Put away the radar guns on climate change, folks. Issuewise, billionaire Tom Steyer's baby is going down for a long nap.
If I sound overly gleeful, it isn't that I don't think climate change is man-made or a problem in need of a solution. It's only because I believe in the greater urgency of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Steyer held the pipeline up when he splashily bought a chunk of the Democratic action in seven races this election cycle. But it was a costly gamble -- not quite $100 million, but a lot of money -- which he lost.
Bottom line is, on Tuesday night the pipeline's chances increased after Republicans clinched control of the U.S. Senate. The GOP now has enough votes in Congress to force a decision by President Barack Obama on the Canada-to-Texas oil project. Look for proponents sooner rather than later to gather enough support to override a presidential veto.
Before the election, at least 57 senators could be counted on to support the pipeline. But the new Senate chamber will have at least 61 votes in favor of the pipeline. It's the clear majority Republicans, and even some Democrats, have been waiting for to win approval.
This is where Steyer lost so big. Anti-pipeline Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, and would-be successors to the retiring Jay Rockefeller and Tom Harkin were defeated, while Tim Johnson retired. Steyer was betting heavily on Udall in Colorado and Bruce Braleyin Iowa winning their races.
Steyer made it plain he wanted to show off the strength of his super-PAC's opposition to the pipeline. He chose Colorado to do it in.
Colorado's Mark Udall was one of the few vulnerable Senate Democratic incumbents who refused to back the Keystone XL Pipeline publicly. That was perfect, Steyer reckoned, for his litmus test for sizable financial support and voter opposition to KXL.
Udall had voted against efforts to expedite the pipelines approval, going along with delays from the Obama administration. So Steyer went all in.
His massive efforts fell flat. Some $5.5 million and 68 staffers on the ground later, pro-pipeline Republican Cory Gardner sent Udall packing by a 4.2 percent margin.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday, "we will pass the Keystone pipeline No. 2," after passing a budget.
During a press conference Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said Congress will act to approve the pipeline as one of its first orders of business.
Meanwhile, in the Sunshine State, NextGen Florida Climate -- Steyer's action group -- spent all of $19.8 million in Florida between Aug. 7 and Oct. 22. Which is a lot of attention gone unrewarded.
In fairness, while I might considerNextGen Florida in an induced coma after Tuesday, its director, Jackie Lee, remains a believer. "The fight against climate change in Florida is just beginning, and NextGen Climate will remain engaged and continue to keep climate on the ballot,"said Lee on Wednesday.
Maybe. I just don't think that for the next two years the San Francisco-based climate-change benefactor is going to fluff up his failed campaign with more millions in a state where he clearly stumbled and fell on his two main goals -- getting Charlie Crist elected governor and lighting the kind of fire under young people that would bring them to the polls.
In all, Steyer personally poured more than $73 million into outside political groups. It made him by far the largest donor to such organizations, with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his $20 million in contributions crossing the finish line a distant second.
In only one race did the polls move against Steyer's targeted candidate: Terri Lynn Land's Senate bid in Michigan, down by 10.8 percent. In every other race, when NextGen targeted a Republican from May until October, by October polls favored the Republican. Voters, centered on jobs and the economy, simply weren't moved by Steyer's pitch.
The TransCanada pipeline project -- Keystone XL -- which would transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil-sands crude per day from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has been awaiting U.S. approval for six years. Six years -- think of it.
President Obama said last year Keystone will only go forward if it "does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution."
The president doesn't hold those cards anymore. Tuesday's election reshuffled the deck.
I believe the president will now consider the upside of the pipeline, its benefit to American oil independence, its interests to national security, the importance of keeping it out of the hands of Asians. I have faith that he now will sign the bill.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith.
