“We have no worries. And if we do worry, it’s about the weather. Will it rain today, or remain gray, or will it be cold?”

World Happiness Report,

approval from Delaware and New Jersey, and in January they overcame a legal challenge from Maryland officials, leaving the District the last remaining hurdle.

Local regulators initially rejected the merger in August, saying it wasn’t in the best interests of ratepayers and could curtail the District’s efforts to use more renewable energy. Six weeks later, Exelon and Pepco announced a settlement with Bowser and other city representatives. The arrangement included assistance for low-income customers and grants for green energy projects.

In February the three-member utilities commission spurned that plan, saying it deprived the commission of its ability to determine how the money should be allocated. It put forth an alternative that didn’t guarantee a residential rate freeze, which the mayor’s office and other city officials promptly rejected. “If this thing gets scuttled, it’ll be scuttled for perhaps these reasons of who gets to control what money,” says D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh, a Democrat who represents neighborhoods in the city’s northwest quadrant. She opposes the merger, which she thinks could raise rates.

The District’s consumer advocate, People’s Counsel Sandra MattavousFrye, said on March 11 that she wouldn’t accept the company’s most recent offer. D.C.’S attorney general, who represents the mayor’s office, also rejected it. Commission spokeswoman Kellie Armstead Didigu declined to comment on the proposal. Exelon and Pepco said in a joint statement they still hope a solution can be worked out. “Exelon and Pepco have tried like crazy to get the deal done,” says Paul Ridzon, an analyst for Keybanc, a Cleveland-based investment bank. “But when you get politicians involved, I try not to handicap it.” �Mark Chediak and Brian Wingfield

Following a strategy used in 2012 by Ron Paul, the Cruz campaign encouraged its supporters to stay late the night of the Feb. 1 caucuses to elect the precinct delegates who then voted in the county conventions. The next step involves organizing those precinct representatives to back the selection of Cruz-friendly delegates at county and state GOP conventions. Delegates chosen by each of the 99 county Republican organizations will vote at the congressional district and state levels to pick the national convention delegates who will actually nominate the GOP presidential candidate.

At Cruz’s Houston headquarters, a six-person team overseen by political operatives, lawyers, and data analysts figures out which local party activists to target. Each state party has its own rules for delegate selection, but people running for delegate slots typically mount e-mail campaigns and give speeches at county and state conventions. “We make sure that all of the people who were whipped up leading up to the caucuses are ready,” says Roe.

At the national convention, a fraction of the 2,472 delegates will be free to pick the candidate of their choice on the first ballot, regardless of their state primary results. About three-quarters can do so if there are subsequent votes. Some states, such as Alabama, require national convention delegates to support whoever won the popular vote throughout the nominating process. Iowa, where Trump and Marco Rubio each won seven delegates to Cruz’s eight, is among those that allow national delegates to vote for whomever they want if no one wins the nomination on the first national convention ballot. So is Georgia, which holds its county conventions on March 19.

Cruz’s investment in putting his loyalists in place now may help him circumvent the need to scramble if there’s a floor fight in July. “Of any of the campaigns, the Ted Cruz people are the best-positioned,” says Iowa Republican operative Grant Young. “They’ve got a big coalition, and they’re organized.” �Sasha Issenberg, with Steven Yaccino

The bottom line D.C. officials are on the verge of blocking a $6.8 billion merger between Exelon and Pepco that would create the largest U.S. utility. Danish social worker Knud Christensen to the Associated Press, on why Danes ranked first in the UN’S 2016 released on March 16. The bottom line Cruz is moving to ensure a majority of the 2,472 delegates at the GOP national convention would back him in a floor fight.

Edited by Allison Hoffman Bloomberg.com