Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will look to jettison Republicans’ caricature as a party of the rich in the official Republican response Tuesday to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

Recommended: Obama says Bolstering middle class must be policy 'North Star'

Rubio, the Cuban-American senator and a rising Republican star, will frame Washington’s bitter fights over taxes and spending in humanizing terms. His remarks seem firmly tied to the broader Republican effort to expand its reach and shirk the image of a GOP that has grown older, whiter and more dominated by men.

“Mr. President, I still live in the same working class neighborhood I grew up in. My neighbors aren't millionaires. They're retirees who depend on Social Security and Medicare. They're workers who have to get up early tomorrow morning and go to work to pay the bills. They're immigrants, who came here because they were stuck in poverty in countries where the government dominated the economy,” Rubio will say, according to English-language excerpts released by his office. (Rubio will also deliver a pre-taped response in Spanish.)

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Florida Senator Marco Rubio speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Aug. 30, 2012 in Tampa.

“Mr. President, I don't oppose your plans because I want to protect the rich. I oppose your plans because I want to protect my neighbors,” the Florida senator will add.

Rubio’s speech will also seize upon anemic U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year to argue that increased revenues would only stifle the sluggish recovery from the 2008 recession.

“Raising taxes won't create private sector jobs. And there's no realistic tax increase that could lower our deficits by almost $4 trillion,” Rubio will say. “That's why I hope the President will abandon his obsession with raising taxes and instead work with us to achieve real growth in our economy."

Recommended: Florida – the state to watch over the next four years

The Republican’s speech sets the stage for this spring’s fight over alternative Democratic and Republican budget proposals, both of which are tied into resolving the so-called “sequester” – the swift, automatic spending cuts that make up part of the “fiscal cliff.” Lawmakers delayed the onset of these cuts until Mar. 1, but lawmakers appear nowhere near a deal to avoid its effects, which would threaten to hamper economic growth and harm national security, according to the Obama administration.

Among other policy specifics upon which Rubio will touch are budgets and entitlement reforms. The first-term senator will call for ratifying a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution – a proposal that has failed before in Congress – as well as changes to Medicare that would shore up the program’s solvency for future generations.

Here’s this year’s version of “You lie.”

Ted Nugent, the rocker and current gun-rights advocate, will be in attendance at Tuesday’s State of the Union as the guest of Texas Congressman Steve Stockman.

Stockman has said he would consider filing articles of impeachment about President Barack Obama for his gun-control push following the shootings in Newtown, Conn. Nugent is a board member of the National Rifle Association. Many Democrats have invited victims of gun violence to the address.

Stockman will also be livetweeting the address – with the hash tag #youlie, “debunking myths and fact checking,” his office said.

"I am excited to have a patriot like Ted Nugent joining me in the House Chamber to hear from President Obama," said Stockman in a press release of the man who was under Secret Service investigation last year for comments made about the president. "After the Address I'm sure Ted will have plenty to say."

Kevin Tighe / Getty Images Contributor

Ted Nugent performs at Ruth Eckerd Hall on August 6, 2012 in Tampa, Fla.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is bilingual has been at the center of a Senate push on immigration reform, is delivering the official GOP State of the Union response. But Nugent's appearance, and the promise that he "will have plenty to say," has the potential to distract and be a headache for a Republican Party looking to re-brand itself, particularly in tone, after President Obama won re-election this past fall.

More on Ted Nugent from NBCNews.com

Nugent landed in hot water with the agency in charge of protecting the president, because he said in April of last year at a national NRA meeting that if Obama was re-elected, “I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”

In the same set of comments, Nugent called the president, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “criminals,” said the “government is wiping its ass with the constitution,” and equated Democrats to coyotes who should be shot.

“If the coyote's in your living room pissing on your couch,” Nugent said, “it's not the coyote's fault. It's your fault for not shooting him."

Stockman is also set to unveil what he’s calling, “The Obama Failometer, a ten-foot-long billboard that will objectively measure the failure of Obama's economic policies … The ten-foot-long Obama Failometer billboard will be displayed in the corridor of the Capitol's Cannon House Office building at Stockman's 326 Cannon Office.”

Stockman, who previously served one term in Congress in 1995-1996, is back for the first time since.

This story was originally published on Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:52 PM EST

Ashley Judd's not even running yet, if she runs at all, for the Senate in Kentucky, but a powerful Republican outside group is already blasting her potential candidacy, painting her as "an Obama-following, radical, Hollywood liberal" who isn't even from Kentucky.

