Slip, sliding away*, **

The bailout plan appears to be going down in flames in the House of Representatives, although the vote has been kept open to do some heavy duty arm twisting and turn 11 recalcitrant lawmakers around.

The Dow plunged more than 700 points as traders saw the bailout wasn't passing and is now down about 460 points (although it could be up or down 100 by the time I hit the button to publish this).

Oh, and Wachovia and Washington Mutual have disappeared.

*11:08 a.m. PST: The bill has failed, at least for now... Dow down 620 points, but swinging wildly like a cornered and wounded animal.

**11:14 a.m. PST: The New York Times reports: House Rejects Bailout Plan, 228-205; Leadership Plans Second Attempt to Pass Bill. Stories in the Washington Post and NYT.

Also, a federal grand jury subpoenas documents from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

UPDATE: Read the roll call of today's vote here. Interestingly, given that Pelosi hails from the Bay Area, the bill would have passed had she been able to convince 13 of her fellow California Democrats to switch their votes from 'nay' to 'yea.'

In all, 15 California Democrats voted against the bailout package: Adam Schiff of Pasadena; Loretta Sanchez of Garden Grove; Linda Sanchez of Lakewood; Joe Baca of San Bernardino; Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles; Grace Napolitano of Santa Fe Springs; Lucille Roybal-Allard of East Los Angeles; Hilda Solis of El Monte; Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks; Mike Thompson of Napa; Lynn Woolsey of Marin; Barbara Lee of Oakland; Diane Watson of Los Angeles; Pete Stark of Fremont; and, Bob Filner of San Diego.

That's nearly half of the 34 Democrats in the California delegation. On the other side, nine of the 19 California Republicans opposed the bill.

UPDATE II: As of the closing bell, the Dow had fallen 778 points, the worst single-day drop in two decades.