From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- If it was raging anger and provocative signs you came to see, you would be disappointed.

The Tea Party Nation Convention here in Nashville, Tenn. (at this sprawling million-square-foot hotel that is more like a really nice, gigantic airport terminal) has been a fairly subdued event.

There has been the red meat, though. One speaker, Steve Milloy, who writes for JunkScience.com, claimed, "Political extremism masquerading as environmentalism is a greater threat than Islamic extremism."

Mark Skoda of the Memphis Tea Party, who has been handling media requests for the past week or so for the event, made a firebrand speech. "We are silent no more," he said to thunderous applause. He criticized those who call Tea Partiers racists. (This reporter saw and interviewed just one African American, a Southern preacher -- friendly with controversial former Southern Baptist preacher Rick Scarborough. Scarborough, now head of a group called Vision America, led the convention in prayer yesterday and headed a breakout session today on why Christians need to be more politically active. He's also author of "Liberalism is Killing Kids" and "Enough is Enough: A practical guide to political action; Plus: Why Christians Must Engage.")

"The discourse on the left goes down into the cellar because their arguments can't be sustained," Skoda said.

Skoda didn't save his critique for the left though, he also hammered Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. "We don't want a third party," Skoda said, adding that he thinks Steele would love to take credit for the movement. "He thinks he's so brilliant. … It's not true; it's false."

After invoking the Bill of Rights and that "we don't need another" wild cheers of "constitution" broke out as well as "USA, USA."

He lauded Republican Sen. Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, saying, "One senate vote stopped this socialist agenda. What we need now is another 40 Scott Browns" -- though it's unclear what Brown's voting record will actually be, representing liberal Massachusetts and up for re-election in two years.

Skoda urged the members to not focus on national politics, but making change at the local level: "Do your job in your state."

The person who took the stage following him, proclaimed, "When's the last time you heard a speech like that -- and without a TelePrompTer."

That was greeted with great guffaws from the crowd.

Lots of color
Sure, some wore outfits that craved attention -- like one dressed in full Revolutionary War get up. He claimed to be Ben Franklin. He was difficult to get out of character until one woman, playing along, said she shared his birthday.

"What," he replied.

"Ben Franklin," she said. "You're Ben Franklin, right."

"Oh," the man said getting back into character. "Yes, I am."

Another man dressed in a shirt and hat with pictures of Sarah Palin on them. Another walked around with giant tea bags draped from his shoulders that read, "The revolution is brewing." One vendor sold tea bag jewelry -- necklaces and lapel pins. He even trademarked it, he said. He claimed that he is the only person in the country that is allowed to sell jewelry depicting a tea bag.

There was another who dressed in a leather veteran's vest with medals festooned on it. He also wore a Vietnam Veteran hat.

"I just dressed this way to get attention," the man said, halfway through a scotch at an "Irish pub" 200 feet from the ballroom where Palin will be speaking, down a casino-style carpeted hotel hallway. "I'm really a retired millionaire."

He admitted to just wanting to get on TV or at least get his message out. And there were cameras from all over interviewing him all day. It was certainly believable that he wasn't wanting for money. He threw a $20 bill down for his scotch, but when the bartender told him it was $22, he put down another $20 and said, "Makes no difference to me."

Taking out the $20, it was impossible not to notice the roll of $100s. He talked in detail of the Mercedes he drove here; the Rolls Royce he bought in Florida that he won't drive on rainy days like today, and that he's a major donor to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Just sold my last business for $3.3 million," he said, laughing, seemingly taking great delight in his get up and the gag he was pulling.

But most of the people who weren't pining for microphone, kept a low profile, expressed frustration with government -- on both sides of the aisle -- and were excited for Palin to speak.

Some traveled long distances. There was at least one man from Florida, who said he'd forgotten about the time difference and got here an hour early -- before anyone was set up yet. There was another couple who said they traveled all the way from Hawaii.

No one here wanted to focus on the controversy surrounding the convention -- the $550 price tag, the for-profit designation. It wasn't about that for them. Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, who made a cameo, here defended the convention's "for profit" status as being part of the American way.

"I'm not against making a profit," he said with a big smile.

No love for McCain
Tancredo, as well as the organizers at their news conference, trashed former presidential nominee John McCain -- as did many Tea Partiers here. Tancredo, a hardliner on immigration, vowed to do whatever he could -- if he could do anything -- for J.D. Hayworth, McCain's conservative primary opponent this year. Skoda said a McCain win would have been "a disaster" for the country.

From NBC's John Yang
With the publication Jenny Sanford's memoirs -- in which she quotes her young son as comparing his father's philandering with Eliot Spitzer's -- there's a lot of attention these days on political spouses. So consider Illinois, where a political ex-spouse is standing by her man -- sort of.
 
Deborah York-Cohen, the ex-wife of Illinois Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Scott Cohen, is appearing with her ex-husband. She's standing by the allegations she made in their 2005 divorce that Cohen abused her -- including choking her -- during their marriage when he was taking anabolic steroids. But, she says, that's irrelevant in his political career.
 
"It was a short period of time, and it's certainly not something that the people of Illinois need to be concerned with," she told reporters.
 
Cohen admits using steroids but denies physically abusing his wife or children.

Neither Cohen nor York-Cohen would comment on her December court filing in which she said Cohen was $54,000 behind in support payments for their four children, even as Cohen was spending more than $2 million of his own money to run campaign television and radio ads.
 
Meanwhile, Cohen is saying he never knew that his then-girlfriend, who told police in 2005 that Cohen had held a knife to her throat and slammed her head against a wall during an argument, had pleaded guilty to prostitution charges earlier that year. He said they met when she gave him a "straight massage" at a massage parlor where she had told an undercover police officer she performed sex acts for money.
 
Misdemeanor charges against Cohen stemming from the argument with his then-girlfriend were dropped when she failed to appear in court.
 
Cohen is defying calls from the top of the ticket, Gov. Pat Quinn, and other party leaders to drop out. "My honesty and integrity in putting it out there is the best thing that could happen to the party," Cohen told the Chicago Tribune.
 
In Illinois, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately in the primary election and then are joined as a team in the general election.

