After six years in President Barrack Obama's political purgatory, the Keystone XL Pipeline leads the Washington agenda.
That's the Mountain View County consequence of the American elections Nov. 4.
"We will pass the Keystone pipeline," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said on election night.
Priebus ranked it as second to the budget in Republican priorities when the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3.
There is more than an $8 billion pipeline from the oilsands to Texas refineries at stake.
Nov. 4 was a turning point in the political war between the oil companies and the green movement.
The U.S. constitution, written in Philadelphia's malarial summer heat in 1787 and perfected in small increments for a century, is a test of patience for its students.
One of its intricacies is that – to insure continuity – only a third of the 100 senators run in an election year.
On Tuesday, with 36 seats up for grabs including three vacancies, Republicans gained a majority by winning seven Democratic seats.
When results are in from Alaska, Virginia and Louisiana, the Republicans will gain nine Senate seats and have a 54 to 46 majority.
With the Democratic senators who support it, authorizing a Keystone Canada-U.S. border crossing will pass with a delay-proof majority of at least 61.
President Obama will veto it.
Republicans need 67 votes to override the presidential veto, so the hunt for a half dozen more Democratic votes is on.
That search is easier because the Democrats also lost governorships and House of Representative seats in a national rejection of Obama's presidency and the party.
There is an alternative: negotiate a trade-off that gives Obama a face-saving win in another area.
The Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell prefers to negotiate.
Congressional infighting has a 60 per cent disapproval rating, and McConnell can now make infighting look Democratic.
In the new year, expect feverish Keystone demonstrations outside the White House and more celebrity arrests.
However, Keystone's opponents lost their leverage on Nov. 4.
Republicans can sweep the presidency, Senate and House of Representatives in 2016 in spite of them.
Frank Dabbs is a veteran business and political journalist, author of three biographies, and a contributor to, researcher or editor of half a dozen books.
