The economic sky is not falling, according to Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley. Or at least the federal government hasn’t provided sufficient factual evidence to justify a hastily arranged, $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street. “I am not convinced that we have to rush to judgment on this,” Barkley said at a press conference this morning at the Capitol. “Let’s take our time to do it the right way. These questions that I’ve posed have to be answered before we put $700 billion of taxpayers’s money at risk.”

Among the questions raised by Barkley, who is seeking to oust Sen. Norm Coleman: Who decided that a decision on the bailout package must be reached by Monday? Where did the $700 billion figure come from? Where is the evidence for a credit crunch? What percentage of the financial sector is involved in the current crisis?

Barkley also stated that the dire predictions and truncated debate is reminiscent of the run-up to the Iraq war. “They’ve known this was coming for a long time,” he said. “Why did they wait until seven days before Congress was going to adjourn to bring this out. I think it’s incredible that they waited this long if things were this bad. The timing just doesn’t seem right to me.”

Earlier this week Barkley stated that he would “probably have to hold my nose and hold my breath and vote for this because the alternative is collapse.” But his opinion changed after talking with financial experts and reading up on the current situation. “I’ve had time now to do research and ask questions,” he said. “The more questions I ask, the less convinced I am that the world’s going to end if we don’t do something right away.”

Barkley conceded that the wretched state of the economy and the partisan sniping in Washington could bolster his candidacy. “This is just another example of Congress’s inability to do anything right,” he said. “Both Democrats and Republican were asleep at the switch on this one. They let this happen.”