Unemployment rate drops to 9.7%... The Palin Question: Is she a serious political figure or a political celebrity?... Tea Party convention begins its second day… The 24 House Dems who voted against raising the debt ceiling but for the PAYGO rules… Our Top 10 governor takeovers… And our Top 11 most competitive gubernatorial contests.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Good/bad jobs news: The latest jobs report is out, and it contains both good and bad news for the Obama administration. First, the good news: The unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped from 10.0% to 9.7%. The bad news: Another 20,000 jobs were lost in January, although that is the second-best monthly number in the past two years. As he's done on past Fridays when the jobs numbers are released, President Obama has an event on the economy. At 12:10 pm ET -- right when the snow is supposed to begin falling here in the DC area -- he meets with small business owners in Lanham, MD, and then he delivers remarks 20 minutes later. Meanwhile, the RNC has released a statement on the jobs numbers, highlighting the 20,000 lost jobs but not the decline in the unemployment rate.

*** The Palin question: As we embark on another round of Palin-palooza -- she speaks at the Tea Party convention on Saturday night, stumps for Rick Perry on Sunday, and sits down for a Sunday interview with her TV employer FOX -- the time has come to pose this question: What is Sarah Palin? A legitimate political figure, a la Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, or Mitt Romney? Or is she more of a political celebrity like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or even Oprah Winfrey or George Clooney (when they dabble in politics)? The distinction is an important one. The former category consists of folks who offer policy proposals and enter the public debate, but who also have to defend those proposals and ideas to the press and the public. The latter category gets to inject themselves into the public debate, too, but without accountability or serious follow-up questions.

*** Politician or celebrity? To put it another way, just like with the debate over college "student-athletes" or "athlete-students," Palin is a political celebrity. But is she a politician first? Or a celebrity? On the one hand, you can certainly say she's a politician. She was John McCain's running mate and governor of Alaska; she remains the most exciting figure within the GOP; she's tapping into the building Tea Party movement (see tomorrow night's speech); and she certainly knows how to make news (raising the specter of "death panels," taking on Al Gore, criticizing Rahm Emanuel over using the R-word). On the other hand, she isn't proposing any new, serious ideas; she's making money from her speeches and TV appearances; and she doesn't have to answer tough follow-up questions after she posts something controversial on Facebook or writes a Washington Post op-ed.

*** When we'll have an answer: We don't offer an answer to this Palin question. But she's like no other political figure in history when it comes to the fact she plays by different rules. Some might say, "Typical Main Stream Media -- they are just upset because she goes around them." But even those politicians who have gone out of their way to talk above the MSM have also engaged us, because it's an opportunity to truly test-drive their platform. Perhaps the ultimate hint of Palin's true ambitions will be the day she releases some sort of policy proposal or decides to face questioning from neutral media.

*** Tea Party convention, Day 2: Speaking of that Tea Party convention, it begins its second day. Here's Friday's schedule: Speaker Steve Milloy of JunkScience.com and author of "Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control your Life and What You can Do to Stop Them"; former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who promotes his Ten Commandments yard signs and pro-life signs; and Andrew Breitbart's movie, "Generation Zero: The Inconceivable Truth." Also, today's breakout sessions include: "5 Easy Fixes to the High Cost of Mass Immigration"; "US Govt. Bankruptcy - Facts for Citizens Who Don't Have Finance Degrees"; "How to do Voter Registration Drives and Where to Find Conservative Votes" & "Women in Politics." And there's a 2:00 pm ET press conference with organizers.

*** Block this: It's possible that Scott Brown's first vote comes on a filibuster against a relatively obscure National Labor Relations Board nominee whom Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce believe is too pro-labor. (Um, don't Democratic presidents get to appoint pro-labor nominees, just like Republican presidents get to appoint pro-business folks? Don't elections have consequences?) Well, the appointment process has now reached this point: CongressDaily is reporting that GOP Sen. Richard Shelby has placed a hold on 70 executive nominations, because (among other things) the administration won't act on an earmark to build an FBI center in his state of Alabama to analyze improvised explosive devices. Democrats and the White House are complaining about these holds and the overall filibustering of Democratic nominees. Then again, you'll probably hear Republicans counter with the words "Miguel Estrada" and "John Bolton." By the way, a little bit of potential irony here: Shelby's wanting earmarks, while his GOP colleague, Jim DeMint, is calling for an earmark ban. Hmmmm.

*** Just askin': If there was a plan forward on health care, wouldn't we have heard about after yesterday's meeting with congressional leaders at the White House?

*** 24: If you want an idea of the folks who might be the most vulnerable Democratic members of Congress -- and know they are -- look no further than the 24 Dems who 1) voted against raising the debt ceiling and 2) voted to establish PAYGO rules. Those 24, per NBC's Luke Russert: Adler (NJ), Boccieri (OH), Childers (MS), Donnelly (IN), Driehaus (OH), Ellsworth (IN), Foster (IL), Halvorson (IL), Hodes (NH), Kirkpatrick (AZ), Kissell (NC), Kratovil (MD), Markey (CO), Massa (NY), McIntyre (NC), Murphy (NY), Murphy (PA), Owens (NY), Perriello (VA), Schauer (MI), Space (OH), Teague (NM), Titus (NV), Wu (OR). These 24 House Dems want to have as pure of a "deficit hawk" credential as possible; this is one way to do it.

*** Top 10 governor takeovers: If it's Friday, it means it's time for another First Read Top 10 list -- this time our Top 10 gubernatorial takeovers. It's still very early in the cycle, but it sure looks like several red states are going to get redder, and several blue states will get bluer. That's mainly due to term limits/retirements of popular Republicans in Democratic-leaning states, and of popular Democrats in GOP-leaning states. 

1. Kansas (Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, we presume)
2. Hawaii (With GOP Gov. Linda Lingle term limited, a Democrat should win Obama's childhood state, which he carried with nearly 72% of the vote) 
3. Oklahoma (On the other hand, Obama got just 34% in this state. And Republicans are licking their chops with Democratic Gov. Brad Henry's exit due to term limits)
4. Vermont (With GOP Gov. Jim Douglas retiring, Democrats have an excellent pick-up opportunity here. But can Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie keep it close?)
5. Tennessee (See Kansas and Oklahoma)
6. Michigan (With the unemployment rate here at 14.6%, that doesn't help the incumbent party. And Democrats are the incumbents…)
7. Pennsylvania (Some might find this stunning, but a Republican like Tom Corbett might have a better chance of picking up Pennsylvania than Democrats have in picking up California or Minnesota)
8. Iowa (Democratic Gov. Chet Culver is the more vulnerable incumbent this cycle. His best hope may be for the GOP primary to wound Terry Branstad)
9. Connecticut (GOP Gov. Jodie Rell's retirement gives Democrats an excellent shot here, but will a crowded Dem field -- led by Ned Lamont -- end up hurting the Democrats?)
10. Wyoming* (There's a reason we have an asterisk here: If Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal departs due to term limits, this is going to be a GOP pick-up. But if he challenges the state's term-limits law, then he's going to keep this in the D column)

*** Our Top 11 most competitive contests: While we list the Top 10 potential takeovers above, the real action is going to take place in other states. Here are our most competitive states (in alphabetical order): AZ, CO, FL, IL, MA, MN, NV, OH, RI, TX, WI. 

