Former Gov. Mark R. Warner said he would have voted for the $700 billion financial bailout plan that the House of Representatives rejected Monday, but would have liked to see some changes made to it.

"The option was no action or action," he said. "This is not one you can say we've got to wait another 30 days and play Russian roulette. I would have liked to have seen it improved."

Warner, a Democrat, is vying with another former governor, Jim Gilmore, for the U.S. Senate seat of Republican John W. Warner, who is retiring. Mark Warner was interviewed yesterday by the editorial board of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

He criticized Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson Jr. for seeking too much power in the original bailout bill, and he called the House vote against the bill "an embarrassment."

He also said the bill was misnamed. Instead of being called a bailout, he said it should have been called a "pipeline to credit markets" that would provide relief to American taxpayers.

Stressing the importance of the legislation, Warner added:

"These are real people with real homes, with jobs, whose lives are on balance as they wait for this to play out."

Warner said the financial markets need a single regulatory authority rather than the current system of multiple regulators, which allows financial institutions to "forum shop."

Warner said perhaps future regulations should require fixed-rate mortgages only, rather than adjustable-rate mortgages, and a larger down payment on a house purchase.

The failure of the legislation points out the need for a bipartisan approach to governing and the need for someone "who can understand a balance sheet," said Warner, who made millions of dollars in business before he was elected governor in 2001.

On other matters, Warner said: