Democrats trade Gore for Obama

UPDATED:

With House Democrats rushing to a vote on their global warming bill this week, President Obama ratcheted up the pressure, calling the vote of paramount importance and demanding support from wavering Republicans and Democrats.

Democrats canceled an expected Capitol Hill press conference with former Vice President Al Gore, the face of global warming, and instead Mr. Obama spoke at the White House, shifting the focus away from combating greenhouse gases and instead portraying the bill as an economic necessity.

“Make no mistake — this is a jobs bill,” the president said.

The new focus was in line with the advice of a top Democratic strategist last week who said voters don’t care about global warming but would be in favor of a program that promised clean-energy solutions.

Democrats’ bill would cap greenhouse gas emissions, give away emissions allowances and set up a market for companies to trade those permits. Mr. Obama said that, at the end of a decade, the cost to consumers from the bill would be “the same as a postage stamp per day.”

“I can’t stress enough the importance of this vote,” Mr. Obama said.

The White House said Mr. Obama has been making calls to House members to push for their vote, and press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration feels good about the impending vote.

“We like where we are now, and I’d bet on the president,” Mr. Gibbs said.

Mr. Gore, the former vice president whose work on combating global warming has made him synonymous with Democrats’ position on the issue, was slated to join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Capitol for a press conference at 2 p.m. That was canceled just after 10 a.m.

Less than an hour later, the White House announced President Obama would speak at the White House, applauding Democrats’ efforts, at 1:45.

Mrs. Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol that she did not think it was “energy-efficient” for Mr. Gore to be in Washington, instead preferring he continue to work on behalf of the Democrat’s climate-change initiative from his home base in Tennessee.

The speaker’s aides said that it was a strategic decision and the decision was made prior to Mr. Obama announcing a White House energy event Thursday.

“It is a question of what was energy-efficient for the vice president,” Mrs. Pelosi said. “We were narrowing the list of the undecideds and thought that, perhaps, on another occasion we could call upon his time to come here.”