House of Cards: What Happens When a Reporter Becomes an Army of One

The Times's Ashley Parker and David Carr recap the third episode of Netflix’s Washington-based drama.

For Michelle Obama, a Second-Term Agenda Focused on Children

CHICAGO - Announcing the name of the best picture via satellite for Oscars was an extension of Michelle Obama’s interest in promoting the arts among children, her principle constituency, and if people didn’t like it, that was unsurprising and not particularly bothersome, she said.

“My bangs set off a national conversation,” Mrs. Obama said during an interview here in which she reflected on the public’s fascination with her activities and her sense of what being the first African-American family in the White House has meant so far, and hinted at a more international second term agenda. “We’ve got a lot of talking going on,” she said. “Everybody’s kitchen table conversation is now accessible to everybody else. It’s absolutely not surprising.”

The interview came just before she announced a new initiative to promote physical education in schools, a pet initiative of her first term. Participating in the Oscars, remotely, was intended to “hold up the arts,” Mrs. Obama said. “We are going to approach those filmmakers to do things for kids in this country, and that’s going to be their hook. I want to connect with those people and then I want to pull them in.”

Criticism of her media appearances - which intensified in recent weeks - doesn’t bother her, she said, chalking it up to a modern media era. “I don’t think about that stuff,” she said.

“There’s no logic in that, she said, adding “It doesn’t have anything to do with me. Anyone in this position has a huge spotlight and in modern day media the spotlight just gets more intense. I don’t attribute this to me or Barack. The culture has ju! st shifted. “

Setting a second-term agenda under the klieg lights is a focus of Mrs. Obama and her staff right now, in which all seem to be mindful of both the scrutiny and power of the office of the first lady. While she declined to provide specifics, Mrs. Obama said that whatever work she would do in the second agenda would likely build on her efforts to help children, possibly internationally.

“I have a special affinity for kids,” she said. “We love our kids so much and it is very hard not to see our kids in every child we meet. I am powerfully moved by children. I need to have them in my life. They keep me focused, they keep me directed.”

For the 6,000 Chicago-area children who came to hear her speak about exercise along with famous athletes here, she said that “I’m not going to be in a room with 6,000 kids and not touch some of them. Kids need that attention, that physical connection to an adult they see or know.”

Mrs. Obama elaboratd on what being part of the first African-American couple - and one of the iPhone generation - had meant. “We’re a young couple, we have young kids, we grew up with limited means,’’ she said. “Our stories are the stories of so many faceless, voiceless people. She added, “My life isn’t new but it’s new to a lot of people who haven’t seen this up close and personal.”

While emphasizing that “whatever I do will involve kids,” Mrs. Obama declined to provide specific new agenda items. She was repeatedly asked if she would work to push President Obama’s gun agenda, for example and demurred.

“Our hope is that over the next weeks and months we will hone in” on her agenda, she said. “If I do anything internationally I want it to dovetail with the work I do domestically,” making certain that “my time outside of the country is linking back and being real to people here.”

Mrs. Obama has largely tried to stay out of hot-button issues like gun safety. “The q! uestion b! ecomes who defines what’s contentious and controversial,” she said. “I can’t think along those notions because everyone’s definition of what’s controversial is different.” She added, “What I don’t want is just to do something to satisfy someone’s idea of what’s controversial.”

Random note on Mrs. Obama’s many years going to a camp for low-income children in Chicago: one year she was not named best camper because she cursed too much. “I was like ‘Man, I am really getting out of hand.’ That left an impact in my mind.”

Don’t tell her mother.

For Michelle Obama, a Second-Term Agenda Focused on Kids

CHICAGO - Announcing the name of the best picture via satellite for Oscars was an extension of Michelle Obama’s interest in promoting the arts among children, her principle constituency, and if people didn’t like it, that was unsurprising and not particularly bothersome, she said.

“My bangs set off a national conversation,” said Mrs. Obama during an interview here in which she reflected on the public’s fascination with her activities, her sense of what being the first African American family in the White House has meant so far and hinted at a more international second term agenda. “We’ve got a lot of talking going on,” she said. “Everybody’s kitchen table conversation is now accessible to everybody else. It’s absolutely not surprising.”

