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The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to take a long-awaited vote Tuesday on approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline -- in an unexpected and politically-charged turn of events for legislation that has languished in the upper chamber for roughly six years.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will allow the vote in part to give Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu an opportunity to vote yea and perhaps help her win her runoff election next month with Republican challenger Rep. Bill Cassidy.

However, Landrieus political future and the fate of the bill remain highly uncertain.

Most political analysts think Landrieus effort to win a fourth term by trying to show voters in oil-rich Louisiana how much she supports Keystone is a lost cause, with reports of Washington Democrats pulling out and polls showing Cassidy ahead by double digits.

South Dakota GOP Sen. John Thune said on Fox News Sunday the vote will be a cynical attempt to save a Senate seat in Louisiana," considering Reid has blocked the vote for years.

President Obama appears to be giving every indication that he will veto the bill, repeatedly saying the only way the $8 billion pipeline can be approved is after the completion of a long-stalled State Department review. There is also the pending outcome of a legal challenge to the pipeline's route through Nebraska.

And during his recent trip to Australia for an economic summit Obama said: I have to constantly push back against this idea that somehow the Keystone pipeline is either this massive jobs bill for the United States or is somehow lowering gas prices.

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse told Fox News Sunday that he hopes Obama will veto the bill, considering the oil is the filthiest fuel on the planet.

Whitehouse said he thinks the new Senate Republican majority has long despised and denigrated this president and if they can roll him I think they would like to.

He also argued that Senate Republicans twice passed on voting on a Democrat-sponsored Keystone bill.

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SENATE SHOWDOWN Democrat-led house set for Keystone XL vote