WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats sweating this year's elections may be hoping that the Obama administration's latest delay to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline takes a politically fraught issue off the table for the midterms.

Fat chance.

The State Department is indefinitely extending the government's review of the contentious oil pipeline and citing ongoing litigation over its route across Nebraska. The project has taken on a life of its own as climate change activists battle with energy advocates from both parties.

Republicans are jumping at the chance to paint Democrats as powerless to rein in their own party's president. Keystone opponents are split, with some praising the delay and others chiding President Barack Obama for not vetoing the project outright.