The interview came just before she announced a new initiative to promote physical education in schools, a pet initiative of her first term. Participating in the Oscars, remotely, was intended to “ hold up the arts,” Mrs. Obama said.“We are going to approach those filmmakers to do things for kids in this country, and that’s going to be their hook. I want to connect with those people and then I want to pull them in.”

Criticism of her media appearances - which intensified in recent weeks - doesn’t bother her, she said, chalking it up to a modern media era. “I don’t think about that stuff,” she said.

“There’s no logic in that, she said, adding “It doesn’t have anything to do with me. Anyone in this position has a huge spotlight and in modern day media the spotlight just gets more intense. I don’t attribute this to me or Barack. The culture has just shifted. “

Setting a second-term agenda under the kleig lights is a focus of Mrs. Obama and her staff right now, in which all seem to be mindful of both the scrutiny and power of the office of the first lady. While she declined to provide specifics, Mrs. Obama said that whatever work she would do in the second ag! enda would likely build on her efforts to help children, possibly internationally.

“I have a special affinity for kids,” she said. “We love our kids so much and it is very hard not to see our kids in every child we meet. I am powerfully moved by children. I need to have them in my life. They keep me focused, they keep me directed.”

For the 6,000 Chicago-area children who came to hear her speak about exercise along with famous athletes here, she said that “I’m not going to be in a room with 6,000 kids and not touch some of them. Kids need that attention, that physical connection to an adult they see or know.”

Mrs. Obama elaborated on what being part of the first African-American couple - and one of the iPhone generation - had meant. “We’re a young couple, we have young kids, we grew up with limited means,’’ she said. “Our stories are the stories of so many faceless, voiceless people. She added, “My life isn’t new but it’s new to a lot of people who haven’t sen this up close and personal.”

While emphasizing that “whatever I do will involve kids,” Mrs. Obama declined to provide specific new agenda items. She was repeatedly asked if she would work to push President Obama’s gun agenda, for example and demurred.

“Our hope is that over the next weeks and months we will hone in” on her agenda, she said. “If I do anything internationally I want it to dovetail with the work I do domestically,” making certain that “my time outside of the country is linking back and being real to people here.”
Mrs. Obama has largely tried to stay out of controversial issues like gun safety. “The question becomes who defines what’s contentious and controversial,” she said. “I can’t think along those notions because everyone’s definition of what’s controversial is different. She added, “What I don’t want is just to do something to satisfy someone’s idea of what’s controversial.”

Random note on Mrs. Obama’s many yea! rs going ! to a camp for low-income kids in Chicago: one year she was not named best camper because she cursed too much. “I was like ‘Man, I am really getting out of hand.’ That left an impact in my mind.”

Don’t tell her mom.

A New Furby Toy

Furby has a new little sister â€" or maybe brother.

In stores this week, Furby Party Rockers from Hasbro, costing $23, are smaller and cheaper than the regular Furby, which are priced at $60. But they do less, too. There’s no animatronics and cheaper, backlighted lenticular eyes, designed to look like more expensive color eyes that move. They run on three AAA batteries and come in four varieties, complete with predetermined personalities and names like Loveby and Scoffby.

So what can they do

Because the base is rounded, you wake up these little Furbys with a rocking motion. These motions are captured and counted, along the sound of our voice. More sound and motion equals more Furbish-talk, and eventually a song. If another Furby is near, large or small, they will sing in harmony.

Kris Paulson, Hasbro’s design manager of integrated play, said Furbys communicate with high-frequency sounds, called audio watermarks. You probably can’t hear them, but a nearby Furby or your dog proably can. So can your phone if it’s running the free Furby App on Android or the iPhone operating systems.

These new Furbys are part of a growing Furby empire that includes dress-up items, furniture (furbiture) and social media hooks.

One feature that Party Rockers share with their larger counterpart is that there is no off switch. Your only option is to remove the batteries, or drop one into solitary confinement for a few minutes. Finding such a place when children are around just might count as a 21st-century parenting skill. There’s a video on how these work.

Tip of the Week: Clean Your Phone and Its Camera

Smartphones spend a lot of time in hand, where they can pick up germs and dirt. Wiping down the phone regularly with an antibacterial cloth intended for use with touch screens can help keep it clean. Many office supply stores like Staples or Office Depot carry disposable wipes for use on phone and tablet screens.

