout with his own party."

The bill attracted 65 Republican votes and 140 Democrats.

Cleaver said the bill probably would have gotten enough votes from Democrats to pass if a measure to allow bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgages had been included.

When the bill comes up again, possibly this week, he said the leadership likely would try to include provisions that would attract more votes.

In the 6th District in northwest Missouri, Rep. Sam Graves, a Republican, opposed the bailout. He said the bailout "neither properly punished the wrongdoers nor adequately protected the innocent taxpayers, investors and retirees."

His opponent, Democrat Kay Barnes, said she would have opposed the measure. Congress' inability to develop a package "demonstrates just how fundamentally broken things are in Washington," Barnes said in a statement.

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