Politico: Energizing the Senate cap-and-trade bill

As the fight over climate and energy legislation moves to the Senate, the political climate is heating up for New Mexico Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman.

The serious and soft-spoken chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has already emerged as a key player in negotiations over how the Senate will handle its version of the controversial legislation.

The House narrowly passed its more than 1,200-page version of the bill last week, after last-minute White House wrangling locked in the support of rural and Rust Belt Democrats. Now the bill moves to the Senate, where the administration will face an even tougher fight persuading skeptical moderate Democrats to back it.