CongressNow: ‘Oil Patch’ Democrats Push Drilling Plan

No one knows yet how the contentious question of offshore drilling will be addressed when the 110th Congress returns to work in September. But during this summer of record-high gasoline prices, key Democrats — especially Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and presumptive presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) — have begun to open the door to expanding domestic drilling, an approach that until recently was heretical within Democratic circles because of decades of strong opposition by environmentalists.