1. CLIMATE:
House Dems prepare to gamble on cap-and-trade vote

House Democratic leaders appear ready to roll the dice by moving ahead with a floor debate on energy and global warming legislation despite not knowing if they have the 218 votes needed to pass the bill. Emerging shortly after midnight following a more than two-hour meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, several top Democrats expressed cautious optimism about their ability to pass the sweeping bill, now called H.R. 2454, that would establish a mandatory cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Go to story #1