If your phone has a camera and your photos have been looking blurry, you can clean its lens with a microfiber cloth or other wipe for use with camera lenses; a cotton swab moistened with distilled water can also take off stubborn grime. Whatever you do, though, do not spray the phone with industrial cleansers or use cleaning wipes designed for household chores, because these can damage the screen and other parts of the handset.

The Early Word: Sequester Eve

In Today’s Times

• As the Supreme Court heard arguments in a challenge to the Voting Rights Act on Wednesday, some conservative justices appeared skeptical about whether a part of the law targeting discrimination practices in nine states should stand. Adam Liptak writes that the justices’ sharp questioning indicated that the provision might be in danger, especially after Congress did not act on the court’s earlier recommendation to update the formula for determining which states should be subject to that part of the act.

• With $85 billion in federal spending cuts set to start kicking in on Friday, some Republicans and Democrats are seeing the silver lining of the so-called sequester. Jonathan Weisman explains that Democrats are hppy to cut Pentagon spending and postpone dealing with entitlement programs, while President Obama sees an opportunity to focus on gun control and immigration. Republicans are pleased just to see the government shrinking.

• Anticipating bad news once the sequester reductions hit, President Obama and his aides have been trying to brace Americans for cutbacks and make sure that Republicans get the blame for them, Michael D. Shear reports.

• The House is poised to pass the Senate’s version of a bill to reauthorize and expand the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday, after Republican leaders bowed to pressure from within their party, Jonathan Weisman writes. The House is expected to reject its own version before considering the Senat! e legislation, which would broaden the domestic-violence law to address same-sex and tribal jurisdiction issues.

• Jacob J. Lew is set to be sworn in as the 76th secretary of the Treasury after the Senate confirmed his nomination on Wednesday. Jeremy W. Peters writes that the 71-to-26 vote was notable in that it “meant that for the moment at least, the Senate returned to its traditional role of affording the president deference in selecting his cabinet.”

• On a campaign for tougher gun laws, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York met Wednesday with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader; and a few Republican moderates. But Jackie Calmes and Jeremy W. Peters write that Mr. Bloomberg did not atted a Senate hearing where he would have seen the lawmakers’ resistance to stricter laws.

• Michelle Obama kicked off the third year of her “Let’s Move” healthy eating campaign on Wednesday, starting a three-city tour in Mississippi, where obesity rates are the highest in the nation, with the food celebrity Rachael Ray, Jennifer Steinhauer reports. On Thursday, the first lady will make stops in Chicago and Missouri.

Happenings in Washington

• Economic reports expected Thursday include revised fourth-quarter gross domestic product and weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m., followed by weekly mortgage rates at 10 a.m.

• At 9 a.m., a House Ways and Means! subcommi! ttee will hold a hearing on the proposed waiver of work requirements in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

• At 9:30 a.m., Pfc. Bradley Manning is expected to take the stand at his hearing at Fort Meade, Md.

• At 10 a.m., the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold its second hearing on the Federal Housing Administration’s financial condition and program challenges.

A Big Swig of Extra Battery Power

There is not a lot that sets auxiliary batteries apart. A few more amps here, a few more USB plugs there, and that’s about it.

Digital Treasures, though, has taken the trouble to gussy up the basic battery, putting 13,000 mAh of lithium-ion power into what appears to be a flask.

Called the Power Flask, the case has a flask’s distinctive curve, for discreet pocket storage, and leather trim with red stitching. The end caps are chromelike polished aluminum.

The Power Flask, which retails for $90, has two USB ports, one supporting 1 amp charging for phones, and a second supporting 2.5 amp charging for tablets.

You can charge more low-demand devices at a time, though; two phones can be put into the 2.5-amp slot using an included Y cable, and another can be charged from the 1-amp slot for a total of three devices at once. The flask also comes with two 30-pin adapters. If you’re using a Lightning connector, you will have to supply your own.

The flask has blue LEDs to indicate he charge level and twin white LEDs on the top that work as a flashlight.

Iowa Congressman Says He Won’t Run for Senate

Did the Republican Party’s quest to win control of the Senate just become more difficult

It is too early to draw a conclusion, given that the midterm elections are 21 months away. But the decision on Wednesday by Representative Tom Latham not to make a bid to fill the seat of Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, who is retiring, disappointed many Republicans.

