Chicago Mercantile Exchange CEO Craig Donohue may have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when he made this third--possibly decisive--bid for the Chicago Board of Trade. The new bid immediately won kudos from one of his biggest thorns, Australian-based Caledonia Investments, which owns 7 percent of the CBOT. It had opposed Donohue, but announced that it will back the new bid. A vote is set for today. The stakes are high, and you can bet the top dogs at the Intercontinental Exchange are pondering a move. They had lobbied hard and seemed to have a better bid (and lots of momentum) until Donohue's somewhat surprising move. It is possible that they can go even higher, though some seem skeptical. We'll see.

For more:
- here's a New York Post update
- read more on this story here