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By Scott Wong (
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FORGET COMMANDER IN CHIEF. MEET MAYOR OBAMA - Darren Samuelsohn and Scott Wong write for the hometown paper: "He sounds like the mayor of America, pulling out new facts and figures to warn about the threat to teachers, cops and airports in your backyard if the sequester cuts go through this week. But what President Barack Obama doesn't mention: The new stats he released with great fanfare Sunday night could have been unveiled long ago, since they're nothing more than the result of a formula he signed into law a year-and-a-half ago.

-- "Both Obama and Republicans have known since then that classrooms could get more crowded, fewer cops could be on the street and government workers could face unpaid leave. That's because both sides agreed to punt on a long-term budget fix by threatening rigid cuts to all domestic agencies and the Pentagon if a deal isn't reached by the end of this week. And now the sequester cuts look like they'll take effect, even if neither side wanted them, since Obama and Republicans aren't meeting face-to-face to hash out a deal. This isn't what Obama said would come to pass when he said during the last presidential debate that the sequester 'will not happen.' It's also not what candidate
Obama expected during the 2008 campaign - or the more recent one - when he called for an end to Washington finger-pointing.

-- "The White House insists it had no choice, that Republicans won't come to the table to talk about a 'balanced' approach to ending the sequester, with revenues and cuts. ... [But] some Republicans aren't impressed with Obama's current public relations strategy. 'Where's he been?' asked Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R- N.H), who last year joined GOP Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham on a nationwide tour to warn about cuts to the Pentagon. 'It just seems to me it would have been more productive if he could have joined in the discussion earlier.'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520eb91d128f8de40df13b94488eaf44277e66e0fa6c1e1ee768
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Washington Post, A1, 1-col above the fold, "GOP blasts 'road show,' NO DEAL IN SIGHT ON BUDGET CUTS, Republicans: Obama relying on scare tactics":
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-- WaPo also explores two opposing views of the sequester on A1: In Newport News, Va., Michael Laris writes a piece titled "Anxiety and anger in a Va. City where the Navy is built." In Ardmore, Okla., David A. Fahrenthold writes: "In Oklahoma, tiny airport attracts federal money, but few planes."
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FIRST LOOK: BECERRA TO HIGHLIGHT DEMS' SEQUESTER PUSH - House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra this morning will show his members a video of local news clips highlighting their district work last week to promote a "balanced approach" to stop the sequester. He'll contrast Dems' united message with that the muddled message of Republicans described in a recent POLITICO story here:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520ebee60ab9a5654740dd7effbc5eb1d5bcb569da3b1fdb0c9d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520ebee60ab9a5654740dd7effbc5eb1d5bcb569da3b1fdb0c9d Watch the video here:
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SEQUESTER STANDOFF - In separate pieces for POLITICO, Carrie Budoff Brown and Jake Sherman explain why neither Obama nor Speaker Boehner seem willing to cave three days out from the sequester.

-- Carrie writes of Obama's divide-and-conquer strategy:"He will divide, isolate and defeat Republicans using all the powers of his office and all his skills as a political campaigner. As Americans grow frustrated with the cuts, Republicans will reject their party's no-tax mantra and demand that Congress end the standoff, even if it means raising some new revenue - just the way Obama is demanding. Obama's trying to speed this result, by releasing state by state details of the pain and suffering the sequester will cause, all meant to get Republicans to cave. And he's got the biggest megaphone, hammering this message over and over in a way the divided Republican party cannot. Except that
message could cut both ways. What if the public agrees that yes, there is a lot of pain and suffering - and turns to Obama wondering, why didn't you do more to prevent it? That's what makes some Democrats nervous about the White House's supreme level of confidence."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520e1bc47fda270d73145fd8d6e4306b199cfbe6942cd3a62d35
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-- Jake explains Boehner's big bet: "Jump-start negotiations with Obama, and he would be slammed for engaging in out-of-sight, secret talks with a president his party doesn't trust. Raise taxes, and Boehner's courting trouble in his conference and endangering his speakership. Both are simply nonstarters. Unlike previous fiscal fights, House Republicans feel like they are in a good political position on this one. They passed a bill last Congress that replaced the sequester cuts, and are considering another bill in the coming weeks that would do the same. They are standing firm against more tax increases - all poll-tested positions. Leading Republicans are betting - perhaps badly - that the
$85 billion in sequester cuts set to take effect on Friday won't tank markets and the public won't immediately feel the impact. And, for once, the GOP is buffeted by its unpopularity: House Republicans kept their majority with mid-teen approval ratings after two years of political warfare. They aren't spooked that their numbers will move any lower."
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BOEHNER PROMOTES HIS MESSAGE - CBS Evening News host Scott Pelley interviews Boehner today about the sequester. The interview, which will take place at the Capitol, will be broadcast from 6:30 to 7 p.m. ET.