*** More midterm news: In California, Meg Whitman has released her first TV ad, which focuses on her bio and the economy… Also in California, the DSCC has drafted a petition asking Carly Fiorina to make more Web videos like the "Demon sheep" one… In Illinois, the Democratic Lt. Gov. nominee is vowing to stay in the race, despite allegations that he choked his ex-wife… And in New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte is running a radio ad…

Countdown to TX primary: 25 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 270 days

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White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer writes on the White House's blog about how the Senate is holding up administration nominees. "Historically, the filibuster has been used as a way to try and reach a bipartisan compromise; now it's just a tactic used to gum up the works. The Senate has had to cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and '60s combined. This has prevented an honest debate from taking place, which has made it impossible to find agreement on important legislation that would benefit working families in this country."

"What's clear from all of this is that we need to change the way business is done in this city. If we're going to have a government that works for the American people, then we need to focus on the things that actually matter to them, like jobs and health care.  Every day we waste delaying votes on well-qualified public servants or obstructing progress on problems that need solving is a day we're not doing our jobs.  It's time to put an end to these partisan political games and get back to work."

Biden on filibusters, per The Hill: "From my perspective, having served here, having been elected seven times, I've never seen a time when it's become standard operating procedure. And I really mean this unrelated to the fact that Barack and I are sitting down in the West Wing now. For any president in the future, having to move through anything he or she wants, requiring a supermajority is not a good way to do business." He didn't necessarily endorse filibuster reform though.

The Washington Post: "President Obama lamented the 'erosion of civility' in the nation's political debate, telling an audience Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast that there is a growing sense that 'something is broken' in Washington. 'Those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should,' he said. 'At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another; to have at once a serious and civil debate.'"

Politico: "Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats. Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration's failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact."

"The Senate shifted into jobs gear on Thursday, priming the pump for a new $80 billion economic injection Democrats hope to pass next week," the New York Daily News writes.

The New York Times: "The core of the proposal is likely to be a payroll tax break for employers who hire workers who have been without jobs for at least 60 days. Democrats are trying to enlist Republican support for that idea, which was proposed most recently by Senators Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. But a senior aide to the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, quickly issued a statement questioning the Democrats' lack of specifics. 'They don't know what's in the bill or how many jobs they expect it to "save or create" or when anyone beyond the Beltway will see it or how much it will cost,' the aide, Don Stewart, said."

The Washington Post: "Congress agreed Thursday to revive the pay-as-you-go budget rules that helped wipe out massive deficits and balance the budget during the Clinton administration... Democrats attached the new rules to a must-pass measure that raises the legal limit on government borrowing by a record $1.9 trillion. With the public debt expected to hit the current cap by next week, the increase -- which was approved on a separate vote, 217 to 212 -- authorizes the Treasury Department to continue borrowing to cover the nation's bills through early next year."

The Boston Globe's lead on Scott's Brown's swearing in: "Scott Philip Brown became the 50th US senator from Massachusetts yesterday, completing his historic transformation from little-known Republican state lawmaker to a national phenomenon who personified widespread voter unrest and changed the direction of American politics." He was sworn in, by the way, with not one, but two Bible -- "one red and one black, each of them belonging to one of his daughters." 

The Globe also notes: "Brown tapped a former top aide to Colin Powell and a specialist in foreign affairs to be his chief of staff… Such an expertise could be an indication that Brown will attempt to make a mark in national defense and veterans affairs. Brown was known during his tenure in the state Senate for several pieces of legislation involving military veterans." Could it signal more?

The Washington Post's Milbank on Brown's day: "'It's really time to get to work,' the new senator announced, certification papers in hand, as he got out of an SUV -- he left 'the truck' at home -- outside the Russell Senate Office Building. And so Brown got down to work. His first official act after taking the oath: holding a news conference. The Senate, having no business left to conduct, went into a quorum call. Senators had already taken their last vote of the week and most were hurrying out of town for three days ahead of the snowstorm."

Sarah Palin speaks tomorrow at the Tea Party Nation Convention in Nashville. Here was part of her Wednesday op-ed in USA Today about why she's speaking, despite some of the controversy surrounding it: "As with all grassroots efforts, the nature of this movement means that sometimes the debates are loud and the organization is messier than that of a polished, controlled machine. Legitimate disagreements take place about tone and tactics. That's OK, because this movement is about bigger things than politics or organizers."

Congresswomen Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn pulled out of the convention, and apparently Palin considered it. "I thought long and hard about my participation in this weekend's event. At the end of the day, my decision came down to this: It's important to keep faith with people who put a little bit of their faith in you. Everyone attending this event is a soldier in the cause. Some of them will be driving hundreds of miles to Nashville. I made a commitment to them to be there, and I am going to honor it."

And: "The nature of the Tea Party movement means there may never be a 'perfectly orchestrated' event: Democracy in action doesn't come with a manual. But we must not get caught up in the politics or the controversies that some hope will distract from the heart of the movement."

Former Bush White House communications director Nicolle Wallace, who also worked on the McCain campaign, is publishing a novel entitled "Eighteen Acres," which follows a fictional female U.S. president.

National Journal's Ron Brownstein breaks down the congressional map into four quadrants -- "districts that have high levels of racial minorities and high levels of educated whites; districts with high minority levels and low levels of white education; districts that have low minority levels and high white education levels; and districts with low minority levels and low white education."

"The Democrats' strongest turf brings together their two demographic strengths: racial minorities and well-educated whites. These high-minority, high-education districts, most of them located along the East and West coasts, represent just over one-fourth of the House, 113 seats in all. Democrats dominate these districts in every way. In the House, they hold 84 of them (just under three-quarters). In 2008, Obama carried more than four-fifths of these seats, while winning a commanding 64 percent of their cumulative popular vote… The next-best quadrant for Democrats is the high-minority, low-education group, which comprises 92 seats, just over one-fifth of the House. Democrats hold almost exactly two-thirds of these districts. Obama won just over three-fifths of them, capturing 56 percent of their vote."