Karl Rove's American Crossroads posted a video taking aim at at Judd, who some Democrats have pointed to as a potential Senate candidate against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

The video creates an image of the actress as a "radical ... Hollywood liberal," who doesn't like "hillbillies who golf," is attached at the hip to President Obama, and doesn't even consider Kentucky home. That's Tennessee, according to the video.

"Her own grandmother says she's a Hollywood liberal," an announcer says. "Isn't that exactly what we need? Ashley Judd, an Obama-following, radical, Hollywood liberal, who's right at home here in Tennessee. I mean, Kentucky."

Judd, the daughter of country singer Naomi Judd, grew up in Kentucky and California and attended the University of Kentucky. But she also attended high school in Tennessee and lives there currently. She had also been rumored as a potential candidate for the Senate in Tennessee.

The effort by American Crossroads, on the heels of the revelation that it will form another group that would take aim at fringe conservatives, could be as much an effort to curry favor with the influential Republican leader McConnell as it is a way to knock Judd and gain attention.

Republicans in MI, OH, PA, VA are looking to change the Electoral College rules, not their party… The changes would give the GOP a HUGE advantage in presidential contests… But it would also present this dilemma for Republicans: It would speed up efforts to have the popular vote decide presidential elections… The Republican 2016ers: the insiders vs. the outsiders… Obama and Hillary to hold joint “60 Minutes” interview… Biden to talk gun violence in Richmond, VA at 11:00 am ET… And abortion opponents hold “March for Life” in DC.

*** Changing the rules, not the party: As the Republican National Committee concludes its three-day meeting in Charlotte, N.C., you’ve by now heard all the different ways Republicans are looking to improve their standing in time for the next presidential election. They want to do a better job reaching out to Latinos (see Jeb Bush’s WSJ op-ed), they want to soften their tone when it comes to social issues, and they want to narrow their technological and get-out-the-vote operation gap with Democrats. But here’s another way you might not have heard: Some Republicans are looking to change the Electoral College system in battleground states that Democrats have won in the last two cycles. As the Washington Post reports, Republicans in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia -- all controlled at the state level (in some form or fashion) by the GOP -- have proposed awarding their Electoral College votes by congressional district instead of the winner-take-all approach used by every state except for two (Maine and Nebraska). “No state is moving quicker than Virginia, where state senators are likely to vote on the plan as soon as next week,” the Post says.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks as (L-R) Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Barrasso (R-WY), and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) listen during a news briefing after the weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon January 22, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

*** That would give the GOP a HUGE advantage: The Republicans advocating these changes say they would give smaller communities more of a voice in presidential battleground states. But there’s a bigger story here: The moves would give the GOP a significant advantage due to the fact that redistricting has concentrated the Democratic vote to just a handful of congressional districts in these states. Take Virginia, for example: Obama won the state in 2012 by four percentage points and by about 150,000 votes -- and he took all of the state’s 13 electoral votes. But under the proposed changes, Mitt Romney would have won nine of the state’s electoral votes to Obama’s four. Put another way, if every electoral vote in the country was awarded by congressional district (plus two votes to the statewide winner), Romney would have defeated Obama, 276 to 262 in electoral votes (instead of Obama winning 332 to 206), according to Emory University’s Alan Abramowitz. And if only the states of Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin were changed to this system, Obama would have BARELY won, 271-267, Abramowitz adds.

*** The GOP’s dilemma: The current system vs. the popular vote: And this isn’t just coming from state-level Republicans. In an interview earlier this month with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus -- who’s expected to win re-election as RNC chair today in Charlotte -- appeared to bless these changes to the Electoral College system. "I think it's something that a lot of states that have been consistently blue that are fully controlled red ought to be looking at," Priebus said, but he also added: "It's not my decision that can come from the RNC, that's for sure." But these proposed changes are shortsighted for two reasons. One, the Republicans pushing them are all but acknowledging that their party problems heading into 2016 are so significant that they have to change the rules in order to win. In other words, they are throwing in the towel and trying to rig the system. Two, the proposed changes would only speed up efforts to have the popular vote -- and not the Electoral College -- decide presidential contests, because many would see that as a fairer system. So Republicans need to ask themselves this question: Do they want the current Electoral College system, or do they want the popular vote? And a final question here: Where are the big leaders of the party on this issue? Haley Barbour? Jeb Bush? George W. Bush?

