Obama's latest crusade: nuclear energy

WASHINGTON - Prodding Republicans, President Barack Obama on Tuesday championed nuclear energy expansion as the latest way that feuding parties can move beyond the "broken politics" of Washington that have imperiled his agenda and soured voters.

His call came as he dispatched Vice President Joe Biden and Cabinet secretaries nationwide to tout the economic stimulus plan against Republican criticism, reflecting that until bipartisanship comes, the White House will remain aggressive in selling its own case to the public.

Since a January special election in Massachusetts, when Democrats lost the 60th vote they need in the Senate to overcome Republican delays on legislation, Obama has recalibrated his strategy to advance his agenda. His plan includes reaching out to Republicans on tax breaks, on health care and on energy, but also putting them on the spot for any refusal to help.

With a host of new goals - rebuilding public confidence, keeping Obama in charge of the debate, halting deep Democratic losses in this year's elections - the White House is now infusing its communications strategy with more of the discipline that it famously used in Obama's presidential campaign.

The president cast his push for more nuclear energy as both economically vital and politically attractive to the opposition party. He announced more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to build the first nuclear power plant in nearly three decades.

He asked Republicans to get behind a comprehensive energy bill that expands clean energy sources, assigns a cost to the polluting emissions of fossil fuels so that nuclear fuel becomes more affordable, and gives both parties a rare chance to claim common ground.