More: "Democrats also hold the edge in the next quadrant of seats: those with few minorities but an above-average percentage of white college grads… In each of the first three quadrants, Republicans are now a distinct minority of House members. But they maintain a solid edge in the fourth: districts with very few nonwhite voters and a below-average percentage of college-educated whites. This 'low-low' group remains the largest of the four, with 155 seats. Republicans hold 89 of them, nearly three-fifths. In 2008, McCain did even better: He won 72 percent of them and a cumulative 54 percent of their vote… Republicans from low-low areas dominate their party's caucus, representing half of its seats. Each of the other three groups contributes just one-sixth of GOP conference members."

ALABAMA: "Six weeks after Rep. Parker Griffith rocked the political landscape by switching parties, his reelection is in jeopardy, amid strong resistance from local Republicans who refuse to embrace the former Democrat," Politico says. "GOP leaders across the northern Alabama congressional district tell POLITICO that their most active members remain deeply skeptical about Griffith's conversion to the GOP and that most do not plan to vote for him. Some insist he will not have enough support to win the June primary against several other challengers who have pointedly declined to drop out of the race."

ILLINOIS: Following yesterday's news, reported in First Read, that Gov. Pat Quinn has urged his running mate Scott Lee Cohen to step down, over allegations that he abused his wife and ex-girlfriend, Cohen "vowed to stay in the race." Democratic Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias is also calling for him to leave the campaign.

"Former Illinois state GOP Chairman Andy McKenna has conceded the Illinois governor's primary and is encouraging whoever finishes second to accept the results, too," The Hill reports. "McKenna is currently third in the yet-to-be-finalized results, but is still within about 1 percent of the leader, state Sen. Bill Brady. He said Republicans do themselves a disservice by drawing out the race, which Brady currently leads by just 406 votes. McKenna also discouraged whoever trails -- currently state Sen. Kirk Dillard -- from pursuing a lengthy challenge."

INDIANA: "Former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, who is likely to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) this fall, lobbied for a Texas-based oil and gas company that partnered with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms," Politico's Glenn Thrush reports.

NEVADA: In an interview with the University of Nevada Las Vegas' newspaper Rebel Yell, Sue Lowden was asked whether there is anything she feels Harry Reid has done well. Her answer: "No. Right now Nevada's economy is just so bad. Our unemployment rate is the highest its ever been. Our foreclosure rate is the highest in the country. I think that we need to start from scratch, a new beginning. I think we need new policies."

NEW HAMPSHIRE: "Ex-NH AG Kelly Ayotte (R) is up with her first spot in her bid to replace Sen. Judd Gregg (R), launching a radio ad that touts her biography as a tough-on-crime prosecutor," the Hotline reports.

From NBC's Luke Russert and Mark Murray
In two separate votes today, the House of Representatives passed legislation 1) raising the debt ceiling above $14 trillion and 2) establishing "pay as you go" rules that mandate that Congress find ways to pay for an additional spending.

The debt ceiling vote passed, 217-212, while PAYGO passed, 233-187. Not a single Republican voted for either measure.

Democrats broke up the debt ceiling vote to give vulnerable members a chance to say they were against the raising of the debt ceiling but later to say they were in favor of PAYGO. This legislation has already passed the Senate and will go to the desk of President Obama.

Interestingly, there were 24 House Democrats who voted for PAYGO but against raising the debt ceiling -- giving us an idea of the Dems who are certainly thinking about their re-election prospects in November.

See below for the names of the 24....

Adler (NJ)
Boccieri (OH)
Childers (MS)
Donnelly (IN)
Driehaus (OH)
Ellsworth (IN)
Foster (IL)
Halvorson (IL)
Hodes (NH)
Kirkpatrick (AZ)
Kissell (NC)
Kratovil (MD)
Markey (CO)
Massa (NY)
McIntyre (NC)
Murphy (NY)
Murphy (PA)
Owens (NY)
Perriello (VA)
Schauer (MI)
Space (OH)
Teague (NM)
Titus (NV)
Wu (OR)

From NBC's John Yang
Illinois Democrats can't catch a break, it seems.

The same day that the party avoided a potentially long, divisive and expensive recount in the gubernatorial primary as State Comptroller Dan Hynes conceded to Gov. Pat Quinn, Quinn faced embarrassing headlines about his ticketmate, Lt. Gov nominee Scott Lee Cohen.

This morning, the Chicago Tribune reported that Cohen, a former pawnbroker who spent millions of his own money on his campaign, was accused by his then-girlfriend of putting a knife to her throat and slamming her head against a wall during an argument in Oct. 2005. Misdemeanor charges against Cohen were dropped when the woman, who pleaded guilty to prostitution charges that same month, didn't show up in court.

In a written statement, Cohen said 2005 was "a difficult time in my life. I was going through a divorce, and I started running with a fast group. I was in a tumultuous relationship with the woman I was dating. We had a fight, but I never touched her. She called the police, however, she never came to court and the charges were dismissed. I realized this relationship was not healthy, I ended it and we parted amicably."

In Illinois, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately in the primaries. But Quinn is having doubts about the relationship with Cohen, too. At a news conference, he told reporters that Cohen "has an obligation to step aside" if he can't effectively deal with the matter. He said Cohen should have a chance to respond, "but if his explanations are unsatisfactory -- and so far they have been -- then he has to do the appropriate thing."

From NBC's Luke Russert
House Minority Leader John Boehner came out swinging today against the Obama administration's national security policy. Boehner suggested that the White House has returned to a "pre 9/11 mentality" regarding to the trials of terror suspects which is "putting the American people at risk."

Privately, Republicans say that national security will be a huge issue for the party for the upcoming 2010 midterms. Republicans believe, and they are backed up by many polls, that Americans are uncomfortable with terror suspects getting trials in the United States. Expect attacks like the one Boehner launched today to be commonplace from now till November.

Democrats have dismissed the Republican criticism as a rehashing of old arguments. Yesterday, the leader of the House Democratic caucus, Jon Larsen, said: "They're dragging out all their own game plans. They drag out the privatization of Social Security. They drag out Medicare vouchers, etc. And now they're dragging out the old security issues, and I think that we welcome this kind of challenge and this kind of debate."

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
When Scott Brown takes the oath today and assumes the Massachusetts Senate seat long held by the late Ted Kennedy, there is a piece of history that Brown's stunning upset does not guarantee: Brown will not get Kennedy's desk on the Senate floor. 

Aides to Sen. John Kerry say he will take over that desk, #83, where Ted Kennedy sat for nearly 47 years. Kennedy kept that desk and left it in the rear of the chamber, though his seniority would have long ago allowed him to move up front. Kennedy chose that seat because it was held by his brother, John F. Kennedy, who served a few years in the Senate. Kerry had been sitting in a desk that Robert F. Kennedy had used.

