They have no 'political capital'

There's nothing better for this country than Republicans losing their mythical 'political capital'. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - (ANWR) Arctic drilling dropped from House bill

WASHINGTON - House leaders late Wednesday abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, fearing it would jeopardize approval of a sweeping budget bill Thursday. They also dropped from the budget document plans to allow states to authorize oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts — regions currently under a drilling moratorium. The actions were a stunning setback for those who have tried for years to open a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, to oil development, and a victory for environmentalists, who have lobbied hard against the drilling provisions. President Bush has made drilling in the Alaska refuge his top energy priorities. Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass of New Hampshire, signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill.

Those 25 Republicans aren't crawling over each other to line up with Bush on ANWR when a majority of their constituents have made it clear that they do not want oil drilling at ANWR. Personally, I don't care much one way or the other but I DO know that the oil at ANWR isn't some gigantic bonanza-with high-end estimates of 17 billion barrels. For a country that uses 21-22 million barrels a day, that comes out to about two years of oil at current daily consumption levels. Big deal. Update-my comment about '17 billion barrels' of oil at ANWR was incorrect. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates there are only 7.7 billion barrels at ANWR so that means with all the bellyaching and whining about ANWR, the whole project will supply enough oil for the U.S for 1 year (366 days). Big deal! The Sierra Club on ANWR