Pelosi: Gore Not In D.C. Because It Wasn't "Energy Efficient"

Pelosi: Gore Not In D.C. Because It Wasn't "Energy Efficient"

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she's seeing "a great narrowing of the undecided" in favor of the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill this week. Not enough, however, to let former vice president Al Gore waste any time away from his phone.

Gore was expected at the Capitol today to share a podium with Pelosi and meet with key representatives, but apparently there are too many key representatives to leave Gore time for a trip from Tennessee.

"It was a question of what was energy efficient for the vice president," Pelosi said at her weekly press conference.

The speaker got an unintended assist Wednesday from House Republicans, who attempted to stall business in the House with a long series of procedural votes. The constant roll calls gave Democratic leaders lots of chances to reach out to members directly, circumventing the typical communication through a series of staff intermediaries. A Pelosi aide said Democratic leaders peeled off five to ten representatives from fossil fuel-heavy states on both sides of the aisle Wednesday night.

"You never know until you take the vote, but we are making progress," Pelosi said.

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