*** UPDATE *** Sen. Chuck Schumer will take the RFK desk that Kerry had been using.

From NBC's Mark Murray
It's official: Dan Hynes conceded to Gov. Pat Quinn in Illinois' Democratic contest for governor.

In the fall, Quinn will face the winner of GOPers Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard, and we might not have that GOP nominee for weeks.

From NBC's Luke Russert
A senior aide to Sen. John Kerry (D), as well as a low-level aide to former Sen. Paul Kirk (D) both confirmed to NBC News that new Sen. Scott Brown (R) will take up residence in Ted Kennedy's old office within "two to three weeks."

Brown will get a temporary basement office by the Russell Courtyard, until all of Kennedy's and Kirk's belongings are moved out.

The symbolism of a Republican taking Ted Kennedy's office is truly amazing. Located on the third floor of the Russell building, the office is the stuff of legend on Capitol Hill. Countless members will tell you that it is the place where the paths to pass monumental legislation were found, and where numerous compromises came about.

Brown will have the office through 2010 -- and then, based on the Senate's seniority system, he'll lose it at the start of the next Congress, in January, 2011.

Having a beautiful balcony coupled with an amazing history, expect there to be many suitors to line up for the office in 2011.

Brown to be sworn in later this afternoon, officially ending the Dems' Senate supermajority… The debate over national security continues… The real story in that R-word controversy -- someone has it out for Rahm… Looks like the Dem gubernatorial primary in IL will come to an end, but the GOP contest is separated by just 406 votes… Dan Coats' tough start… Poizner presser blowing up in his face?... And time for tea -- that is, the Tea Party convention.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Back to 59: Senate Democrats today will officially lose their 60-vote supermajority. Per NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, Scott Brown (R) is expected to be sworn into the Senate around 5:00 pm ET, if Massachusetts completes its certification this morning. Brown was previously scheduled to get sworn in on Feb. 11, but he sent Massachusetts officials a letter asking them to certify earlier than expected. Why the change? The Washington Post has this explanation: "Congressional Republicans said privately that seating Brown earlier could help them block Democratic nominees opposed by the GOP, specifically Craig Becker, whom President Obama has nominated to join the five-member National Labor Relations Board. Becker is an associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO. A Senate committee is scheduled to vote on his nomination Thursday, setting up a confirmation vote on the floor by next week." Question: Is it ok for a politician to selectively decide to push up his/her swearing-in? Isn't that a slippery slope? Should we push up the swearing-ins of, say, the president?

*** The security debate: One of the issues that Brown used in his successful campaign was national security, accusing the Obama administration of granting special rights to terrorists. (A Brown adviser even admitted that national security was a more potent issue than health care.) Indeed, Republicans have been relentless in their criticism of the Obama administration over its handling of the failed Christmas bomber, and they seem to be dictating the terms of this debate in a way that is frustrating the White House to no end. Well, as we mentioned yesterday and the Washington Post writes today, the White House has been pushing back. It started Tuesday night with a briefing for reporters. That was followed by a Robert Gibbs rebuttal of Susan Collins. And then Eric Holder wrote a lengthy letter to Senate Republicans. http://bit.ly/b7Fsnc

*** The other R-word -- Rahm: Just askin', but have we all missed the REAL story in the controversy over the R-word that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel uttered and for which he apologized? It's that someone has it out for Rahm. Given that someone leaked a six-month-old anecdote to the Wall Street Journal (which contained that R-word), there is clearly an effort to embarrass the chief of staff, hoping it leads either to a trimming of his sails or forces him out of his position. And do note that the criticism he has received comes from the group of folks Rahm was disparaging in that anecdote: the left.

*** All in the family? This morning, President Obama is addressing the annual National Prayer Breakfast, which has attracted controversy due to its affiliation with the "Fellowship" or "The Family." (The New York Times says "an ethics group in Washington has asked President Obama and Congressional leaders to stay away from the breakfast, on Thursday. Religious and gay rights groups have organized competing prayer events in 17 cities, and protesters are picketing in Washington and Boston." The Fellowship or the Family has been accused of having ties to legislation in Uganda that calls for the imprisonment and execution of homosexuals. It also gained notoriety last year after several of its high-profile members -- Mark Sanford, John Ensign -- were caught cheating on their spouses.) Also today, at 10:40 am ET, Obama meets with Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin. And tonight, he attends twin DNC fundraisers, and he takes questions at one of them.

*** Illinois update: It looks like the end is near in Illinois' Democratic gubernatorial primary, but it's far from over in the GOP one. After Gov. Pat Quinn's (D) lead over Dan Hynes (D) increased to 8,100 votes per the Chicago Tribune, and after the Democratic Governors Association congratulated Quinn as the winner, Hynes is scheduled to make an announcement in Chicago at 11:00 am ET. Meanwhile, in the GOP contest, Bill Brady leads Kirk Dillard by just 406 votes. The Tribune: "Dillard is consulting with a top election law attorney as the possibility of a recount looms. He won't even be able to request a partial recount until the Illinois State Board of Elections certifies the results on March 5. From there, a complicated process unfolds that could include legal arguments before the state Supreme Court, day after day of ballot examinations, election board hearings and further legal action."

*** "I'm in to … explore": As Fred Thompson discovered in the '08 cycle, and as Harold Ford Jr. is finding out now, it sometimes can be disadvantageous to dip your toes into the political waters versus diving in head first. The reason: Your opponents (and the media) have the opportunity to define you first, and you don't have a campaign infrastructure to fire back. And former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats (R) appears to be learning that lesson, too, now that he himself is testing the waters to challenge Evan Bayh (D) in November. In the last 24 hours, we've learned that Coats is a registered lobbyist; that he has been registered to vote in Virginia, not Indiana; and that he accused Bill Clinton of wagging the dog after launching strikes intended to hit al Qaeda in 1998. None of these revelations destroys Coats' potential (and likely) candidacy. But it's also not the ideal start.

*** Poized to end badly? In California's GOP gubernatorial race, it looks like Steve Poizner's (R) press conference to decry Meg Whitman (R) consultant Mike Murphy's suggestion to Poizner's pollster that he withdraw from the race has really, really backfired. Writes L.A. Times columnist George Skelton: "Steve Poizner's allegation that Meg Whitman used attempted bribery and extortion in an effort to push him out of the gubernatorial race was merely an attention-grabbing stunt by a  desperate dark horse, many contend. Hopefully, they're right. Because if Poizner was sincerely angry and really does believe -- as he wrote state and federal prosecutors -- that the Whitman camp deserves criminal investigation, this is scary. It calls into question the state insurance commissioner's ability to govern the nation's most populous, most diverse and arguably most troubled state."