*** The insiders vs. the outsiders: Speaking of the RNC confab in Charlotte, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivered a speech last night arguing, “We must stop being the stupid party. It's time for a new Republican party that talks like adults.” His main contention, per NBC’s Carrie Dann: Republicans need to get away from the budget battles of Washington, D.C. "We as Republicans have to accept that government number crunching -- even conservative number crunching -- is not the answer to our nation's problems." This highlights a striking split among the possible 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls. Some of them, because they’re governors, are pursuing an outside game. (See Jindal and also see Chris Christie’s criticism of congressional Republicans on the Hurricane Sandy relief.) And others, because they currently serve in Congress, are playing the inside game. (See Marco Rubio, who is pushing immigration reform, and Paul Ryan, who is now arguing that Republicans need to wisely pick their budget battles.) So your Invisible Primary bracket has already begun -- the insider’s bracket vs. the outsider’s bracket.

*** Obama, Hillary to conduct joint interview: And speaking of 2016, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are today taping a joint interview for “60 Minutes,” which will air on Sunday, NBC’s Kristen Welker confirms. This interview is only going to fuel speculation about Clinton’s possible presidential bid in ’16, and it looks like Obama is giving her a VERY BIG embrace. Moreover, you have to wonder what Vice President Biden is thinking about this interview.

*** Biden to talk about gun violence in Virginia: Biden, meanwhile, is heading to Richmond, Va., where he’s holding a roundtable discussion on gun violence Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Tim Kaine, and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott. The roundtable discussion takes place at 11:00 am ET.

*** Abortion opponents hold “March for Life” in DC: Finally today, coinciding with this week’s 40^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the “March for Life” in Washington takes place from noon ET to 1:30 pm ET. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), ex-Sen./ex-presidential candidate Rick Santorum, and others will speak.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As Republicans gather in Charlotte to take stock of their party's brand this week, one of their potential standard-bearers is advising them to turn their attention away from an "obsession with government bookkeeping" in Washington D.C.

"Today’s conservatism is completely wrapped up in solving the hideous mess that is the federal budget, the burgeoning deficits, the mammoth federal debt, the shortfall in our entitlement programs,"  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will say at tonight's keynote dinner at the Republican National Committee's Winter Meeting, according to an advance copy of remarks obtained by NBC News.

"We as Republicans have to accept that government number crunching – even conservative number crunching – is not the answer to our nation’s problems,” he will say.

Recommended: Hillary's honeymoon with GOP ends

Jindal, frequently discussed as a possible 2016 presidential nominee for the GOP, will make the argument that Republican concern about constraining a bulging federal government -- signified to their base by President Barack Obama -- misses the point of growing the economy outside the Beltway.

"The Republican Party must become the party of growth, the party of a prosperous future that is based in our economic growth and opportunity that is based in every community in this great country and that is not based in Washington, DC," he will say.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana addresses activists from America's political right at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in this file photo.

The Louisiana governor's remarks come as Republicans in Congress have been struggling to out-manuever Obama on tactical measures related to spending, taxes and the debt ceiling. While the party has extracted some concessions from the White House as a result of the wrangling, consultants and elected officials alike fret that a focus on fighting the president looks more like stubborn obstruction than conservative valor to a weary public.

Jindal -- who is Indian-American, Catholic and just 41 years old -- has gained national fame in part by defying stereotypes about how a southern Republican governor looks and sounds. The party's efforts to expand its appeal beyond white men and the south top the Charlotte agenda.

Jindal is expected to speak tonight at around 7 p.m. ET. 

Hillary’s “honeymoon” with GOP ends… Yet she departs her job stronger today than she was four years ago… Kerry gets his Senate confirmation hearing at 10:00 am ET… Boehner: Obama wants to “annihilate” the GOP… Pentagon to allow women to serve in direct combat… DiFi introduces her assault-weapons ban… And Jindal addresses the RNC meeting in Charlotte, NC.

*** Hillary’s honeymoon with the GOP ends: Say what you will about yesterday’s theatrics at the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees, about the testy exchanges, and about the questions asked and questions dodged. But politically, what struck us about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appearance was that it marked the end of her four-year honeymoon with Republicans, especially as we begin to turn to 2016. Yes, the word “honeymoon” might be a stretch. But consider how Republicans have either embraced her -- or been indifferent to her -- over the past four years as they’ve focused their energies on President Obama. In fact, Republicans praising her (or her husband) has been a way to criticize Obama. “I just wanted to say that I wish you’d have won the Democratic primary in 2008,” freshman GOP Rep. Tom Cotton said yesterday to Clinton. Just look at our most recent NBC/WSJ poll: 41% of Republicans approve of Clinton’s job as secretary of state (compared with just 10% who approve of Obama’s job as president). Yet whether it was the tough questions from conservatives or how Matt Drudge covered the hearings, Republicans treated Clinton as a partisan Democrat yesterday. And that was something we hadn’t seen these past four years. Madame Secretary, hope you enjoyed the Republican honeymoon while it lasted, because the bipartisan overtures are now over, assuming you do decide run in 2016. 