The Senate race in Iowa, for the state’s first open seat since 1974, has gained considerable attention as Republicans aim to pick up six seats to win a majority next year. The contest has become an early proxy for whether Republican leaders will be successful in their efforts to instill a greater sense of discipline into primary races.

Mr. Latham, a close ally of Speaker John A. Boehner, said in a letter to supporters on Wednesday that he did not want to run for the Senate so quickly after winning re-election.

“I cannot in good conscience launch a two-year statewide campaign that will detract from the commitment I made to the peple who elected me,” Mr. Latham wrote, “at a time when our nation desperately needs less campaigning and more leadership.”

Representative Steve King of Iowa, who has made a series of incendiary statements during his time in Washington, even while earning strong praise from his constituents, is considering a bid, and Republican officials believe he is inclined to run. The decision by Mr. Latham only increases the likelihood that Mr. King will enter the race, two of his close supporters said.

His potential candidacy could be the first test of the Conservative Victory Project, a group founded by Karl Rove and the “super PAC” American Crossroads to take an aggressive role in Republican primaries next year.

The project is being waged with last year’s Senate contests in mind, particularly the one in Missouri, where Representative Todd A! kin’s comment that “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy complicated Republican campaigns across the country.

Steven J. Law, the president of American Crossroads, who is overseeing the Conservative Victory Project, cited Iowa as an example for why Republicans needed to intervene in primary fights.

“We’re concerned about Steve King’s Todd Akin problem,” Mr. Law said in an interview this month. “This is an example of candidate discipline and how it would play in a general election. All of the things he’s said are going to be hung around his neck.”

For his part, Mr. King said this month that he would not be bullied out of a Senate race. He asked his supporters to make contributions to his campaign account, saying, “Karl Rove and his army have launched a crusade against me.”

Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth, a conservative group that hs taken an active role in Republican primaries, criticized the Conservative Victory Project on Wednesday. He said it was incorrect to assume that Mr. King could not run a viable candidacy and win the Senate seat.

“We don’t think King is like Akin,” Mr. Chocola said in an interview. “We don’t think he has an Akin problem.”

Still, the decision by Mr. Latham not to run for the Senate caused ripples from Iowa to Washington. Republican officials in both places said they were searching for other prospective candidates to enter the race.

Representative Bruce Braley is the only Democrat to enter the race. He has already locked up the support of several state Democratic leaders and is expected to avoid a contested primary campaign.

New Partnership Brings New Design for Sol Republic

Sol Republic’s latest Tracks on-ear headphones, designed by tokidoki.

Sol Republic knows a good partnership when it sees it. After Michael Phelps wore a pair of Sol Republic headphones during the Summer Olympics last year, the company quickly signed an endorsement deal with the swimmer.

Its latest collaboration is with Tokidoki, the Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand created by the Italian designer Simone Legno. Sol Republic, known for making headphones wth interchangeable components, released two new designs Tuesday that are infused with Tokidoki’s distinctive style.

The new designs are part of Sol Republic’s Tracks line of on-ear headphones that allow users to mix and match headbands and cables to create their own look. The line starts at $100 for Sol Republic’s V8 sound engines, a virtually indestructible headband and cable with an inline microphone. The headbands come in a rainbow of colors and slide into the ear cups, which hold the sound drivers. The cable connects to the bottom of the right and left ear cups, with an inline microphone and music controls that are set in a yoke at chest level. Each component is also sold separately at Sol Republic’s Web site.

For an extra $30, you can upgrade to the Tracks HD, which come with V10 sound engines. The sound of the Tracks HD headphones that I tested was clear with a deep bass, and it got even better at higher volumes, especially for electronic and rock music.

The Tokidoki h! eadphones, which cost $150, have the V10 sound engines, but also come with a custom Tokidoki bag. Sol Republic also offers a brightly hued design from deadmau5 and an U.S.A. theme inspired by Mr. Phelps, both for $150. The Tracks line also includes a pair of $180 headphones called Ultra that are geared toward audiophiles.