*** Time for tea? The Tea Party Nation Convention kicks off today in Nashville, TN. The main attraction -- Palin's keynote speech -- doesn't take place until Saturday. But here are some of the events on today's agenda: 1) an organized prayer session for the entire convention by former Southern Baptist preacher Rick Scarborough, author of "Enough is enough: A practical guide to political action, plus: why Christians must engage"; 2) entertainment by Lisa Mei, who sings this song; and 3) the debut of a movie called "Tea Party, The Documentary." By the way, we just learned that the convention is now open to the press. Said one organizer, "We desire transparency at this convention and have worked with media that are friendly to the TEA Party movement as well as those that have not been seen to be supportive of our efforts. And unlike the promises of this administration, we actually have C-SPAN covering our convention!"

*** More midterm news: In California's GOP Senate race, Carly Fiorina (R) has a Web video whacking Tom Campbell (R)… In Delaware, Chris Coons (D) officially announced he would run for Joe Biden's old Senate seat… In Florida, Marco Rubio (R) argues that illegal immigrants SHOULDN'T be counted in the census, "even though doing so could significantly reduce Florida's political power and share of federal funding"… In Kentucky, Rand Paul (R) is running a TV ad on national security… And in New York, a Quinnipiac poll shows Andrew Cuomo (D) beating Gov. David Paterson (D), 55%-23%, in a hypothetical Democratic primary match-up, while Kristen (D) Gillibrand is up 36%-18% against Harold Ford (D).

*** Today's programming note: MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" with Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie interviews Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R), while MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" has GOP Sen. Kit Bond.

Countdown to TX primary: 26 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 271 days

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"The Obama administration is aggressively pushing back against Republican criticism of its handling of terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, sharpening a partisan debate about national security policy, which is likely to be a major issue throughout the midterm election year," the Washington Post writes. "White House press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a rare point-by-point critique of a statement by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who said Wednesday that 'there was no consultation with intelligence officials before the Department of Justice unilaterally decided to treat Abdulmutallab as if he were an ordinary criminal.' Gibbs released a list of senior intelligence officials involved in the decision to charge Abdulmutallab -- a Nigerian citizen who allegedly tried to bomb a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day -- in civilian court and provide him access to a lawyer. "

"The rebuttal followed a hastily arranged briefing for reporters the previous evening by a senior administration official, who argued against GOP assertions that Abdulmutallab stopped providing his FBI interrogators with intelligence after he was read his Miranda rights. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. also weighed in Wednesday with a letter to Senate Republicans in which he said the legal decisions in the Abdulmutallab case were consistent with the strategy used during George W. Bush's administration."

Friendly fire? "Senate Democrats held back from asking President Barack Obama about healthcare reform during a carefully scripted question-and-answer session in front of television cameras… But once the president left and reporters were escorted out of the room, senators pressed White House officials about healthcare reform, according to those at the meeting. Democrats expressed their frustration with the lack of a clear plan for passing healthcare reform, according to one person in the room. One Democratic senator even grew heated in his remarks, according to the source. 'It wasn't a discussion about how to get from Point A to Point B; it was a discussion about the lack of a plan to get from Point A to Point B,' said a person who attended the meeting. 'Many of the members were frustrated, but one person really expressed his frustration.'"

The New York Times writes how Obama has changed how the Washington press corps covers him/ "After a year in office, Mr. Obama has managed to do what every modern president may have wanted to do but never did: effectively shut out the reporters who work just a few feet from the Oval Office. He has not had a full-scale White House news conference in seven months, the longest such stretch by any president in a decade. And he has made a practice of not taking reporters' questions at day-to-day events, as other presidents did."

"None of that means that Mr. Obama has shielded himself from public scrutiny. But he has fundamentally altered the way a president deals with the news media. Instead of open-ended sessions with multiple reporters, he prefers one-on-one interviews, particularly with television anchors. He gives far more interviews than his two most recent predecessors did, reflecting the conclusion that the format is a more effective means for getting his message through."

Is Summers in danger? "As President Obama and his team have rolled out a fresh set of strategies to fix the economy, one item on the list -- curbing the ability of big banks to gamble in the stock market - has been viewed by some as a repudiation of Lawrence H. Summers, the former Harvard president who is the White House's chief economic adviser," the Boston Globe reports. "Summers, who favored bank deregulation when he was secretary of the treasury for President Clinton, had counseled Obama for much of last year to take a less sweeping approach to overhauling bank rules. But that point of view publicly fell out of favor last month as the White House adopted a more red meat, populist tone after angry Massachusetts voters sent Republican Scott Brown to fill the US Senate seat that was held by the late Edward M. Kennedy."

"White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel offered a personal mea culpa on Wednesday to advocates for the disabled who were offended that he used the phrase 'f---ing retarded,'" The New York Daily News notes. "President Obama's enforcer, infamous for off-color comments, used the epithet last summer against advocacy groups that wanted to beat up conservative Democrats whose votes they needed for health reform."

NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports that Senate Democratic leaders plan to unveil their job-creation plan this afternoon, with what they call both short-term and long-term initiatives. Separately, Sens. Barbara Boxer and Jim Webb will propose legislation to tax Wall Street bonuses.

Roll Call: "When Scott Brown is sworn in today as the 41st Republican Senator, it will be the exclamation point on the Massachusetts GOP's euphoria that has reigned since his special election upset two weeks ago."

The Boston Globe has more: "After days of expressing little urgency about being sworn in, US Senator-elect Scott Brown abruptly changed course yesterday, demanding that state officials certify his victory so he can take office this afternoon… It was unclear exactly what prompted Brown's change of heart. His aides said they were made aware of votes in the Senate in the next several days and decided he should assume office right away. State officials had already planned to certify Brown's election by this morning, and thus had no objections yesterday to the new timetable. Brown's election gives Republicans a big enough bloc to thwart Democratic plans through filibuster. There is at least one controversial labor appointment slated for next week that some Senate Republicans hope to block."

Clinging to guns: "Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has quietly been preparing a series of gun rights amendments that he intends to offer to must-pass Senate bills this year, hoping to force Democrats to take tough votes and draw clear distinctions between the two parties heading into the midterms," Roll Call says.

It's that time of year again: "Reps. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and Joseph Cao (R-La.) agreed to the terms of their wager: if the Indianapolis Colts win, Cao will have to ship five pounds of shrimp to Indianapolis. If the New Orleans Saints win, Burton will have to send five pounds of steak to New Orleans," The Hill reports.

"Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) was in stable condition but still in intensive care Wednesday following complications from gall bladder surgery, his office said," per Roll Call.

The New York Times has the scoop on the formation of the "American Action Network" -- a Republican competitor to the Center for American Progress. "The organizers, including former Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the senior policy adviser to Senator John McCain's presidential campaign, describe their emerging American Action Network as a center-right version of the Center for American Progress, the six-year-old group for progressive policies that was founded by John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and an informal adviser to President Obama."

Stu Rothenberg warns Republicans against overconfidence: "Maybe House Republicans learned their lesson last week after President Barack Obama joined them at their retreat and proved once again to be a very formidable opponent rather than a mere foil."

ARIZONA: Channeling First Read, The Hill notes John McCain's drift to more conservative position, as he protects his right flank before a summer primary. "McCain has reason to be concerned. According to a recent Rocky Mountain Poll, his favorable rating in Arizona has dropped to 40 percent overall, the lowest level since January 1994, when he was recovering from the Keating Five scandal, according to the Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center, which conducted the survey. Among Republicans, 52 percent approve of his job performance while 14 percent give him poor marks. This normally wouldn't be a tough race for McCain, said Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.): 'The issue is there is this latent anti-incumbent, anti-establishment sentiment that J.D. can tap into.'"

CALIFORNIA: Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina's camp is up with a Web video whacking opponent Tom Campbell, calling him a Fiscal Conservative in Name Only or "FCINO," and features some interesting imagery, including baa-ing sheep, a man dressed up in a sheep outfit with red eyes, and on.

COLORADO: President "Obama is slated to do three fundraising events for [Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael] Bennet and the Colorado Democratic Party Feb. 18 in Denver."

FLORIDA: "Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio has come out against including illegal immigrants in the national census -- even though doing so could significantly reduce Florida's political power and share of federal funding," the Florida Herald-Tribune reports. "Rubio's stance sets him at odds not only with Gov. Charlie Crist, but also with Republicans in the Florida Legislature who are cranking up efforts to track down and find every resident who lives in the state. Rubio's opposition is largely theoretical -- the census has already started and illegals are being counted -- but it reflects his efforts to appeal to hard-line conservatives in the contest against the more moderate Crist."

ILLINOIS: Per the New York Times, "Alexi Giannoulias, the treasurer of Illinois and a basketball-playing friend of President Obama's, won the Democratic primary here on Tuesday for the Senate seat once held by Mr. Obama. But his victory was hardly the free throw some had expected, setting off a new round of worrying among Democrats that the reliably Democratic seat might be picked off by Republicans in November."

KENTUCKY: "It's not surprising that [Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul] is the first to take his campaign in the Republican primary to television," blog Louisville Mojo writes. The ad focuses on Paul's belief that enemy combatants should be tried in military courts, not brought to the U.S. 

MICHIGAN: Republican gubernatorial hopeful and businessman Rick Snyder will run his first campaign ads during the Super Bowl, WLNS TV reports.

NEW YORK: Kirsten Gillibrand gets favorable coverage from the New York Daily News for her question yesterday to the president, who the paper says she "cornered," about 9/11 responders funding.

A new Quinnipiac poll finds Attorney General Andrew Cuomo beating Gov. David Paterson 55% to 23% in a hypothetical Democratic primary matchup, while Kristen Gillibrand is up 36% to 18% against Senate contender Harold Ford. Presumptive Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio beats Paterson in a general matchup, 40% to 39%, while Cuomo would defeat Lazio 57% to 25%. And in a general Senate election, Gillibrand would defeat likely Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman 44% to 27%, while Ford would have a 35% to 26% lead over him.

TEXAS: The Houston Chronicle examines Kay Bailey Hutchison's bid for governor. It's looking like more of an uphill battle every day.

From NBC's Ali Weinberg
Conservative and liberal bloggers and writers give their take on the Illinois primary election, gleaning much more from the results of the House elections and the non-results of the gubernatorial races than from the expected outcomes of the two Senate matchups. And a few writers sound off on the concept -- and the application -- of increased dialogue between the president and his Congressional counterparts on both sides of the aisle.

NRO's Jim Geraghty finds consolation in the downballot wins of many conservative Illinois Republicans, despite moderate Republican Mark Kirk's easy win in the Senate primary. He notes that two candidates, likely lieutenant governor nominee Jason Plummer and 8th District House nominee Joe Walsh, the "Tea Party Insurgent," both worked at conservative think tanks, while IL-10's nominee Bob Dold used to work for former Vice President Dan Quayle. Geraghty is also glad that one of his "favorites," Adam Kinzinger, won in the 11th district, and that the 14th district nominee Randy Hultgren stemmed a political dynasty by beating Dennis Hastert's son Ethan. 

RedState's Moe Lane kicks off a fundraising effort for IL-11 nominee Adam Kinzinger, singing his praises to a Chuck Norris-esque effect: "Adam's a fiscal conservative, military veteran (Air NG, served overseas), and pro-life; his hobbies include toppling incumbents in elections, advocating smaller government, and subduing would-be knife-wielding maniacs with his bare hands." Context on that last bit: In 2006, Kinzinger disarmed a man who had attacked his girlfriend with a knife, first wrestling the man to the ground, then calling the police.

More from RedState:  "[Kinzinger's] opponent, Debbie Halvorson, is best known for folding like a cheap suit over cap-and-trade, then running and hiding over health care rationing like most of the rest of the supposedly 'moderate' Democrats in Red Districts.  IL-11 is a R+1 district, so check Adam out."

NRO's Daniel Foster gives his take on President Obama's hour-long discussion with Senate Democrats today: "Yesterday I wondered whether the president's Q&A with Senate Democrats would prompt a spirited internal debate and airing of grievances or a love fest. Just watched it -- love fest."

The Washington Independent's David Weigel calls the loss of Illinois Tea Party darling and gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski a "minor embarrassment for the grassroots movement." Yesterday, Weigel wrote that Andrzejewski's final vote total "will be watched for some metric of hype versus on-the-ground support" for electing Tea Party candidates. Despite the support of the conservative blogosphere, Andrzejewski landed fifth out of seven Republican contenders with 14.4% of the vote.

While he acknowledges, "reading primary numbers can be a fruitless exercise," Weigel laments the low Democratic voter turnout rate in the Illinois open primary (55%) when compared with the 69% of voters who chose to vote in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. Weigel: "To miss the fall-off in Democratic enthusiasm in this state since 2008 is to miss something obvious." But he does note "another way of looking at" the low rate: "Many more people voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 Illinois presidential primary than voted for all of the Democratic candidates combined in this primary --1,318,234 compared to 885,268." 