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Sept.11, 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Jan. 23, 2013.

*** But she’s stronger today than she was four years ago: Speaking of Clinton’s performance, all of her political strengths were on display. She was prepared. She was tough when she needed to be. She was deferential when she wanted to be. And she displayed both raw emotion and a sense of humor. It’s also worth noting that she’s stronger today -- politically -- than she was four years ago. Part of it, as we said above, is that Republicans have embraced her. But another part is that, since becoming secretary of state, she no longer owns some of her husband’s baggage. She is her own political entity now, which wasn’t always the case during her 2008 presidential bid; she was still “Mrs. Clinton” in 2008. But here’s one additional point to make: When the Clintons leave office, there’s always some kind of drama. As Bill Clinton departed the White House in 2001, there was the Marc Rich pardon. And as Hillary leaves her post as secretary of state, it ended with her testimony on Benghazi. But politically, her performance yesterday is enough to quiet any nervous nellies in the Democratic Party that she isn’t ready for what will inevitably be a rough and tumble campaign should she embark on it.  

*** Kerry gets his confirmation hearing: Hillary Clinton makes another appearance on Capitol Hill today -- but it’s to introduce John Kerry at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to succeed Clinton as secretary of state. The hearing takes place at 10:00 am ET. Here’s some trivia via the Boston Globe: If confirmed, Kerry would become the eighth secretary of state from Massachusetts, but only the second in the past 100 years. He also would be the fifth chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee to be appointed, but the only sitting chairman. And if Kerry steps down from his Senate seat on Monday, the primary to replace him would have to take place between Saturday, May 11 and Sunday, May 26. And the general would be between Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, July 7. State law requires the general to take place 145 to 160 days after a vacancy is created. The primary is required to occur six weeks before that.

*** Boehner: Obama wants to “annihilate” the GOP: Outside of Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner made news after the Ripon Society, a moderate GOP organization, released a transcript of the speaker’s address to the group on Tuesday. In his remarks, Boehner charged that the Obama administration wants to “annihilate” the Republican Party and “shove” it “into the dustbin of history.” Said Boehner: “[G]iven what we heard [Monday] about the president's vision for his second term, it's pretty clear to me that he knows he can't do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans. So we're expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party. And let me just tell you, I do believe that is their goal - to just shove us into the dustbin of history.” It’s interesting what Boehner said – but also where he said it. The Ripon Society is a group where moderate GOPers are allowed to flourish. Was Boehner sending a message to Democrats? Or to his own base? And don’t miss Paul Ryan’s statement to the Wall Street Journal: “I think we need to do a better job of applying our principles to the problems of today, to show solutions to the country's biggest problems and how they relate in people's everyday lives.”

*** Pentagon to allow women to serve in direct combat: Perhaps the biggest news of the day is the Pentagon’s announcement of ending the U.S. military’s exclusion of women as combat soldiers on the ground. Per NBC’s Courtney Kube, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will announce today he’s eliminating the direct ground combat exclusion for women. The current DoD policy is that women are to be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level if they would be engaging in direct combat. "We are moving in the direction of women as infantry soldiers," one senior defense official to NBC’s Kube. Panetta's decision mandates that the studies and reviews on women as infantry soldiers must be completed by Oct. 2015 -- women soldiers will NOT be permanently assigned to infantry any sooner than that, the official explained. In the meantime, officials will examine whether any changes are necessary for physical requirements for women to serve as infantry soldiers. This announcement, Kube adds, will open approximately 237,000 positions to women across the services (positions being individual jobs, not job categories). This will include 5,000 positions for female marines in ground combat elements (this includes female corpsmen or medics serving at the battalion or company level). Our take: Intellectually, this shouldn’t be a big deal; women are already serving in combat (see Tammy Duckworth). But the real test is where public opinion might be, especially if more and more women come home in flag-draped coffins.

*** DiFi introduces her assault-weapons ban: Also today, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduces her assault-weapons ban in Congress. There’s also a Senate hearing on mental health and gun violence at 10:00 am ET before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. And yesterday, the White House announced that Vice President Biden and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) will travel to Richmond, VA to discuss gun violence.