The interchangeability of the Tracks headphones is a clever idea, especially if you like to wear your headphones as a fashion statement, but it comes with a drawback: the fit. The ear cups don’t swivel, and although they were comfortable, I could not get them to sit on my ears properly. The fit wasn’t perfect, but at least they looked stylish.

Union Leaders Call for Repeal of Automatic Spending Cuts

ORLANDO, Fla. â€" With President Obama and Congressional Republicans making little progress toward reaching a budget deal, the nation’s union leaders on Wednesday began pushing a new proposal to prevent the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration: immediately repeal the law that put them in place.

At the annual winter meeting of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s executive council, labor leaders - alarmed that large-scale cuts and layoffs would begin on Friday - abandoned their previous call for Congress to embrace a balanced approach toward rducing the deficit. Instead, the labor leaders said repealing the sequestration law was the best route to prevent what labor leaders fear will be disastrous cuts, potentially involving hundreds of thousands of layoffs, many of them unionized government workers at the federal, state and local levels.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O., a federation of 57 labor unions, has strongly backed Mr. Obama in his standoff with the Republicans. The labor federation has taken an approach diametrically opposed to the Republicans - it has said the $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction should be done totally by increasing taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. Having agreed to a tax increase on the wealthy in the last round of deficit talks, Republicans have said they want all deficit reduction now done through spending cuts.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. attacked the Republican approach, accusing Congressional Republicans of engaging in hostage-taking.

“Republicans in Congress once again are ! threatening to harm the economy unless Democrats agree to cut Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits,” the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s executive council said in a unanimously backed statement. “We urge President Obama and members of Congress of both parties to reject te Republican ransom demands and disarm the hostage takers instead. Only then can we focus on the urgent challenge of fixing the economy, raising wages, investing in our people and putting America back to work.

The federation’s executive council then added: “The solution is to disarm the hostage-takers so they no longer can hold the economy hostage to get their way. Disarming the hostage takers means repealing ‘sequestration’ â€" not replacing it. Across-the-board cuts would increase unemployment and harm the economy, but so would replacement cuts of the same size.”

Republican leaders say that budget cuts are needed to reduce a dangerously large deficit. They resist further tax increases on the grounds that they would slow economic growth and discourage job creation.

A Wireless Speaker With a Wi-Fi Connection

When we talk wireless speakers, we still generally mean speakers that connect to players by Bluetooth.

There is nothing wrong with Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi, which can carry a lot more information, can sound a lot better. That is part of the reason we are seeing more Wi-Fi and Apple AirPlay speakers on store shelves.

Among them is the Libratone Zipp, a 10-inch tall canister with a fuzzy cover that makes it look like a small, colorful roll of carpet.

The Zipp’s Wi-Fi connection is supposed to be Apple- and Android-friendly. The connection with the iPhone was easy; in my test I set the iPhone’s Wi-Fi network to Libratone, then went to the music player, hit the AirPlay button, picked Libratone again and was connected through the play direct feature. That feature broadcasts directly from the phone to the speaker without going through your larger Wi-Fi network.

Connecting with a Android phone was did not work so easily, which is to say a all. Even with help from support and a software update, I was unable to get a Motorola RAZR Maxx to connect. Support said the problem seemed to be a faulty speaker.

The Zipp says it also supports DLNA, which should make it work with Windows, but I didn’t test that feature.

The Zipp is portable - it claims four hours of battery life when using Wi-Fi - but it isn’t exactly light weight, tipping the scales at four pounds.

The sound quality is good, thanks partially to a 4-inch woofer and a pair of 1-inch ribbon speakers, although I don’t know if it’s fair to call a monaural speaker “high fidelity,” as Libratone does.

There is one major drawback to using Wi-Fi to connect a player and speaker. Once the Wi-Fi is occupied by the Zipp, you can’t use it to connect to your Pandora, Slacker or other streaming audio account. So no streaming audio. You could get around this by connecting the device using a USB cable, which also doubles the Zipp’s battery life.

The Zi! pp, which comes in any of eight colors, starts at $400 list price online.

From Energizer, Big Light in a Compact Package

The Energizer Folding Lantern pivots open for 360-degree lighting.

Hurricane season doesn’t start until June 1, but after Hurricane Sandy caused so much destruction and left millions without power, it’s never too early to start preparing for the next big storm.