And pushing back on calls from both liberal and conservative bloggers for President Obama to make "Question Time" a routine televised event, Alex Balk, co-founder of blog The Awl, makes the point that the frequent questioning could backfire against its intended purpose: "It's a good idea unless you've seen how Question Times actually work in parliamentary democracies, where members of the governing parties ask self-serving softballs (e.g.,  'Do you agree with me that the American worker is the hardest worker in the world?') designed to run out the clock, while the opposition party tosses up as many cheap shots as it can in hopes that something will stick. And even were the process to be modified so that it was simply the President and Republicans, what does it benefit the President to reward the opposition with a continuing platform from which they can repeatedly voice their disagreements without offering credible, concrete alternatives? I mean, doesn't he already do that enough with the Senate's Democratic caucus? Nobody wants to watch that."

From NBC's Mark Murray
Former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats (R) has released a statement saying that he is "testing the waters" to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh (D) in the fall.

Coats adds that he will make a formal announcement in the "near future." The assumption, from everyone we've heard, is that Coats will run.

From his statement:

While Hoosier families have tightened their belts and sacrificed to make ends meet during these tough economic times, our elected officials in Washington continue to run up massive deficits, recklessly borrowing and spending record amounts of taxpayer money with no regard for the future generations of Americans who will inherit this staggering and ever-increasing debt.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
Sources tell NBC News that Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown could be installed as Massachusetts' junior senator as early as tomorrow afternoon. Previously, Brown was expected to take the oath one week later, on Feb. 11.

Today, Brown's legal counsel sent a letter to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin asking that the certification of his election be completed by tomorrow morning. The letter indicates that Brown has been advised there are a "a number of votes scheduled" before the original swearing in date.

From NBC's Athena Jones
President Obama stressed bipartisanship, transparency and fiscal responsibility during an hour-plus meeting with Senate Democrats on Wednesday, telling them the message they should take from the recent loss in Massachusetts was not "to do nothing" and pushing once again for passage of health care legislation.

In his State of the Union address last Wednesday night and an extraordinary question and answer session with House Republicans on Friday, the president has emphasized the need for both parties to reach across the aisle and work together and has sought to show the public that he is ready to do so. But he has also tried to reinvigorate Democrats. Coming less than a week after his visit with the House GOP in Baltimore, today's session was a rallying cry to his own party to step up and govern, with the president arguing that he still believed that "good policy over the long term is good politics."

Obama spoke about the difficulties Democratic senators have faced in trying to work with Republicans that he said had presented "unprecedented" procedural obstacles, noting that Senate Democrats had to cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and 1960s combined.

"That's 20 years of obstruction packed into just one," he told the group, assembled just steps from the Capitol Building at the Newseum. "There was apparently a headline after the Massachusetts election. The Village Voice announced that 'Republicans win a 41-59 majority.' It's worth thinking about. We still have to lead."

He went on to remind the room that while the party no longer had the largest Senate majority in a generation it had the second largest and said they should work hard to pass health care, because many of them had campaigned changing the health care system.

"We said we were going to change it. Well, here we are with a chance to change it and all of you put in extraordinary work last year into making serious changes," he said. "There's a direct link between the work that you guys did on that and the reason that you got into public office in the first place and so as we think about moving forward, I hope we don't lose sight of why we're here. We've gotta finish the job on health care."

The president also seemed to be making a point of recommitting publicly to the notion of transparency in government. He has been asked repeatedly at forums from Tuesday's town hall in Nashua to Monday's YouTube interview about his broken promise to air health care negotiations on C-SPAN.

"I take some fault for this: at the end of the process, when we were fighting through all these filibusters and trying to get it done quickly so that we could pivot and start talking about other issues that were so important to the American people, some of that transparency got lost and I think we paid a price for it," Obama said.

After brief opening remarks, the president spent nearly an hour answering questions on topics ranging from trade imbalances with China and making the Senate more effective; to energy policy, to the deficit to whether he should issue an executive order to use TARP funds to support community bank lending to small businesses -- he said he would like to see it included in a jobs package.

Today's meeting was remarkable in terms of political strategy, since the vast majority of those senators who were chosen to ask questions were vulnerable incumbents, including Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet. At several points throughout the exchange, Obama uttered lines that could easily be used in campaign ads; lines like "Michael Bennet articulated it very well" and "Blanche is exactly right."

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Mark Murray
Senior aides told NBC News that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid planned to only call on those Democrats running this November to pose questions to President Obama at his meeting today with Senate Democrats. Reid said he had received questions from members in advance.

Those who asked questions: Arlen Specter (PA), Michael Bennet (CO), Blanche Lincoln (AR), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Pat Leahy (VT), Sherrod Brown (OH), and Evan Bayh (IN).

All but Brown are up for election this year. And Leahy is the only one who's running this year who doesn't face a serious challenge.

Reid, of course, is up for re-election too, and might be the cycle's most vulnerable incumbent.

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will meet today with Special Olympics head Tim Shriver at the White House to discuss Emanuel's acknowledged use of the word "retarded." The chief of staff invited Shriver last week -- after Shriver wrote him to complain about the remark, a slur on special needs people.

It was reported that Emanuel told a liberal strategy session last August that liberals who were planning attack ads on conservative Democrats over health care were "F...ing retarded."  

The remark drew wider circulation after Sarah Palin, mother of a Down Syndrome child, called for Emanuel's firing on Facebook yesterday writing: "Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities -- and the people who love them -- is unacceptable, and it's heartbreaking." 

This is the second time the Obama White house has had to apologize to Shriver and the Special Olympics. Last year, President Obama, on the "Tonight Show," compared his bowling prowess to Special Olympics.

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
Colin Powell has just issued a statement supporting Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen's and Defense Secretary Gates' effort to review -- and likely repeal -- the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward gays in the military.

Of course, it was Powell -- as Joint Chiefs chairman -- who persuaded the Clinton White House to adopt the DADT policy 17 years ago, because of Powell's opposition to gays in the military.

Powell's statement:

In the almost seventeen years since the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed. The principal issue has always been the effectiveness of the Armed Forces and order and discipline in the ranks. I strongly believe that this is a judgment to be made by the current military leadership and the Commander in Chief. It is also a judgment Congress must make. For the past two years, I have expressed the view that it was time for the law to be reviewed by Congress. I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I will be closely following future hearings, the views of the Service Chiefs and the implementation work being done by the Department of Defense.