*** Jindal addresses the RNC: Finally today, the real action at the RNC’s winter meeting in Charlotte, NC begins. And today’s highlight there is Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s speech at an evening dinner. Per the Washington Post’s Cillizza, Jindal’s speech will call for Republicans to focus less on the political battles in Washington, DC. “A debate about which party can better manage the federal government is a very small and short-sighted debate,” he is expected to say. “If our vision is not bigger than that, we do not deserve to win.” More Jindal: “Instead of worrying about managing government, it’s time for us to address how we can lead America… to a place where it can once again become the land of opportunity, where it can once again become a place of growth and opportunity.  We should put all our eggs in that basket.” If you take the recent comments by Boehner, Ryan, and Jindal together, you’re seeing a pragmatic argument from these three Republicans. They are trying to defend conservative principles, but remain a modern party. It’s no longer about stopping Obama; it’s becoming a governing party after Obama. And speaking of Jindal, maybe no Republican has done a better job -- right now -- of positioning his voice for 2016 than the Louisiana governor has.  

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GOP tries to regroup as RNC begins its winter meeting in Charlotte, NC… Bad news, good news for the GOP… Hillary Clinton testifies -- at last -- on Benghazi… House to vote on extending the debt ceiling… NRA’s LaPierre defends “absolutism”… The center strikes back in Israel… Lautenberg says Booker deserves a “spanking,” though a new Quinnipiac poll shows who’s giving the real spanking so far… And 2016 watch: Rubio speaks at 2:00 pm ET before U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

*** GOP tries to regroup: Two days after President Obama’s inauguration, all the Democratic celebrations, the parades and inaugural balls, Republicans today begin heading to Charlotte, NC for the RNC’s winter meeting, where they will lick their electoral wounds and start to regroup. Here’s the bad news for the GOP: According to the most recent NBC/WSJ poll, the party’s unfavorable rating (49%) is at its highest point since 2008. The Obama White House and Democrats forced the GOP to fold its opposition to raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans (though the agreement extended tax breaks for everyone else). And it has retreated -- for now -- on using the debt ceiling to demand additional spending cuts (and will instead use the budget process for that fiscal fight).

*** Bad news, good news: So that’s the bad news for a party that has lost two-straight presidential contests -- and has lost them decisively. The good news is that politics and circumstances can change. After all, it was just eight years ago when Democrats were coming off their second-straight presidential loss and many were talking about a permanent conservative majority. What’s more, the 2014 midterm season looks potentially bright for the GOP, given the Democratic Senate seats that are up next year and given that the Obama coalition of voters isn’t as likely to participate in elections when the president’s name isn’t at the top of the ticket. And finally, as Obama proved, a charismatic presidential candidate can help turn around a party’s fortunes. The challenge, of course, is finding that candidate, as well as improving the party’s overall brand. So yes, a party’s political fortunes can change. But how it uses its time out of power -- and how it learns from its past losses -- is perhaps the most important component to getting back on the right track.

*** The real action in Charlotte begins tomorrow: That brings us to the upcoming RNC meeting in Charlotte, which happens to be the same city where Democrats held their triumphant convention last year. Per NBC’s Carrie Dann, the real action begins taking place tomorrow, when Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks at a dinner and when the RNC’s “Growth and Opportunity Project” -- the party’s effort to improve upon what went wrong in the last election -- will discuss its research. And on Friday, the 168 RNC members will elect the party chairman for the next years. It’s widely expected that current RNC Chair Reince Priebus will win re-election.

*** Hillary Clinton testifies on Benghazi: As the RNC begins to huddle in Charlotte, Capitol Hill today braces itself for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s long-awaited congressional testimony on the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. Clinton’s testimony -- at 9:00 am ET before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and 2:00 pm ET before the House Foreign Affairs Committee -- comes after an independent study criticized Clinton’s State Department “for a lack of seasoned security personnel and for relying on untested local militias to safeguard the compound,” the New York Times reported at the time. After that report, four top State Department were removed from their posts. While the hearings could get testy, Clinton comes into them in a strong political shape. According to the last NBC/WSJ poll, her approval rating stands at 69%, which is higher than any other outgoing secretary of state measured in a poll since 1948 -- with one exception: Colin Powell in 2004. Also, don’t miss that another 2016 hopeful Marco Rubio will be asking some of the questions today (more on Rubio below).

