Tunnel of Love? The Ties that Bind? Two Hearts? AP: “President Barack Obama and Gov. Chris Christie, the odd couple of politics, are finding common cause again. Obama was to tour New Jersey’s beach communities with Christie on Tuesday, examining the recovery from Hurricane Sandy’s devastating damage last October. The trip gives Obama a chance to showcase the widely praised Federal Emergency Management Agency at a time when attention has focused on the Internal Revenue Service and its targeting of conservative groups. The president also gets to draw attention to the kind of bipartisanship that has been harder to find in the nation’s capital.”
Another AP story: “President Barack Obama is looking to get his groove back — at the beach.”
The Asbury Park Press (the hometown paper of the Jersey Shore and where Obama visits today): “Politics set aside while Obama visits.”
From the story: “President Barack Obama and Gov. Chris Christie will reunite in a tour of the coastline today, seven months after a similar meeting resulted in the shunning of Christie by conservatives across the nation.”
Newark Star Ledger front page: “Trip to Jersey coast just what Obama needs.” (But that’s right next to a photo of a largely empty beach because of cold weather. Headline: “Cold weather kept visitors away from rebuilt attractions.”)
A CNN/ORC poll finds by a 54%-43% margin people don’t support the health-care law. And it finds Americans growing more concerned about Syria.
“President Obama will soon accelerate his efforts to put a lasting imprint on the country’s judiciary by simultaneously nominating three judges to an important federal court, a move that is certain to unleash fierce Republican opposition and could rekindle a broader partisan struggle over Senate rules,” the New York Times says. “In trying to fill the three vacancies on the 11-member United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit at once, Mr. Obama will be adopting a more aggressive nomination strategy. He will effectively be daring Republicans to find specific ground to filibuster all the nominees.”
The Times also looks at the roots of Obama’s national security speech last week. “The pivot in counterterrorism policy that President Obama announced last week was nearly two years in the making, but perhaps the most critical moment came last spring during a White House meeting as he talked about the future of the nation’s long-running terrorism war. Underlying the discussion was a simple fact: It was an election year. And Mr. Obama might lose.”