South Florida republicans return home after opposing Bush's Wall Street plan

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Three South Florida lawmakers are among those who voted against the bailout battle that sent stocks into a tailspin 24 hours ago.

All three of these 'no' voters have two things in common. They're all republicans and they each face legitimate opposition at the ballot box in just 35 days, now each of their opponents are wondering if that had something to do with their vote Monday.

Stocks Tuesday recovered more than half of their losses from the day before, but in the White House, before the opening bell, the president continued to plead with members of congress to pass some form of rescue plan, which they dramatically shot down on the floor of the House of Representatives Monday. "Many of them don't like the fact that our economy has reached this point," Bush said, "and I understand that, but the reality is that we are in an urgent situation, and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act."

No doubt the president's message was in part directed to a familiar trio of South Florida lawmakers: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and brothers Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, who together addressed members of the media at Miami International Airport, after they arrived for time off during the Rosh Hoshanah holiday.

All three republicans voted against the rescue plan Monday, and upon their arrival to South Florida, these conservative lawmakers sounded somewhat populist in their reasoning. "We have a serious problem not on Wall Street, we have a serious problem on Main Street, and that's where our attention should be focused," said Ros-Lehtinen.

"There was nothing expected of those who-- through their irresponsibility-- created this mess," chimed in Lincoln Diaz-Balart referring to the bankers the plan will mostly benefit.

His brother, Mario Diaz-Balart added, "Before you ask one penny from the taxpayer, you'd better be willing to have Wall Street put up money first."

But each, for the first time in a long time, currently faces serious opposition for their seat in congress this November, and their opponents each think they're not playing populist-- they're playing politics.

Both former Hialeah mayor Raul Martinez, who is opposing Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and businesswoman Annette Taddeo, who's challenging Ros-Lehtinen, agree they could not have supported the bailout either, but they both took the opportunity Tuesday to use the vote against their opponent.

Martinez accused Diaz-Balart of playing rubber stamp to Bush and only turned against the president fearing the wrath of his constituency at the polls in November. "He's got a very tough election," Martinez said of Diaz-Balart. "He's trying to get away from President Bush, when he has voted 94 percent with President Bush."

Taddeo had a similar complaint of her opponent. "Where was Ileana during the entire week of the negotiations?" she said. "Where was Ileana for the 7.5 years that she's been rubber-stamping President Bush, which got us into the mess we're in right now?"

Former Cuban American National Foundation Executive Director Joe Garcia, who's challenging Mario Diaz-Balart, said he would've grudgingly supported the bailout in order to fix the credit market. This provides him perhaps the biggest political wedge in his congressional challenge. "I'm not happy with this bill," Garcia said, "but we need to do something to save the foreclosure issue. We're on the bleeding edge, not the cutting. He should've been on this months ago. He's a coward, and he has shown his cowardice."

So is all of this politics or principle? Ros-Lehtinen said, Monday night, the voters will be the final arbiter. "Some voters will vote for you because of your votes, some will vote in spite of your votes. It's sort of a mystical science to know what makes a voter vote for a candidate."

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