Two veeps were in the White House Friday: Vice President Joe Biden lunched with "Veep" star Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Lawrence Jackson / WhiteHouse.gov

Julia Louis-Dreyfus isn't a vice-president, but she plays one on TV's "Veep." The actress met with real Vice President Joe Biden on Friday at the White House.

Like many vice presidents before him, President Obama's No. 2 has given the HBO political comedy plenty of material to parody. But Biden's blunders pale in comparison to the humiliating setbacks suffered by Selina Meyer, Louis-Dreyfus' character, ever since a failed presidential bid landed her in the vice president's office.

Her lunch date at Biden's real-life workplace wasn't the first time the actress has spoken with the vice president.

"(He) was in touch with me to congratulate me on winning the Emmy for this part, and he was very funny about it," Louis-Dreyfus told Politico, "which led me to believe that he may have seen a couple of episodes."

The real politician must have a sense of humor, because one of those episodes, "Frozen Yoghurt," spoofs Biden's gaffe at a custard shop: In 2010, he made headlines for snapping at the store's manager, who complained about his taxes.

Season two of "Veep" premieres Sunday on HBO. Meanwhile, check out Louis-Dreyfus' behind-the-scenes WhoSay video and photo gallery.

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Blasting opponents of new gun control measures for being in a “time warp,”  Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that a potential filibuster of pending gun legislation would be “embarrassing” for America's reputation around the world. 

“What an embarrassing thing to say,” Biden said of the stated intent of 13 senators to prevent a vote on new background check legislation.

"Imagine what they’re saying, gentlemen and ladies, in other capitals around the world today.”

The vice president, who led President Barack Obama’s gun safety task force in the wake of last year’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, said that opponents of the bill don’t understand the pain caused by events like the one in Newtown, Conn., and that the world community will judge them if they fail to “stand up and be counted” on gun control measures.

“You’ve got leading senators of the most august legislative body in the world saying we’re not even going to talk about this tragedy that traumatized a nation and caught the attention of an entire world,” he said during remarks to law enforcement officers in Washington D.C. 

“The climax of this tragedy could be that we’re not even going to get a vote?" he added. "Imagine how this makes us look.”

Biden’s remarks came as the threat of a legislative block appeared to be crumbling, with Democrats expressing optimism that a sufficient number of GOP senators would opt to break the filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that he will bring a vote on the gun legislation as early as Thursday.

Biden, who met with the families of Newtown victims this morning, said that the group asked him how to communicate with senators who would block the gun legislation.

“It was a legitimate question, as if they’re going to speak to some ancient Aztecs or somebody who speaks a different language,” Biden said of the families, who are lobbying for the gun bill on Capitol Hill today. 

Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, the original author of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, President Barack Obama signed a reauthorization of the legislation Thursday.

"All women deserve the right to live free from fear," the president said in his remarks before signing the bill. "That’s what today is about."

The reauthorization, which includes expansion of protections to gay couples and Native American women, passed the House last month after over a year of partisan disagreement over its renewal. 

It was ultimately approved by the House by a vote of 286 to 138, with a minority of Republicans joining Democrats to support it.

The bill passed the Senate earlier in February by an overwhelming majority.

"This victory shows that when the American people make their voices heard, Washington listens," Obama said. 

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 7, 2013 2:47 PM EST

It is polls like this that supporters of Hillary Clinton hope will drag the popular former secretary of state into the 2016 presidential race.

In a Quinnipiac poll out Thursday, the ex-New York senator beats all comers in the 2016 presidential field in hypothetical match ups against several top rivals.

The poll tested Democrats Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo individually against Republicans -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, who ran as Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential pick in 2012 against President Barack Obama.

Clinton was the only Democrat to beat all three Republicans, and Christie, who was not invited to next week’s conservative confab CPAC, showed the most strength for the GOP.

Clinton beats Christie, 45-37 percent, Ryan 50-38 percent, and Rubio by an even wider 50-34 percent.

By contrast, Biden would lose narrowly to Christie 43-40 percent. Biden, however, defeats Rubio 45-38 percent and Ryan 45-42 percent.

Cuomo -- son of ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo, who had been urged to run for president in 1988 and 1992 -- loses badly to neighboring state governor Christie, 45-28 percent. He also loses to Ryan, 42-37 percent and would tie with Rubio at 37 percent.

