Senate climate bill fails

Note that our presidential candidates evidently didn't care enough about this issue to actually show up for this vote...
Senate climate bill blocked

Democratic leaders fell a dozen votes short of getting the 60 needed to end a Republican filibuster on the measure and bring the bill up for a vote. The 48-36 vote failed to reach even a majority, a disappointment to the bill's supporters.
...
"There is no tax increase," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., one of the bill's chief sponsors said. She said the emissions trading system would provide tax relief to help people pay energy prices. And supporters disputed that it would substantially increase gasoline prices.

Four Democrats joined most Republicans in essentially killing the bill.

Both presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, were absent, although supporters of the bill said they had sent letters advising they would have voted for the bill.

McCain's letter is here.

Darn it all, but scheduling problems prevented him from being in Washington this week to deal with "the most important environmental challenge facing not only our nation, but the entire world."

He doesn't specify exactly what those scheduling problems were, but I'm guessing it was some combination of important dental work, death of grandparents, sick children, dog chewing on important travel documents, etc.