What does it take to make The One roll up his sleeves? Just the prospect of economic calamity. Oh, and Karl Rove publicly humiliating him for doing jack to help pass this bill when he’s out telling voters is desperately needed to avert disaster.

Barack Obama on Tuesday stepped up his advocacy for the Bush Administration’s endangered $700 billion bailout plan by making a round of calls to rank-and-file Democrats in the House and casting congressional inaction in dire, real-world terms. He also massaged his pitch, no longer using the word “bailout” to describe the bill…

Obama reached out to individual House members Tuesday, signaling that the Democratic nominee was taking a deeper role in the process. The campaign would not disclose names, but said he was coordinating his efforts with the congressional leadership.

“He is urging members to take another look at it,” spokeswoman Linda Douglass said.

U.S. News and World Report claims that some House Republicans are prepared to let the credit markets twist until after the election because “[w]e cannot see at this moment any movement by voters that they would tell their members who voted ‘no’ to change their vote to ‘yes.'” Really? There’s this, from WaPo:

But then there’s this too:

You can reconcile that data in two ways: (1) The public wants some kind of plan but not the Paulson plan (for the moment at least), or (2) the public’s answers swing dramatically depending upon whether the questioner emphasizes the cost of the bailout or the amount of wealth potentially lost if nothing is done. It’s probably a moot point either way. Politico claims there are 110 votes shaping up on each side for a compromise, thanks no doubt to the addition of McCain’s and Obama’s proposal to lift the FDIC limit on individual accounts to $250K.

Exit question: When will the credit crisis start to hit consumers? Time claims it’s already here, albeit just the first drips, while CBS floats a cancer analogy to claim that it’s on the way. Quote: “‘This is like the advice you get from the doctor who says you should quit smoking,’ said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics in New York. ‘You know he’s right. But if you don’t, you’re not going to die tomorrow and you’re not going to die next week. But at some time, it’s probably going to get you.'”

Update: “Politicians, bloggers, and pundits celebrating the bill’s failure don’t seem to get just how much trouble we’re still in.”

Update: A nervous blogger eyes his meager little retirement portfolio and puts his broker on speed-dial: The Senate will vote tomorrow night.