Clinton left her job as Obama’s secretary of state with sky-high favorability ratings -- 56 percent viewed her positively, while just 25 percent viewed her negatively.

Of course, if she were to throw her hat into the presidential arena, her image would likely take a hit, as partisans retreat to their corners. During the height of the Democratic primary in March 2008, for example, Clinton’s favorability was just 37 percent positive, 48 percent negative.

But as the primary campaign ended, and she was able to take on the statesman role of secretary of state, her image has been rehabilitated. 

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 7, 2013 8:57 AM EST

This story was originally published on Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:37 AM EST

Vice President Joe Biden argued Wednesday that Democratic voters in yesterday’s special Democratic congressional primary in Illinois illustrated that there is a larger national mandate for tighter gun restrictions.

“The voters sent a message last night, not just to the NRA but to the politicians all around the country by electing Robin Kelly, who stood up and stood strong for gun safety totally consistent with our Second Amendment rights,” Biden told a gathering of state attorneys general in Washington D.C.

Kelly, a former state representative, won decisively over U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, a Democrat who at one time had been favored to win the Chicago-area seat. But Halvorson faced over two million dollars’ worth of negative advertising funded by pro-gun control billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who attacked her for an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.

The congressional district, which is heavily Democratic, includes some of Chicago's South Side neighborhoods as well as suburban areas south of the city.

Biden said Kelly’s decisive victory sent an “unequivocal signal” in the first major electoral contest since the shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

“The message is there will be a moral price as well as a political price to be paid for inaction,” he said.

After meeting with Biden today, Bloomberg said he believed the race showed that support for stricter gun laws won't hurt candidates.

Bloomberg said the White House should reach out to members of Congress to explain "why their vote could make a difference and why all the polls show that they will not be disadvantaged the next time they run."

"Quite the contrary," he added. "They will have this as a feather in their cap and be able to say next time they run ‘when the going was tough, I stood up for you.’”

NBC's Kasie Hunt contributed to this report. 

DANBURY, Conn. – Vice President Joe Biden made a forceful case for the Obama administration's gun control initiatives on Thursday in a speech less than 15 miles down the road from the site of December's Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting.

“I say it's unacceptable not to take this on. It's just simply unacceptable. I say to my colleagues ... if you're concerned about your political survival you should be concerned about the survival of our children,” the vice president said two months after the shooting rampage. ”I believe the price to be paid politically to those who refuse to act, who refuse to step forward, because America has changed on this issue.”

“You should all know the American people are with us. They should know. You all should know. There is a moral price to be paid for inaction," he added.

RELATED: Gun debate is changing the Democratic Party

Continuing his role as the Obama administration's public advocate on gun control, Biden spoke for nearly 30 minutes and met with two of the Newtown shooting victim’s families beforehand.

Adam Lanza, whose shooting spree killed 26 first-graders and educators, took classes as a teenager at Western Connecticut State University -- the venue of Thursday’s conference.

“We have to speak for all those voices -- for the 20 beautiful children who died 69 days ago because they can’t speak for themselves,” Biden told the nearly 300-person crowd. "I can't imagine how we will be judged as a society if we do nothing."

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan echoed similar themes in his remarks.

“Ladies and gentlemen, sometimes you pick the time, sometimes the time picks you and sadly the time has picked us and I’m just convinced that as a country if we don't move forward in a thoughtful way to do something to protect our babies, it will never happen,” he said.

In the wake of the school massacre, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Newtown Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., held this conference, with panel discussions on reform to federal gun laws and one on mental health and school safety.

“Preventing gun violence was thought to be untouchable politically two months ago. That unspeakable horror has given us unstoppable momentum and we must seize this historic moment,” Blumenthal said.

Chris and Lynn McDonnell lost their 7-year-old daughter, Grace, during the shooting on Dec. 14. The couple spoke on the morning panel about gun violence as Grace’s “voice” in this national discussion.

“We ask that our representatives look into their hearts and remember the 26 beautiful lives that were lost,” Lynn McDonnell pleaded, pausing to compose herself as she remembered her daughter.

After a series of high-profile mass shootings during President Barack Obama’s first term, he unveiled his proposals for stricter gun laws last month. His various initiatives include universal background checks on all gun sales, bans on military style assault weapons and bans on high-capacity magazines.