*** House to vote on extending debt ceiling: Also on Capitol Hill today, the House will vote to raise the debt ceiling for three months. NBC’s Luke Russert reported that House Speaker John Boehner yesterday implored his GOP conference to pass this extension -- under the promise that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will be working on a plan to balance the budget over the next 10 years. "Passing a short-term hike buys time for the House and Senate both to pass a budget,” Boehner said, per a source in the room. Technically, today’s vote is to SUSPEND the debt limit rather than RAISE it. As NBC’s Frank Thorp explains, the legislation suspends the debt ceiling until May 18, so during that time the U.S. government would have no debt limit. After May 18, Thorp adds, Congress would then pass a debt-limit extension to retroactively cover the debt that was incurred during the suspension of the limit. The vote is expected to take place around 12:30 pm ET, and it’s supposed the pass. The Obama White House yesterday said it supports this three-month extension/suspension. By the way, in convincing the rank-and-file to go along with this, Politico reports that Boehner made the pitch, but Ryan made the sale.

*** NRA’s LaPierre defends “absolutism”: The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre made the case yesterday that “absolutism” is a good thing. In an address, LaPierre said, “Obama wants to turn the idea of absolutism into a dirty word. Just another word for extremism. He wants you, all of you, and Americans throughout all of this country, to accept the idea of principles as he sees fit. It’s a way of redefining words so that common sense is turned upside down and that nobody knows the difference… We believe in our right to defend ourselves and our families with semi-automatic firearms technology…  I’ve got news for the president: Absolutes do exist. Words do have specific meaning in language and in law. It’s the basis of all civilization... Without those absolutes, without those protections, democracy decays into nothing more than two wolves and one lamb voting on, well, who to eat for lunch.”

*** The center strikes back in Israel: Yesterday, we wrote that everyone was expecting Tuesday’s Israeli elections to produce a government that was even more conservative than the current government. But that expectation turned out to be wrong. The Washington Post says the elections “weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and raised the prospect of a more centrist government that could ease strained relations with Washington and signal more flexibility in peace efforts with the Palestinians.” More: “With 99 percent of the votes counted, results showed the combined ticket of Likud and the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu faction losing a quarter of its seats in parliament, along with a surprising surge for a new centrist party, Yesh Atid, which looks set to become a key element of a future coalition. The result meant that Netanyahu, whose faction remained the largest in parliament, would almost certainly have to join forces with Yesh Atid, now second in size. The centrist party’s demands include resuming negotiations with the Palestinians, and an alliance could result in a government less tilted to the right than Netanyahu’s outgoing administration.”

*** Lautenberg says Booker deserves a “spanking”: There’s never a dull political moment in New Jersey, that’s for sure. As National Journal writes, “Sen. Frank Lautenberg made his first public comments about Newark Mayor Cory Booker, comparing him to his disobedient children, and suggesting the upstart mayor needed a ‘spanking.’” Lautenberg told the Philly Inquirer: "I have four children, I love each one of them. I can't tell [you] that one of them wasn't occasionally disrespectful, so I gave them a spanking and everything was OK.” But according to a new Quinnipiac poll, New Jersey Democratic voters prefer Booker over Lautenberg by 51%-30%, and a plurality say Lautenberg doesn’t deserve re-election. What’s more, And 71% think his age -- he’s 89 and will be 90 by the 2014 election -- “makes the work too difficult,” versus 21% who say it “gives him the wisdom and experience to do a good job.” The same Quinnipiac poll has Gov. Chris Christie with a whopping 74% job-approval rating.

*** 2016 watch: Rubio speaks to Chamber: Lastly today, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at 2:00 pm ET. The speech is on education and middle-class opportunity.

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J. Scott Applewhite / AP

In this Jan. 4, 2013, photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, walks to a strategy session with GOP members, on Capitol Hill in Washington at the start of the first full day of business for the new 113th Congress.

Throughout the 2012 presidential campaign, President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress confidently predicted that the re-election of the president would break the partisan “fever” they claimed had enveloped Washington and the Republican Party.

But the weeks since the election have found Republicans as dogged as ever in their resistance to Obama, whose initiatives – including gun control, immigration reform and efforts to boost renewable energy – still face an uncertain path forward, particularly in an unruly House of Representatives still controlled by a Republican majority. Republicans are signaling a willingness to go to great lengths to bend coming battles in their favor, especially versus a White House whom they view as just as unflinching in its views, if not more so.