To help, Energizer is introducing a new portfolio of innovative lighting products this spring that use “light fusion technology,” which distributes light uniformly through laser-etched acrylic panels.

The line consists of four portable, multipurpose lanterns and flashlights that incorporate what Energizer calls “smart dimming technology,” which is basically a dimmer switch that alows users to lower the intensity of the light and conserve battery life.

The Energizer Folding Lantern that I tested uses light from tiny LEDs spread across a flat, plastic panel to illuminate a broad area when it is opened. But it also doubles as concentrated task light when closed and can be stored and transported easily. The durable lantern, which has a kickstand for support and an easy-grip handle, is intended for outdoor lighting, but when I opened it in my apartment at night, it gave my living room a warm glow. The light was clean and vibrant, but not harsh, and seemed to reach every dark corner.

Energizer claims the lantern output provides up to 300 lumens and can run for up to 100 hours. The lantern, which costs $40 and can run on four or eight AA batteries, is expected to be available at Target in late March, followed by other retailers! later. Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast or a city dweller, the Energizer Folding Lantern is handy to keep around.

Fight Over Spending Cuts a Prelude to Budget Battles Ahead

It may be hard to believe, given the intense partisan strafing already ignited by the automatic government spending cuts that begin on Friday, but this year’s budget wars have yet to fully get under way.

In the next month, Democrats and Republicans, so at odds with one another that they are not even negotiating to avert the across-the-board cuts set to kick in at the end of the week, will have to find a way to agree on spending levels for the remainder of this year. If they fail, they could risk a government shutdown starting March 27, when the current authorization for spending runs out.

From the White House to Capitol Hill, no one claims to have any idea about how things will play out or particular confidence that a crisis can be averted.

As that drama unfolds, another argument will erupt, over a plan to be presented in mid-March by Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee last year, to balance the budget in 10 years through spending cuts far deeper than anything adopted so far.

Mr. Ryan’s task will be made easier because his budget, which the House is likely to adopt largely unchanged as its tax and spending blueprint, will accept as a given the tax increases won by President Obama over Republican objections at the beginning of this year. But to give one indication of the kind of deep spending reductions necessary to achieve balance in a decade, last year’s budget plan from Mr. Ryan did not eliminate the deficit until almost 2040.

March will also bring the belated unveiling of Mr. Obama’s budget for next year, which will serve as a counterpoint to Mr. Ryan’s proposal. To make things even more interesting, the two parties will also take up the first budget plan to be produced by Senate Democrats in four years, forcing vulnerable red-state Democrats into some tough votes.

Then, assuming no flowering of peace, love and understanding in the months following fiscal policy’s March Madness, the White House and Congress could then find themselves in July back where they were two years earlier: deeply divided over both long- and short-term budget measures and confronting the need to raise the government’s debt ceiling again amid calls from conservatives to se that leverage to further cut spending.

The succession of showdowns mirrors to a great degree those that played out tumultuously in 2011, leading to the ungainly compromise that produced this week’s automatic spending cuts.

Two years ago, the unfolding conflicts were a test of the Tea Party movement’s ability to drive the Republicans into a more aggressive posture on reducing the size and scope of government.

This time around they are a test of whether Mr. Obama’s re-election shifted the political dynamic in Washington in a fundamental way.

Having prevailed in getting a tax hike in January, Mr. Obama is now trying to break a cycle in which conservatives regularly thwart his hopes of a legacy-enhancing bipartisan deal that would bring down the deficit through a combination of further tax increases and cuts to the entitlement programs. And he is still trying, with a notable lack of success so far, to return budget negotiations to a normal legislative process in Congress rather than lurching from one crisis-infused deadline to the next.

“The American public has been very clear that they do not want us to manage this country by crisis,” said Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, the chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee.

But for the next few weeks and months, brinkmanship could be more the rule than the exception.

At this point, the White House and both parties in Congress expect across-the-board cuts to domestic and military programs to take effect as scheduled on Fridayand to remain in force for some relatively extended period.

House Republicans intend to move as early as next week to the next stage of the confrontation. They want to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government operating, probably through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The measure would authorize discretionary spending of $1.04 trillion - the legal cap for this year - with the understanding that the total would automatically be reduced by the amount of the automatic cuts for this year, effectively yielding a discretionary spending authorization of around $970 billion. House Republicans say the measure is clean and simple, and that if the Democratic-controlled Senate or the White House choose to reject it, then the responsibility for shutting down the government would fall to them.

