That singular focus on quick cash has dashed GM's talks with Chrysler, which Wagoner says are now on hold. Analysts had lambasted the proposed Motown marriage as two wrongs that didn't make a right. Studies predicted the job losses resulting from such a union could have reached 35,000—a politically untenable number that could have scuttled GM's hopes for a bailout. Backing away from the Chrysler deal, shows GM understands the politics of persuasion. "The domestic automakers have to basically conduct a political campaign," says Peter De Lorenzo, a former Motown marketing exec who now blogs on the industry. "They had been getting outflanked, but now they're making their case much better. I just hope it's not too late."

The clock is ticking. GM and Ford execs took pains to point out that they're running out of ways to cut costs and jobs after already giving the boot to a quarter-million people this decade. "We are cutting to the bone," GM president Fritz Henderson told analysts. Without a quick-cash infusion, they argue, the end is just around the corner.

But in a clever turn that would make a politician proud, Wagoner contends this bailout is not about Detroit, it's about the rest of us. After all, a new study by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor found that nearly 3 million Americans would lose their jobs within a year of Detroit's collapse. "The impact would be devastating for the U.S. economy," Wagoner said as he stumped on CNBC. "The problems in the auto sector are a direct consequence of the credit crisis, which has now moved to Main Street. We certainly hope we can count on a similar kind of support from the government as we saw them give the financial sector." A presidential candidate couldn't have said it better himself.

© 2008