“Whatever laws we have on the books in our state, the need for strong federal legislation has never been clearer. The proposals outlined by the White House will make us and our children safer, no doubt about it,” Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy advocated.

While debate in Congress is ongoing, and the National Rifle Association vows to fight any new laws, both Obama and  Biden continue to push their agenda across the country.

Just Tuesday, Biden participated in a Facebook town hall with Parents magazine and assured individuals their ability to defend themselves will not be taken away completely.

"If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barreled shotgun," he said. "Have the shells of a 12-gauge shotgun and I promise you - as I told my wife … 'Jill, if there is ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out, put that double barreled shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house. I promise you whoever is coming in is not going to.'"

Updated 2:05 pm ET, Feb. 7. Vice President Biden swore in William "Mo" Cowan as senator from Massachusetts Thursday.

Cowan, a Democrat, will hold the seat until the special election to fill Secretary of State John Kerry's Senate seat (primary April 30, general June 25). 

Cowan's swearing-in makes him the eighth African-American senator in U.S. history. There are now two serving African-American senators, one Democrat and one Republican (South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott).

This is the first time in U.S. history that two African Americans have served in the Senate at the same time.

Scott, in fact, was the first senator to greet him on the Senate floor, as Cowan's hand came off the Bible. The two spent several minutes talking and laughing afterward.

There were smiles all around as Cowan was sworn in, first on the Senate floor -- the official moment -- and then in the "mock"ceremony before cameras in the Old Senate Chamber. Both were conducted by Biden.

Kevin Wolf / AP

Sen. William "Mo" Cowan, D-Mass., right, shakes hands with Secretary of State John Kerry in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, following a re-enactment of his swearing-in as a Senator.

Cowan was escorted down to the well of the chamber by the man he will temporarily replace, Secretary of State Kerry, and his Massachusetts counterpart, Elizabeth Warren, now the senior senator from Massachusetts.

Cowan's former boss and the man who appointed him, Gov. Deval Patrick, was also on hand in the chamber. Prior to the ceremony, Kerry showed him around, pointing out his old desk and the contents of its drawer.

As Kerry moved on to attend to Cowan, Patrick had a seat at the desk.

Uh, not so fast.

The Sergeant-At-Arms approached and, according to Patrick later, told him he could stand on the chamber floor, but as a non-senator he was not permitted to sit there.

Recall that in his farewell last week, Kerry wept as he spoke of that same desk and how the Kennedy brothers, John F. Kennedy and Edward, had used it as senators. Patrick moved.

Then it was on to the mock ceremony, where Cowan and his family, including sons Miles, 8, and Grant, 4, waited along with Kerry and Warren for Biden. Miles, who informed Warren that he was deep into 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' was asked if he had anything to say.

"Fantastic!" he exclaimed to laughter.

A few minutes later, the veep arrived and again performed his duties, behaving himself this time and getting through the mock ceremony without shocking anyone.

"Its a great honor to be here," Biden told them. "I miss the place."

On his way out. Biden poked his head into Mitch McConnell's suite, grabbing some chocolate from the desk of a receptionist, then went around another corner and ended up in an embrace with a former staffer before leaving the Capitol.

Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged that new gun laws would not "fundamentally alter" the likelihood of another mass shooting, though he insisted there has been a "sea change" in American views on guns in the wake of Newtown.

"Nothing we're going to do is going to fundamentally alter or eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting or guarantee that we will bring gun deaths down to 1,000 a year from what it is now," Biden told reporters Thursday afternoon after he spent over an hour lunching with Democratic senators at the Capitol.

"But there are things that we can do, demonstrably can do, that have virtually zero impact on your Second Amendment right to own a weapon for both self defense and recreation that can save some lives," he said.

Biden was on the Hill to help sell a package of changes to the nation's gun laws that President Barack Obama is pushing in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shootings that killed 20 elementary school children and six adults. The president wants an assault weapons ban, limits on the size of gun magazines, universal background checks and a federal gun trafficking statute.

The 1994 assault-weapons ban was allowed to expire in 2004, and there had been little appetite to reenact it.

Still, that was before Newtown -- and the vice president insisted Thursday that the tragedy there changed the public's attitudes toward gun-safety legislation, a reality that would make new firearms regulations possible.

"I'm not saying there's an absolute consensus on all these things," Biden said, "but there is a sea change, a sea change in the attitudes of the American people. I believe the American people will not understand -- and I know that everyone in that caucus understands -- they won't understand if we don't act.

"The visual image of those 20 innocent children being riddled with bullets has, has absolutely, not only traumatized the nation, but it has caused-- like the straw that broke the camel's back."

As evidence, he pointed to what he said was new support from evangelical Christian groups for some gun regulation. Biden told reporters that support from conservative religious groups that represent largely rural constituencies was different than it's been during past legislative fights over guns.

Biden said he did not watch a gun violence hearing the Senate Judiciary Committee held Thursday; at that hearing, Democrats and gun-violence victims clashed with Republicans and the National Rifle Association over whether universal background checks would reduce gun crimes.

Biden on Wednesday met with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, who both testified at the Senate hearing. 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sidestepped questions about her presidential ambitions in 2016, though she was the beneficiary of effusive praise from her boss, President Barack Obama, in a new interview on Sunday.

Neither Obama nor Clinton would address the elephant in the room — whether the outgoing secretary of state, Obama's 2008 primary opponent, should seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 — in an interview aired Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes."

"You guys in the press are incorrigible," a laughing Obama said in the interview, which was taped on Friday. "I was literally inaugurated four days ago. And you're talking about elections four years from now."

But the topic of a prospective second bid for the presidency by Clinton is already on the tongues of most political professionals of both parties. Clinton allowed a knowing chuckle at a congressional hearing last week when a Republican congressman, referring to her possible ambitions, said: "I wish you the best in your future endeavors — mostly."

Clinton leaves office as secretary of state arguably at the apex of her popularity; 56 percent of Americans expressed a positive opinion of the former first lady in January's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, and she leaves office with a 69 percent approval rating.

But, in the rare joint interview with the president, Clinton refused to engage the speculation.

"I am still secretary of state. So I'm out of politics. And I'm forbidden from even hearing these questions," she said. 

Clinton nonetheless offered a coy morsel of what she may or may not decide to do in 2016. 

"I don't think, you know, either he [Obama] or I can make predictions about what's going to happen tomorrow or the next year," she said. 

Should she decide to run, though, Clinton's campaign might return to Sunday's "60 Minutes" interview for clips of Obama's overflowing praise to use in campaign ads. 

Obama, for instance, said that Clinton would go down in history "as one of the finest secretary of states we've had."

"I think everybody understands that Hillary's been you know, one of the most important advisors that I've had on a whole range of issues," Obama said at another point in the interview.

And the president even made a pronouncement that would have seemed unthinkable during the bitter 2008 primary campaign between the two former senators: "I consider Hillary a strong friend." (Clinton, for her part, described her relationship with the president as "very warm" and "close.")

"Look, that is just ancient history now," Clinton said of the animosity from the 2008 campaign. "And it's ancient history because of the kind of people we all are, but also we're professionals."

Still, as Clinton mulls her future options during the time she's expected to take to relax upon leaving office, other potential Democratic candidates might move forward with their own campaigns-in-waiting. 

That includes another administration heavyweight, Vice President Joe Biden, who's seen as likely to preserve his own option to seek the Democratic nomination in 2016. 

But lest Obama's praise for Clinton be interpreted as a tacit endorsement of his secretary of state over his vice president, the president heaped praise on Biden just a week ago, too. 

"One decision I know was absolutely correct -- absolutely spot on -- was my choice of vice president," Obama said Sunday at an inaugural reception. "I could not have a better partner than Joe Biden."

Vice President Joe Biden has barely hidden his possible interest in running for president in 2016, and now, the loquacious former senator has begun to lay the groundwork for a potential campaign to succeed President Barack Obama.

"In a couple years, I think he's going to take a hard look at it," Beau Biden, the vice president's son and the attorney general of Delaware, said on MSNBC. "I hope he does."

A potential Biden bid for the presidency will come as little surprise to observers of the vice president over the past few years; Biden has often dropped hints of his interest in running as Democrats' nominee in 2016, and has repeatedly refused to rule out running in 2016 when asked.

Biden further stoked speculation this inaugural weekend, when he stopped by the Iowa State Society's inaugural ball, and invited top New Hampshire Democrats to his formal swearing-in ceremony on Sunday. Both Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally host the first two nominating contests of a presidential cycle.

At the Iowa ball, he mistakenly referred to himself as president, before correcting himself. “I’m proud to be president of the United States,” he said before pausing to rephrase. “I’m proud to be vice president of the United States but I am prouder to be Barack Obama, President Barack Obama’s vice president.”

And on Monday, during the inaugural parade, he glad-handed his way down Pennsylvania Avenue. Biden waved and pointed at parade-goers on the sidelines, and even ran over to shake the hand of NBC’s Al Roker, positioned behind a security barricade.

When he ran into a Republican voter in Florida during the closing days of the campaign, Biden cautioned the Obama administration's health reform law would be a chit in his column during the next presidential campaign. "After it's all over when your insurance rates go down, then you'll vote for me in 2016," he said, employing a quip that quickly drew attention for its electoral implications.

Biden has twice run for president before, in 1988 and 2008. And each time, his candidacy flamed out. In the '88 campaign, Biden withdrew before the first nominating contest following allegations that he had plagiarized portions of speeches.

Biden survived through the Iowa caucus in 2008, but ended his campaign following a fifth place finish in the contest. The then-Delaware senator committed some trademark gaffes during that campaign, too. Biden joked, for instance, about how "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." He also memorably referred to Obama, his future boss, as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean."

But Biden, who served in the Senate from 1973 to 2009 and established himself as an expert on matters of foreign policy, now finds himself arguably at the apex of his political strength. Forty-one percent of Americans said they have a positive impression of the vice president in the most recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, versus 37 percent who have a negative impression of Biden. Those aren't blockbuster numbers, but they're among Biden's best in the history of the poll.

But a successful run in 2016 would make Biden the nation’s oldest inaugurated president.  He turns 74 in 2016, a year older than Ronald Reagan when he took the oath at his second inaugural.

Biden emerged during the 2012 Obama campaign as a key asset of the president's, stumping repeatedly in key blue collar corners of swing states like Ohio and Wisconsin. During those stops, the vice president offered some of the sharpest criticism of Republican nominee Mitt Romney's policies in a direct appeal to middle class voters.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, dance at the Commander-in-Chief's Ball in Washington, Jan. 21, 2013.

Biden acted as a key player during the president's first term on matters ranging from foreign policy to domestic. Biden was tasked with implementing the 2009 economic stimulus, and Obama asked him more recently to lead the task force that developed recommendations to curb instances of gun violence.

Obama has also repeatedly turned to Biden to lean on his long-standing relationships in the Senate to help forge deals with Republicans. When talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" reached an impasse late this past December, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reached out to Biden, who won some of the credit for the last-minute deal.

Still, Biden has also become a favorite target of conservatives during the last four years, not least of which because of his not-infrequent gaffes. Conservative media outlets enjoyed stoking speculation, for instance, that Obama might bump Biden off of the ticket in favor of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- suggesting that Biden had become too big of a liability to the president's re-election campaign.

And indeed, there were moments during the 2012 campaign where Biden veered badly off script. When he expressed his personal support for same-sex marriage during a May 6 appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," he preempted Obama's own anticipated endorsement of gay and lesbian marriage rights. Obama was forced to hastily follow in the footsteps of his vice president.

Biden also won the enmity of the Romney campaign when he told a predominantly African-American audience that the GOP ticket's economic policies would "put y'all back in chains."

But despite Biden's propensity to fall off-message on occasion, he still enjoys a champion in one key ally: Obama.

"One decision I know was absolutely correct -- absolutely spot on -- was my choice of vice president," Obama said Sunday at an inaugural reception. "I could not have a better partner than Joe Biden."

That's a line that Biden would no doubt love to feature in a campaign ad in just a few years. He might not be the only Democrat in the race -- many in the party hope that Clinton will seek the nomination again -- though the vice president's door to running is open than ever.

Obama’s second term begins… After private ceremony yesterday, the president delivers his second inaugural address at a swearing-in event on Capitol Hill beginning at 11:30 am ET… Expect Obama to talk about rebuilding the middle class… Another big moment, another big speech… Friday’s big fiscal-fight development… NBC/WSJ poll numbers on abortion are released at 6:30 pm ET… And Biden and 2016.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

President Barack Obama smiles as he arrives at St. John's Church in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, for a church service during the 57th Presidential Inauguration.