GOP'S RIGELL TO JOIN OBAMA AT VIRGINIA SHIPYARD -Bill Bartel writes for the Virginia-Pilot: "After strongly criticizing President Barack Obama on Monday for failing to produce a written plan to avoid automatic defense cuts, U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell is expected to travel with the president this morning to Newport News. The Virginia Beach Republican along with U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, will join Obama for the trip to Newport News Shipbuilding, according to a White House official. They will be joined by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus for an event at the shipyard. ... Rigell has said he would consider some new revenues to reduce deficit spending. However, he reprimanded Obama during a
public forum Monday in Virginia Beach, saying the president has spoken out about his desire to find new revenue and cut spending elsewhere but has not given Congress a written proposal."
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-- In Virginia Beach, POLITICO's Kate Nocera finds that Rigell and two other Virginia Republicans are talking up the pain the spending cuts will wreak on the defense-heavy region: "On Monday, Reps. Scott Rigell, Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman lashed the sequester at a forum in a packed downtown hotel ballroom. The 300-person crowd had little appetite for placing blame. To this military community, the sequester is personal. ... At this point, Rigell, Forbes and Wittman represent a small minority of Republicans who are actively trying to stop the sequester before its implementation. Those Republicans are mostly from congressional districts with large military populations or bases that could see
a huge impact from the large cuts to the Pentagon budget expected as part of the budget tightening."
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GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 26, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
mailto:swong@politico.com
swong@politico.com . If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. and will vote at noon on the reconsideration of cloture on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary. Following the vote the Senate will recess until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly party caucus lunches.

The House will meet at 10 a.m. with first and last votes between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. on the Academic Competition Resolution of 2013.

AROUND THE HILL - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Assistant Leader James Clyburn and Ranking Member of the Budget Committee Chris Van Hollen join Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra and Vice Chairman Joseph Crowley at a post-caucus availability on the budget sequester at 10 a.m. at the HVC-210 alcove. Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders hold a post-conference media availability at 10 a.m. in the RNC lobby.

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer holds a pen and pad briefing at 11 a.m. in H-144. House Armed Services Subcommittee Chairmen Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman speak on the impact of defense sequestration cuts at 12:30 p.m. in HVC Studio A.

Reps. Darrell Issa and Jared Polis speak at a Startup Day on the Hill workshop, "Briefing: Technology Works: The Impact of Tech Jobs on the Economy," 4 p.m. in Cannon 121. Reps. Anna Eshoo, Jason Chaffetz, Zoe Lofgren and Steve Chabot, and Sen. Jerry Moran, also are expected to participate during the two-day event. Info here:
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At 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sen. Marco Rubio will speak about his trip last week to Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, during a discussion at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1828 L St. NW, Suite 1050. Press wishing to attend must register in advance with Brittany Parker at
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press@washingtoninstitute.org . The event will be broadcast live at:
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520e9851e73b81a4a58fe6134923e2f877385f75383f34936e84 .

SCHUMER THE DEALMAKER - Manu Raju has the story for POLITICO: "When the White House urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to immediately hold a pre-recess procedural vote on Chuck Hagel's nomination to run the Pentagon, an unlikely person objected. Sen. Chuck Schumer. The New York Democrat wanted to delay the vote until after the recess when GOP senators were vowing to let Hagel's nomination move through the Senate, according to several sources familiar with the discussions. Delaying the vote also would have served another purpose for Schumer: It would have avoided antagonizing the same Republicans he's trying to woo on a host of big-ticket domestic bills.

-- "Schumer's private advice to Reid was just the latest example of how one of the Capitol's most aggressive partisans has suddenly made nice with Republicans and emerged as a bipartisan deal maker. His new role has major implications for both President Barack Obama's second-term agenda and whether a polarized Senate can find consensus on hot-button issues after dodging tough votes for the past two years. 'He has two personas,' Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Monday. 'One is he's a legislator, and the other side he's a partisan.' ... Brad Dayspring, the spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is skeptical of Schumer's bipartisan turn, calling him the de facto Senate
Democratic leader who is pursuing an unabashedly liberal agenda to fulfill Obama's political needs ... 'The only way that Chuck Schumer could be more partisan is to wear a blue cape with a giant donkey on it,' Dayspring said."
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ILLINOIS PRIMARY DAY- Alex Isenstadt reports for the hometown paper: "Guns, racial politics and a billionaire out-of-town mayor: The special House election to succeed disgraced former Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has featured all of those things in spades. A National Rifle Association-friendly ex-congresswoman, Debbie Halvorson - the only white candidate in a field of more than a dozen candidates seeking the Chicagoland seat - jumped ahead of the pack on the strength of her name ID and lengthy service in state politics. But that was before New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his super PAC carpet-bombed Halvorson with a $2 million-plus ad campaign highlighting her pro-gun views and
propping up rival Robin Kelly. Now Kelly, the Cook County chief administrative officer, heads into the Democratic primary as the clear favorite after the city's black establishment rallied around her over the past few weeks. The winner of the primary is all but certain to carry the seat in the March 19 general election."
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REPUBLICANS SIGN BRIEF BACKING GAY MARRIAGE - Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes on A1 of the New York Times: "Dozens of prominent Republicans - including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress - have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election. The document will be submitted this week to the Supreme Court in support of a suit seeking to strike down Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and all similar bans. The court will hear
back-to-back arguments next month in that case and another pivotal gay rights case that challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act.

