Was Joe Biden ever "shot at" while visiting Iraq? It's a question Bill Sammon tries to answer:

"Let's start telling the truth," Biden said during a presidential primary debate sponsored by YouTube last year. "Number one, you take all the troops out - you better have helicopters ready to take those 3,000 civilians inside the Green Zone, where I have been seven times and shot at. You better make sure you have protection for them, or let them die."

But when questioned about the episode afterward by the Hill newspaper, Biden backpedaled from his claim of being "shot at" and instead allowed: "I was near where a shot landed."

The senior senator from Delaware went on to say that some sort of projectile "landed" outside a building in the Green Zone where he and another senator had spent the night during a visit in December 2005. The lawmakers were shaving in the morning when they felt the building shake, Biden said.

"No one got up and ran from the room-it wasn't that kind of thing," he told the Hill. "It's not like I had someone holding a gun to my head."

As Sammon notes, Hillary got pummeled by the press when she claimed to have landed under sniper fire in Bosnia, but no such scrutiny has befallen Biden. Partly that's because when Biden said it, no one gave him a chance at the nomination. But what about now?

Right now up nearly 400 points. Not bad, considering...

From Reuters:

U.S. stocks rose Tuesday, struggling back from Wall Street's worst slide in more than 20 years, as investors bet that Washington would find a way to pass a plan to stabilize the U.S. financial sector despite Monday's defeat.

House members rejected the proposed $700 billion rescue plan, backed by President Bush, who made another plea on Tuesday for Congress to approve a measure this week. Senate leaders declared, "We will get it done this week."

Investors snapped up beaten-down shares across the board, with shares of financial companies, including JPMorgan Chase, up nearly 12 percent, among the standouts.

Technology shares also bounced back, with Apple Inc , a top boost to the Nasdaq, a day after it led the Nasdaq to its worst day since April 2000 when the Internet bubble burst.

Stronger-than-expected economic reports, including a reading on consumer confidence, added to the positive sentiment.

This will probably ease worries that Congress shouldn't have left on recess without a bailout bill, but the question is whether the rally will last.

This is where the national tracking polls stand as of today:

Gallup: Obama 49, McCain 43
Rasmussen: Obama 51, McCain 45
Diageo/Hotline: Obama 47, McCain 41
GW/Battleground: Obama 48, McCain 46

Obama now leads by 5.1 points in the RCP National Average

A new PPP poll in Florida shows an 8-point reversal since the last poll was taken three weeks ago, with Obama taking a small lead.

Obama 49 (+4 vs. last poll, Sept. 7-9)
McCain 46 (-4)

McCain leads by 0.3 of a point in the RCP Average for Florida

The following statement was released by Minority Leader John Boehner's office in response to both Obama and McCain announcing this morning their support for increasing the FDIC limit above $100,000.

A quote from Boehner:

"The presidential candidates' support for increasing the FDIC cap is welcome news. Increasing the FDIC cap is a proposal put on the table by Roy Blunt and House Republicans but ruled out by Democrats during the negotiations that led to yesterday's unsuccessful vote."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton responds to this RNC ad:

"For John McCain's party to demagogue a rescue plan that he supports in order to score cheap political points is not only dishonest and dishonorable, it is the height of irresponsibility on a day when we urgently need to pass that plan to prevent an economic catastrophe. So much for country first."

A new McCain TV ad, set to air "nationally," hits Obama and Democrats on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The ad uses a less-than-flattering quote from Bill Clinton.

There are plenty of people who share responsibility for the failure of leadership that led to yesterday's debacle, starting with President Bush and Hank Paulson who set things off on the wrong foot by presenting an undefined plan with a huge price tag and then did a very poor job of selling that plan to both Congress and the public.

But Nancy Pelosi's performance stands out as really hard to either explain or excuse. Think about how this played out: when the package was first proposed, Pelosi all but demanded a certain number of Republican votes to get it passed. Pelosi then violated one of the cardinal rules of politics by putting a hugely important bill on the floor without knowing whether or not it would pass.

More to the point, however, she put this vote on the floor yesterday having set up its passage as depending on Republican support - yet still went to the floor and delivered a garishly partisan speech that blamed Republicans for the entire mess.

I hardly believe that a dozen Republicans switched their votes based on Pelosi's speech, but that's almost beside the point. It was a display of petty partisanship when the nation needed bipartisan leadership.

After her speech, when time had expired and the bill was stuck a dozen votes short, what did Pelosi do? As Speaker of the House with a 36-seat majority and the ultimate responsibility of passing legislation, did she lean on any members of the Congressional Black Caucus to switch their votes? No. Did she use the whip hand against any of her Committee Chairman? No. Pressure fellow members of the California delegation? No.

In short, there didn't appear to be much effort - or any effort at all, really - on Pelosi's part to drag this bill across the finish line. Ninety-five Democrats voted against. She only needed to strong arm twelve at most - and if she'd made an effort to bring along seven or eight it's quite possible Boehner would have made up the difference.

Instead, the bill crashed and burned. Maybe that's what Pelosi wanted to happen all along, I don't know. That's a cynical thought, of course, but probably more reassuring than the other option - which is that the bill failed because of her total incompetence and ineffectiveness.

Does John Boehner deserve some blame as well for losing 133 votes out of his conference? Absolutely.

But here's the point: in situations like this the buck stops with the leadership of the majority. They had plenty of available arms to twist to make this happen, but didn't twist them. Contrast this with the way Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay - love him or hate him - manhandled his own conference on the prescription drug bill five years ago on a vote that in the grand scheme of things could be 50 or 100 times less consequential than the one taken yesterday.

Two-minute TV ad from Obama:

The RNC is out with an ad hitting Obama on the economy: