GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- As if peddling a product with a $700 billion price tag weren't hard enough, the two traveling salesmen for the Wall Street bailout have an added challenge:

John McCain and Barack Obama have to make the case for the plan while displaying their anger over it at the same time.

Even the voters who support the plan are mad about it. And those who oppose it, well, they're enough to give any candidate pause.

"I don't see why we should bail them out," said Walter Cummings, a member of the United Auto Workers who showed up at an Obama rally here yesterday. "The day I have grandkids, they'll be carrying that debt. And it's all for the executives."

As the nominees for president, Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain can count on support from loyalists like Mr. Cummings, despite their disagreement over the necessity of passing the bailout.

But the candidates clearly don't want to get too far out on that shaky limb. An Associated Press poll this week suggested that eight in 10 people fear the financial meltdown will affect them directly, yet 45 percent still oppose the bailout.

Mr. McCain has his strategy to finesse the situation. His decision last week to "suspend" his campaign and return to Washington to rescue the bailout plan cast him as a reluctant hero.

He was there to make the deal happen, while also showing solidarity with rebel House Republicans trying to limit the commitment of taxpayer money.

Mr. McCain can't quite chalk up a win on the first part, of course, because the measure didn't pass the House on its first go. Still, he staked out a conservative posture that continued this week when he chose not to speak on behalf of the plan when it came before the Senate.

Mr. Obama, on the other hand, took the opportunity of the Senate vote to articulate his ire about the situation and the CEOs he holds responsible. It's a message he's been hitting hard on the campaign trail every day this week.

"The fact that we are in this mess is an outrage," Mr. Obama told the crowd in Grand Rapids. "It's an outrage because we did not get here by accident.... This financial crisis is a direct result of the greed and irresponsibility that has dominated Washington and Wall Street for years."

In case there was any doubt about who he meant, Mr. Obama named them: "Speculators who gamed the system. Regulators who looked the other way. And lobbyists who bought their way into our government."

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who joined Mr. Obama in an afternoon appearance at Michigan State University, thinks it's an important note to hit.

"People are angry. They're outraged, and so am I," Stabenow said. "People in office these last eight years have given us fiscal policies that have taken us to the brink. And people in Michigan felt it first, and felt it the hardest. So they deserve to feel the way they do."

Voters at Obama rallies on Thursday didn't hold his support for the rescue package against him, but some still nursed a generalized anger.

Ric Cortez, an auto worker from Wyoming, Mich., agreed with friends that Mr. Obama is the best hope for an economic turnaround.

But the plan now in Congress "reeks," in his opinion.

"It's horrible," said Mr. Cortez. "We should let the banks work out their own problems. Why should the government get involved?"

House members set to vote on the package are keenly aware of such sentiments. But the candidates are doing what they can to persuade -- with some success.

"I'm mad about it, and especially that they loaded it up with a bunch of pork," said Nancy Cyberski-Boughan, a retired Christmas tree farmer from Lansing who attended the MSU rally.

"But they've got us over a barrel," she said. "And I believe what Barack said about it."