By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD, San Francisco Chronicle

WASHINGTON - No one was more instrumental in passage of the Affordable Care Act than Nancy Pelosi, and no one paid a bigger political price.

If the Supreme Court in June rules the law unconstitutional in whole or in part, the San Francisco Democrat, and now House minority leader, will have lost not only her speakership but also much or all of her largest legacy.

WASHINGTON - A pre-summer spike in gasoline prices has ignited an election-year furor, with President Obama mocking presumed Republican "three-point plans for $2 gas," all of which involve drilling, and Republicans claiming that Obama's energy strategy relies on algae, pond scum and chicken manure, not to mention bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra.

WASHINGTON - No Republican has claimed the mantle of Ronald Reagan with more unabashed relish than former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

WASHINGTON - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is predicting that Democrats will recapture the House in November, a move that could open the possibility of the San Francisco Democrat regaining the speakership and becoming the first politician to return to that office after a defeat since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn in 1955.

WASHINGTON - GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul's antiwar stand is considered so out of sync with his party that rival Rick Santorum put him in league with liberal Democrat Dennis Kucinich and to the left of President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON - As it prepares to pass a bill this week to punish China for undervaluing its currency, the U.S. Senate has passed a resolution expressing regret for the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and later laws that banned most Chinese immigrants from the United States and denied them citizenship.

WASHINGTON - Economists are generally skeptical about the biggest and most bipartisan part of President Obama's $477 billion plan to help put 14 million people back to work: a large payroll tax cut for workers and businesses.

WASHINGTON - Ending tax breaks for oil, corporate jets and hedge fund managers is nearly every Democrat's favorite way to reduce the federal debt. But one of the biggest tax breaks of all is the mortgage interest deduction, and its benefits are heavily concentrated in a handful of pricey cities, none of which votes Republican.

WASHINGTON - Issuing an ultimatum to a president of her own party, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is betting that she can recapture the speakership in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship over raising the $14 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2.

WASHINGTON - California is home to more than 400 endangered or threatened species, more than any other state except Hawaii.

From the San Bruno elfin butterfly to the San Joaquin kit fox, the best hope for their survival lies with the ranchers and farmers who manage most of the state's privately owned open space. About 33 million acres, or a third of California, is ranch or farmland.