“I believe if we're successful – when we’re successful in this election – the fever may break. My hope and my expectation is that after the election, now that it turns out the goal of beating Obama doesn’t make much sense because I’m not running again,” Obama said at an event on June 1. “We can start getting some cooperation again, and we’re not going to have people raising their hands and saying – or refusing to accept a deal where there’s $10 of cuts for every dollar of tax increases, but that people will accept a balanced plan for deficit reduction.”

That was an expectation the Obama administration carried all the way through the campaign; Vice President Joe Biden said on MSNBC just days before Election Day: “I think you’re going to see the fever break.”

But the just-finished fight over the fiscal cliff suggested that, if anything, Republicans are more entrenched than ever before. While Obama ultimately won the income tax rate increases on the wealthy, on which the president campaigned, it wasn’t until Republicans had exhausted every feasible move that they relented to Obama’s demand. And even then, it wasn’t until the U.S. had gone over the fiscal cliff – if only for a matter of hours – that Congress agreed to act, passing the bill in the House with mostly Democratic votes.

Debt limit a 'point of leverage'
But Obama might be mistaken to assume his toughest fights with congressional Republicans are behind him. While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s vow to make Obama a one-term president is now moot, Republicans appear as emboldened as ever to both battle with the administration and keep true to their the ideological conservatism that a large number in the party represent.

The temporary fiscal cliff deal sets up a series of potentially more contentious battles this spring over continuing government funding and authorizing more borrowing authority for the government. And top Republicans are now openly discussing options, like a government shutdown, that they had taken every pain to disavow in 2011.

"It may be necessary to partially shut down the government in order to secure the long-term fiscal well being of our country," Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Republicans' No. 2 in the Senate, wrote last week in the Houston Chronicle. "President Obama needs to take note of this reality and put forward a plan to avoid it immediately."

And House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, called the debt limit fight "one point of leverage" in an interview with the Wall Street Journal; a Politico report, also published Monday, suggested the House speaker was more circumspect about the possibility of defaulting on the national debt. In 2011, Boehner stressed at every turn that defaulting on the U.S. debt was not an option.

Senate Republicans’ budget chief was more explicit: “I think it should be a firm principle that we should not raise the debt ceiling until we have a plan on how the new borrowed money will be spent,” Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.

If Obama was hoping there were more deals to be had on taxes, too, Republicans all but tried to slam the door on such an idea.

“We’ve resolved the tax issue now. It’s over. It’s behind us,” McConnell said Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

Fight over defense secretary
And those are only the spending fights; other clashes are already taking shape.

Former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., whom Obama nominated to be the next secretary of defense, appears likely to face strong Republican resistance in the Senate.

Obama has also suggested that he’s willing to dive headlong – and quickly – into battles over comprehensive immigration reform and gun control, fights which could only threaten to intensify hostilities between the White House and congressional Republicans (and put some moderate Democrats in a tough spot politically in the meanwhile).

The president’s second-term initiatives could fall victim to the same fever that killed the DREAM Act, cap-and-trade legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act and the “public option” in health care reform during his first term.

“There will be plenty of time to take a look at their recommendations once they come forward,” McConnell said Sunday of Obama’s hope for quick action on curbing gun violence. “What’s going to dominate Washington for the next three months here is going to be spending and debt.”

The last-minute deal-making on Capitol Hill may have helped avert the fiscal cliff for now, but many commentators expressed pessimism over the agreement and the distressing sight of lawmakers allowing the world’s largest economy to teeter near economic disaster.

“This is a bad bill that made a bad situation worse,” Richard Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“The only thing it did was avoiding sending the signal (to the rest of the world) that we’re reckless and out of control,” he added.

Consumers, businesses and financial markets have been rattled by the months of budget brinkmanship. The crisis ended when dozens of Republicans in the House of Representatives buckled and backed tax hikes approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But even with the agreement, more budget drama is expected on the way. In February, Congress will have to decide what to do about a slew of other spending cuts. Then, in March, lawmakers will decide on whether to increase the federal borrowing limit.

“We could see an early lift in the markets because of relief the deal went through,” Gary Thayer, the chief macro strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, told The New York Times. “The response may be muted because the deal left out many long-term issues.”

'A missed opportunity'
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who headed a deficit commission for Obama, said lawmakers missed a "magic moment to do something big" for the American economy.

“The deal approved today is truly a missed opportunity to do something big to reduce our long term fiscal problems, but it is a small step forward in our efforts to reduce the federal deficit,” they said in a joint statement released Tuesday.

