Outside the west front of the Capitol this afternoon, House Democrats held a campaign rally-style press conference to tout the Waxman-Markey energy bill that is heading to the House floor Friday.

The sunny, hot weather served as a better backdrop than previous outdoor events on climate change. Supporters stood behind the podium holding signs that read, "Make Our Energy Clean/Make it American."

Speaking at the event were the architects of the bill -- Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) -- as well as freshman Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), a member of Waxman's committee.

The deal struck last night between Waxman and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), chairman of the Agriculture Committee, has given Democrats a feeling of momentum toward the passage of the plan. In the middle of a scrum of reporters following his remarks, Doyle said he thinks Peterson's approval is "going to move some of the fence-sitters in the Agriculture Committee into the 'Yes' column."

Doyle said behind-the-scenes vote counting is still taking place, but "there are so many leaning in the 'Yes' column, that there's a sense when it goes to the House floor" the bill will be approved.

At a press conference this morning, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) said he heard Democrats had well below the number of votes necessary to pass legislation. He said Democrats had "maybe 190 votes, and that falls way short of the necessary 218."

Cantor also questioned the latest scoring of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office, which said the plan would cost an average of $175 per household each year, well below the $3,000 figure Republicans have pushed for more than a month. "I think that calls into question the validity of this particular study because clearly this is a job killer," he said.

In their remarks at the rally, both Markey and Waxman leveled praise on the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the importance of President Obama's election to the bill's existence. Markey called it "the most important energy and environment bill in the history of the United States of America" and said it will "create a green energy revolution, not only for our country, but for the entire world."

Following his remarks, Markey told a scrum of reporters that House Democrats and the Obama administration are "arm-in-arm" on the contents of the bill.

"This is one of President Obama's top three priorities," said Markey. "The White House is very active in helping us right now. The White House is making very clear that they want this legislation to pass this week."