The Daily Strike-2/1/09-Super Bowl Sunday

A quick Sunday update before the Strike and Lady Strike get our Super Bowl snacks out.

SUNDAY TALK SHOWS: The subject of most Sunday Talk Shows was the stimulus package. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Kyl both predicted that the stimulus package would fail in the Senate. McConnell even surmised that Obama must be "embarrassed" by the how the bill has turned out. That's a pretty ridiculous thing for him to say. The bill will pass the Senate, with some significant changes, this coming week. Maine Senator Olympia Snowe already said she would vote for it, and no Democrat besides Ben Nelson of Nebraska has even hinted at opposition. This means the Democrats need just a couple more votes to cut off a filibuster, and you can be sure that the bill will be amended enough to garner a few more Republican votes. The process begins Tuesday. The Republicans seem to be trying heavily to cast the bill as such an embarrassment that even if it passes, it's "not worthy of the President's signature." It will be interesting to see if a few Republicans break ranks and vote for an amended bill, which would heavily undermine the Republicans' message. Michael Steele also made his debut on the Sunday talk shows as chairman of the Republican Party.

ALFALFA DINNER: The Alfalfa dinner, a Washington tradition, took place last night. The President tested out some new one-liners. My favorite:

"This dinner was created to celebrate General Robert E. Lee. If he were here tonight, he'd be 202 years old, and very confused."

Senator Kit Bond, the new President of the Alfalfa club and a retiring Republican also had a funny line:

"Joe Biden is the reason Amtrak created the quiet car."

GUEST LIST FOR OBAMA'S SUPER BOWL PARTY:

Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter of Steeler country (I bet Obama will spend a lot of time with the moderate Republican Specter to woo him on the stimulus. Specter is up for reelection in an increasingly Democratic state in 2010.

Sens. Klobuchar of Minnesota and Dick Durbin of Illinois round out the guests from the upper chamber.

Reps: Doyle, Dent, Murphy (Patrick) of Pennsylvania, Franks and Grijalva of Arizona, Upton of Michigan, Cummings of Maryland, Artur Davis of Alabama, DeLauro of Connecticut, Holmes Norton of DC and Hodes of New Hampshire. Let's check the vote charts this week to see if there are some political advantages of this party.

POLITICAL POTPORRI: McConnell indicated that if Judd Gregg becomes Obama's Commerce Secretary, he will be replaced by a Republican. This must mean they've struck a deal with the Democratic Governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch. Also, Rep. Adam Putnam, the baby-faced former chair of the House Republican Conference is retiring to run for Florida state Comissioner. That leaves four Republican retirements in the House for 2010: Moran and Tiahart of Kansas (both are running for Governor) and Zach Wamp of Tennessee (also running for Governor).

Enjoy the Super Bowl!!