PhotoBlog: Deal done, Obama heads back to Hawaii with a weary wink

In a scathing editorial, the Wall Street Journal called for the parties to go their own ways in Congress and tried to rally Republicans against Obama.

“Having been cornered into letting Democrats carry this special-interest slag heap through the House, Speaker John Boehner should from now on cease all backdoor negotiations and pursue regular legislative order. House Republicans should pursue their own agenda and let Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats pursue theirs. Mr. Obama has his tax triumph. Let it be his last,” it wrote on the editorial page.

Economists had been warning that the tax increases and spending cuts could take a chunk out of the U.S. economy.

PhotoBlog: Behind the scenes as Congress works overtime

But early Wednesday, world markets registered relief over the deal.

Benchmarks in Australia and Hong Kong boomeranged on the first trading day of the year. Asian markets had slipped on Monday, fearing that negotiations over the measure might collapse.

Many analysts were gloomy about long-term prospects.

“The process was so chaotic and the outcome so unsatisfactory that we are likely to see a further U.S. downgrade at some point,” Steven Englander, fixed-income strategist at Citi, wrote in a research note.

But China's state news agency Xinhua took a more severe view, warning the United States must get to grips with a budget deficit that threatened not a "fiscal cliff" but a "fiscal abyss." Most of China's $3.3 trillion foreign exchange reserves are held in dollars.

Bipartisan outrage after House skips vote on $60 billion Sandy aid bill

For the Washington Post, the entire episode was depressing.

The newspaper expressed discouragement for what the episode suggests for political compromise going forward.

“The United States will have to wait longer yet for its inevitable budget reckoning,” it wrote in an editorial.

“We hope the nation’s leaders will be able to accomplish in stages what they have been unable to do in a series of self-imposed crises: raise more revenue and significantly reduce future entitlement spending. But the fiscal cliff episode offers little encouragement,” the newspaper concluded.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

While the mood may be icy when it comes to political sparring in Washington, there was a warm bit of good cheer in the U.S. Senate.  Minnesota's Sen. Al Franken, inspired by an old grade school tradition from his childhood, organized a Secret Santa gift exchange again this year.  The parties regularly tangle over government spending, but the senators did agree to a $10 spending cap for gifts. 

Aides say a bipartisan group of 60 senators participated by picking names, mostly across the aisle, keeping those identities secret and then delivering small presents at a gathering over eggnog and seasonal treats Monday night.

Frank Fey / U.S. Senate Photographic Studio

Sen. Al Franken, right, speaks with colleagues during the gift exchange.

Not just any fruitcake was served -- the Senate kitchen began making fruitcake a few months ago, giving the brandy enough time to soak the cake.  Due to fog that delayed some flights and therefore postponed Senate votes, some members were not able to attend the Monday party but were spotted exchanging wrapped gifts on the Senate floor late Tuesday.

Among the gifts given and received:

• Sen. Franken received a VHS copy of the movie "Tunnel Vision" and a DVD of  "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29" from Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barasso.
• Franken, in turn, gave Arkansas Republican Sen. John Boozman a mahnomin porridge kit from Hell's Kitchen, a popular restaurant in Minneapolis. Sen. Franken serves that breakfast porridge at his weekly breakfast with constituents.
• Florida Republican Marco Rubio gave Godiva chocolates to Delaware Democrat Chris Coons. 
• North Carolina Democrat Kay Hagan gave her state's famed peanuts to fellow Democrat Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
• New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte gave Hagan a book, "1,001 Gardens you Should See Before You Die."
• Wyoming's Mike Enzi, R-WI, gave Virginia Democrat Mark Warner a George Washington University T-shirt and a book on bicycling.  Aides say Enzi "refrained from getting him a book on freestyle BMX tricks because of the safety issues Sen. Enzi works on."
• Alaska Democrat Mark Begich presented a cookbook and wine from his home state to Missouri's Claire McCaskill.
• Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns gave Nebraska wine to Florida Democrat Bill Nelson.
• Johanns received a shirt for his undergraduate alma mater, St. Mary's University, from Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar.
• Montana Democrat Jon Tester gave home state chocolates to Ohio Republican Rob Portman.
• Portman gave Louisiana's Mary Landrieu a Cincinnati favorite, Graeter's Buckeye Blitz ice cream.
• Arkansas Republican John Boozman gave Georgia's Saxby Chambliss Mason jar wine glasses.

In 2011, the participation was a bit better, with 62 senators exchanging gifts. This year, with much year-end business left to complete, senators may spend more of the holiday season together as the “fiscal cliff” looms.