*** Obama’s second term begins: Technically, President Obama’s second term already started yesterday, after he took his oath of office in a private ceremony at the White House (given that Jan. 20 fell on a Sunday). But ceremoniously, it begins today at the swearing-in event on Capitol Hill at 11:30 am ET. Obama’s second inaugural address is expected to echo the themes from his first, including trying to quell the divisive politics of Washington. (Even if not accomplishing that was one of his first term’s biggest shortcomings, it’s something that the American public still wants.) Yet the president’s advisers say he’s also prepared to take a more realistic approach. “We’re going to do a better job in the second term of, while we’re going to do all we can to work with Congress and negotiate, to also make sure the American people are more connected to what’s going on here,” David Plouffe said on CBS yesterday. But don’t expect today’s speech to be a laundry list of proposals and programs. Remember, he has his State of the Union -- on Feb. 12 -- to do that.

*** Expect Obama to talk about rebuilding the middle class: Looking back at some of the most recent second inaugural addresses, they’ve typically been a continuation of that president’s first-term message (and re-election theme). For Bill Clinton, it was preparing the country for the 21^st Century. For George W. Bush, it was security and freedom. And if that continuation theme is any guide, expect Obama to talk A LOT about rebuilding the middle class. After all, it was the central theme of his re-election campaign. On “Meet the Press” yesterday, Obama adviser David Axelrod stressed that point. “How do you create an economy, rebuild an economy, in which the American dream, the American compact, is fresh, where people who work hard feel like they can get ahead?” he asked. “And that's not just about dealing with the fiscal crisis, it's about education, it's about research and development, it's about controlling our energy future. All of these are part of the equation.”

*** Another big moment, another big speech: Four years ago, right before Obama’s first inaugural address, we made this point: He was going to use speeches to help him govern more than any other modern American president, creating many of the defining moments of his presidency. And that proved to be true over the past four years. When the going got tough on passing health care, he gave a speech. When he laid out his goals on the Middle East, he spoke in Cairo. When he talked about the necessity of war to defeat evil, he used his Nobel Prize speech. When he unveiled his re-election message on the economy -- with the idea that Mitt Romney would be his likely opponent -- he did so with remarks in Osawatomie, KS. And when he needed to console the nation after the Gabby Giffords and Newtown shootings, he did so with a moving address. And expect that to continue -- today and over the next four years.

*** Today’s tick tock: Around publication time, the First Family attends a service at St. John’s Church… The swearing-in ceremony is at 11:30 am ET… The inaugural parade begins at 2:35 pm ET… And the two official inaugural balls take place tonight at the Washington Convention Center… Tomorrow, Obama attends a national prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral at 10:30 am ET.

*** Friday’s big fiscal-fight development: Turning to other news, we can’t emphasize enough how big Friday’s news was that House Republicans would raise the debt ceiling for three months and instead use the budget process to demand spending cuts. It was another fiscal victory for the Obama White House, which vowed that it wouldn’t negotiate over the debt ceiling. But it also might have been the smartest political move the House Republicans have made since the 2012 election. By demanding that the Senate pass their first budget since 2009, they put the burden on Senate Democrats. And Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on “Meet the Press” that Senate Democrats would produce a budget with tax reform in it. “We're going to do a budget this year, and it's going to have revenues in it. And our Republican colleagues better get used to that fact.” Bottom line: We’re going to have another fiscal showdown, but it will be over the budget and government operations – not over the debt ceiling, which has to please Wall Street and those worried about a potential default.

*** Another NBC/WSJ poll release: Tomorrow is the 40^th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. And pegged to that, we’ll release some very NEWSWORTHY abortion-related numbers from our most recent NBC/WSJ poll beginning at 6:30 pm ET.

*** Biden and 2016: Finally, don’t miss one of Washington’s most overlooked political stories: how Vice President Joe Biden is methodically laying the groundwork for 2016. The New York Times: “Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, the first presidential primary state, was among the people to join Mr. Biden, his family and close political associates at the vice president’s residence [for his swearing-in ceremony yesterday]. The night before, Mr. Biden attended a pre-inaugural party of Democrats from Iowa, the first caucus state.” The governor of New Hampshire? Partying with Iowa Democrats? Hmmmmmm…. In all seriousness, he's been carefully laying the groundwork with Iowa and New Hampshire Democrats for months. Throughout the re-election, he was keeping tabs on those key early states, congratulating winners there, etc. Sitting VPs may be Jay Leno punching bags, but they are familiar to activists.

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