Eleven Democrats today joined a united GOP in supporting the fast-tracking of the Keystone XL pipeline, leaving the controversial project four votes short while all but ensuring that the political battle over the oil link will rage on until Election Day.

Republicans directed a steady jeer at the White House after the 56-42 vote, blasting President Obama for personally contacting swing-vote Democrats and urging their opposition to swift approval of the $7 billion link between Alberta's emissions-heavy oil sands and Gulf Coast refineries (Greenwire, March 8).

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), his party's third-ranked leader, lamented that Obama had erected "another roadblock" to the pipeline's promise of 830,000 daily barrels of new oil imports even as his administration promises to pursue an energy policy that relies on both fossil fuels and renewables. The office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted Obama for "personally" pushing back at the jobs Keystone XL would create.

Environmentalists hailed the outcome, with the Sierra Club describing the rejection of the XL proposal as part of a "polluter pile-on" turned back during debate on the Senate's transportation legislation.

But beneath the positive outcome for Democrats and greens opposed to the project lies a trend of increased affinity within Obama's party for pushing the XL line forward despite White House support for a more complete environmental review of its still-unsettled route through Nebraska.

Senate Democrats backing the bill from John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) were Kay Hagan (N.C.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Jim Webb (Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Mark Begich (Alaska), Bob Casey (Pa.), Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Max Baucus (Mont.).

Of that group, Hagan, Webb and Casey are seen as more recent converts to the pro-pipeline cause.

Bill McKibben, the climate activist and co-founder of 350.org who helped spearhead massive protests against the pipeline last year, candidly described the vote as "a temporary victory."

Added McKibben in a statement: "[T]here's no guarantee that it holds for the long run. But given that this thing was a 'no brainer' a year ago, it's pretty remarkable that people power was able to keep working, even in the oil-soaked Senate."

A Democratic proposal that would restrict exports of crude oil and refined gasoline from the pipeline, while requiring that its raw materials be sourced from American companies and affirming the existing White House review process, failed on a 34-64 vote.

Two Republicans, Sens. John Thune (S.D.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.), did not vote today. Both absent Republicans are considered likely yes votes for the pipeline, leaving its supporters two senators short of a filibuster-proof majority.