-- "Among [the signatories] are Meg Whitman, who supported Proposition 8 when she ran for California governor; Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of New York; Stephen J. Hadley, a Bush national security adviser; Carlos Gutierrez, a commerce secretary to Mr. Bush; James B. Comey, a top Bush Justice Department official; David A. Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's first budget director; and Deborah Pryce, a former member of the House Republican leadership from Ohio who is retired from Congress. Ms. Pryce said Monday: 'Like a lot of the country, my views have evolved on this from the first day I set foot in Congress. I think it's just the right thing, and I think
it's on solid legal footing, too.'"
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GRAHAM AND THE GOP'S IMMIGRATION DILEMMA - On A1, the Wall Street Journal's Laura Meckler does an immigration deep dive through the eyes of Sen. Lindsey Graham: "Sen. Lindsey Graham had just explained how his immigration overhaul plan would secure the border and crack down on employers who hire illegal residents. But when he asked a luncheon of the Cherokee County Republican Party what should happen to the millions already in the U.S., one woman yelled back, 'Send them home!' It is the kind of response that Mr. Graham, an architect of a bipartisan plan that would provide a path to legal status for undocumented workers, has come to expect in his home state. It is also the kind of reception
that neatly encapsulates the dilemma the Republican Party faces as it shapes its future: Make the GOP more welcoming to the nation's swelling-and decisively Democratic-Hispanic population and risk the ire of a chunk of its most fervent supporters; don't and watch Democrats keep winning elections on the strength of Latino votes."
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-- "'Can we just be honest with each other?' Mr. Graham responded to the woman. Most people here illegally have established roots, many with children and grandchildren who were born in America, he said. 'How many of you would sit on the sidelines and watch your grandmother get up and go?'"

CONRAD'S 'DAKOTA,' 101ST SENATOR, DIES AT AGE 10 - Emily Cahn writes for Roll Call: "Dakota, the loyal bichon frise of former Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., whose presence on Capitol Hill led to his nickname the '101st senator,' died Wednesday from complications of lymphoma. He was 10 years old. Adopted by Conrad and his wife, Lucy, from a shelter in 2009, Dakota became a fan favorite on Capitol Hill among members of Congress and staffers alike. Where Conrad went, Dakota followed, often eliciting excited shrieks from passers-by and friendly pats on the head from powerful senators. Conrad, who chaired the Budget Committee before retiring at the end of the 112th Congress, has said Dakota's relaxed
demeanor helped wash a sense of calm over his Senate colleagues during particularly heated debates. And, before Conrad retired, he mentioned Dakota as the 'mascot of the U.S. Senate' in his farewell floor speech in December. 'I think he will be missed perhaps more than I am as I leave the Senate,' Conrad said. Diagnosed with lymphoma in September 2011, Dakota battled cancer for a year and a half."
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ASHLEY JUDD'S SPORADIC VOTING RECORD - The National Review's Robert Costa concludes the actress's voting record is pretty spotty: According to public records, she did not vote in several elections over the past two decades. Judd, a resident of Williamson County, Tenn., voted in the 1996 election via absentee ballot, but did not vote again until the 2004 general election - an eight-year gap. She then sat out another four years, before returning to vote in the 2008 Democratic primary. Here's a rundown of Judd's record from the county's board of elections, which was obtained through a public-information request by National Review Online."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520e5ee7b2bc597907ae2dbc86b280c4a331831cddf6f789b794
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520e5ee7b2bc597907ae2dbc86b280c4a331831cddf6f789b794

HOUSE APPROPRIATORS AGREE TO LIVE WEBCASTS - Daniel Schuman writes for the Sunlight Foundation: "In a welcome turn toward transparency, House Appropriators are now set to webcast all public hearings starting this week. As late as last week, only 2 of the 10 meetings for this week were scheduled to be online. All committees except Appropriations have webcast the vast majority of their proceedings since the Republican leadership's passage of a House rule at the start of the 112th Congress requiring webcasting 'to the maximum extent practicable.' Of special note is the webcasting of several proceedings that will take place inside in the Capitol building itself, in room HT-2. This tiny room
is often too small to admit all interested members of the public, especially with the large staff entourage that often accompanies testimony by legislative branch agency leadership... C-SPAN does not usually cover the committee's proceedings, so the only way to see what happens is to go and hope you get in."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=f8a9bcab5d29520ed7ae44ed52f1970682ca811a7a68ffdf05314b126fffc2a2
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MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Joe Bookman was first to correctly answer that Calvin Coolidge was the only president to have a smaller budget when he left office then he did when he entered office. Bookman says he knew the answer after seeing an interview with Amity Shlaes, who wrote a book about Coolidge.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Thomas Crosson has today's question in honor of Daniel Day-Lewis Oscar win for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln: As a child, President Lincoln was knocked unconscious for many hours. What led to this incident? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
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