Date Night for Congress as Republicans and Democrats plan to partner up at the State of the Union Address

[Jenna]

Will Tuesday be "Date Night" in Congress for President Barack Obama's State of the Union address?
Democratic and Republican legislators are pairing off to sit together for the annual speech in a symbolic gesture of bipartisanship, and some of the combinations so far are intriguing.
Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the epitome of East Coast liberalism, and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a symbol of conservative intransigence, are putting aside their differences to cross the political aisle for a night, Schumer said Sunday.

More here: Legislators pairing off for bipartisan seating at Obama speech - CNN.com

[lewisipso]

Somebody's going to start a food fight.

[Jenna]

Somebody's going to start a food fight.

[Captain America]

I'm glad Nancy Pelosi will have something to snack on during speech.

[Jenna]

I'm glad Nancy Pelosi will have something to snack on during speech.

That might intimidate her date....

[Jenna]

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joked he got dumped.

"I don't have a date [for the State of the Union]. I got dumped," Van Hollen told The Hill on Monday. Van Hollen's originally planned to go with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) but now Ryan is giving the Republican response to the speech.

"Looks like I'm going stag. Maybe I'll look for another date," Van Hollen said with smile and a good-natured laugh.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R.-Minn.) has not been asked to sit with any Democrats yet. "I am a free agent," she said.

And Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) took to Twitter to bemoan his lack of a date.

“So I don't have a date to SOTU. Oh, how it is to be the ugly conservative,” Chaffetz tweeted Monday.

Later he joked: “Perhaps the First Lady needs a date?”

Second-term Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), who starred in a 2009 CNN series with Chaffetz about congressional freshmen, tweeted they could sit together:

“I'll be sitting with the R & D CO delegation, but u can join us, UT is a neighboring state!” he wrote.

More here: Date night at the Capitol: Who's sitting with whom? - TheHill.com

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.


While these lawmakers are on different sides of the aisle, they work together on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and aren't considered sharp political adversaries.
Quoted: "I asked one of my best girlfriends to be my date for the night," Landrieu told The New York Times of her choice of Snowe. "Of course, we share the Small Business Committee."

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Grassley and Wyden are part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing to end the Senate's so-called "secret holds" -- a practice that allows one or more lawmakers to anonymously prevent a motion from reaching a vote.
Quoted: Grassley told his Twitter followers: "My date for State of Union is Sen Wyden. My partner in fight agst secret holds. He invited."

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.


Durbin is the Senate's No. 2 Democrat. Kirk is a centrist Republican and veteran of the House who fought off a tough election challenge from state treasurer and Obama-insider Alexi Giannoulias in November 2010 in the race to fill President Obama's old Senate seat.
Quoted: "I'm bringing the popcorn; he's bringing a Coke with two straws," Durbin said on Fox News Sunday. "Just kidding, of course."

Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and Rep. Pete King, R- N.Y.


The two lawmakers from New York got into a shouting match last summer on the House floor over the 9/11 first responders bill. According to Politico, King's wife suggested the two sit together, calling them two of the "biggest loudmouths" in the House.
Quoted: "To me, this is really stretching the outer limits of civility for Weiner and I to be sitting together," King told Politico. "He wants to sit on the GOP side with me, so I guess for one night he can pretend he's in the majority." Adds Weiner: "It's a nice thing. I'm going to be sitting on the Republican side, so not only will Peter King be my date, he may be my security detail also."

Not taking part so far: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who said Sunday he would "sit where I usually sit." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that the plan should be given "serious consideration."
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has invited House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to sit with him during the speech. The former Speaker of the House tweeted that while she thanked the GOP leader for his offer, she had already invited Rep. Roscoe Barlett, R-Md., to be her seating partner:

"I thank @GOPLeader for his #SOTU offer, but I invited my friend Rep. Bartlett from MD yesterday & am pleased he accepted."

More here: Bipartisan Seating at State of the Union Pairs Odd Couples, Friendly Foes | The Rundown News Blog | PBS NewsHour | PBS