Or what, skeptical politicians might wonder? 'Or one of us will fail, forcing the others into federal bankruptcy court. The falling dominos could destroy 70 years of union bargaining gains, gut communities, kill suppliers, expose as failures the (mostly) Democrats who stood as industry friends and saddle taxpayers with, oh, more than $100 billion in pension obligations that could get dumped on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. 'And then you can explain to all those families why the feds were so willing to rescue Bear Stearns and a bunch of Wall Streeters from collapse (you know, the kind of folks who got rich packaging bad mortgages into securities and laying the foundation for the mortgage crisis) but couldn't extend a measly $50 billion in direct loans to a core industry that still accounts for one in seven jobs in the United States.' Look, this is a presidential year and Detroit's political people recognize an opportunity when they see it. Beleaguered Michigan, essentially so since George W. Bush moved into the White House, is a battleground state, meaning neither Barack Obama nor John McCain can afford to ignore the troubles of its bellwether industry. Who would want to become president only to watch GM, Ford or Chrysler fail? Last fall, Detroit's automakers were considered on the road back, as their share prices suggested. The plunging home values, deepening credit crunch and soaring gas prices that are squeezing Detroit and, yes, its foreign rivals are not problems made in Detroit, but they are problems that are killing sales and restricting access to capital. As much as market Darwinists calmly argue that the 'market should be allowed to work,' a simple fact is that today's economy is littered with evidence that the market's alleged self-enforcement failed, often and repeatedly. The rash of bailouts, anathema to free marketeers, is one response to those failures. 'We're not saying give us money,' says an industry executive with intimate knowledge of the policy discussions. 'We're saying give us a reasonable cost of capital to invest in the United States. This is not a bailout.' But it will be called one. And Detroit's automakers will get little credit for the wrenching restructurings -- job cuts, plant closings, brand sales, portfolio revamps, union give-backs -- that improve the chances their U.S.-based operations will generate profits again. In a presidential year, pragmatic politics trump the politics of perception. If the choice is between offering direct loans at lower, government-guaranteed interest rates or standing on principle and watching Detroit collapse, Washington will choose pragmatism every time. Daniel Howes' column runs Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at (313) 222-2106, [email protected] or detnews.com/howes.