Senate Democrats and White House officials declined to say exactly how they would respond, preferring to see how votes on a Senate Democratic alternative play out this week. Senat! e Democra! ts, saying they want to avoid indiscriminate spending cuts but still achieve the same amount of deficit reduction, have proposed swapping the cuts mandated by the sequester for a package of cuts to farm-subsidy programs and tax increases. That package has little chance of clearing the Senate.

Congress and the administration could have as little as three weeks to sort things out or risk a government shutdown. Congress is scheduled to leave town around March 22 for its spring break; in addition to resolving spending levels for this year, Congressional leaders are hoping to push budget plans for next year through the House and Senate before they leave town.

The experience of the past several years suggests that nothing will truly get settled in the next month. That would kick the big fights â€" over the composition of spending cuts, the willingness of Republicans to go along with Mr. Obama’s demand for further tax increases and the prospects for a long-term deficit reduction deal â€" into the summer, when the federal government will again reach its legal borrowing limit.

Many analysts say the prospects for a comprehensive deal this summer are no better than they were in 2011, when talks between Mr. Obama and the House speaker, John A. Boehner, collapsed.

“I don’t think there’s a grand bargain out there - not this year, not next year, maybe not until after 2016,” said Stan Collender, a veteran budget analyst.

If that pessimistic view proves correct, the two parties will have to fall back again on temporary measures and gimmicks to av! ert total! fiscal gridlock and the risks of further economic and financial damage to the country - exactly the sequence of events that put them where they are today.

Follow Richard W. Stevenson on Twitter at @dickstevenson.

Union Leaders Call on Obama to Fill Labor Board

ORLANDO â€" The nation’s union leaders are voicing alarm that the National Labor Relations Board might remain paralyzed for a year or more as a result of a federal appeals court ruling that found President Obama’s recess appointments to the board to be unconstitutional.

Gathering here for the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s winter meeting, union leaders on Tuesday called on Mr. Obama to immediately nominate a slate of five members to fill all of the board’s seats.

Labor leaders asserted that the court ruling could badly undercut unions because a paralyzed N.L.R.B. would not be able to intervene if employers engaged in unlawful tactics during unionization drives, including illegally firing union supporters or intimidating workers into voting against having a union.

In January, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that three recess appointments - two Democrats and one Republican - that Mr. Obama made to the board in January 2012 were illegal because they were not made during the intersessi! on period between Congresses. The ruling would leave the board with just one member, its chairman, meaning that it would not have the three members needed to have a quorum for it to operate.

In response to the ruling, some business groups have recommended that employers found by the N.L.R.B. to have engaged in unlawful labor practices ask the appeals court in Washington to freeze those actions on the grounds that the board has not had a legitimate quorum for more than a year.

On Tuesday, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s executive committee approved a statement saying the court ruling “has seriously undermined enforcement of the law and made an already weak law more lopsided against workers exercising their rights.”

The United States Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have criticized the N.L.R.B.’s chairman, Mark G. Pearce, a Democrat, for saying the board wold continue to operate with two of its remaining recess appointees, both Democrats, staying on until the Supreme Court rules on whether those appointments were legal. (The Republican recess appointee had previously resigned after facing allegations of illegally leaking board materials.)

Union officials say the earliest the Supreme Court might rule on such an appeal would be a year from now. Some Republicans are backing a bill that would strip the labor board of funding unless the recess appointees step down. The board’s acting general counsel, Lafe E. Solomon, is also a recess appointee - Senate Republicans have blocked his confirmation.

The Chamber of Commerce has said the board under Mr. Obama has been consistently antibusiness and has been far too aggressive in overturning previous board decisio! ns that f! avored employers.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s leaders called on Mr. Obama to immediately name a slate of nominees - including Mr. Pearce and the two Democrats whose names Mr. Obama resubmitted after the court’s ruling, as well as two new Republicans - and also to renominate Mr. Solomon as general counsel. They said that the Senate should vote to quickly confirm those nominees, adding that if Republicans filibustered the nominations, then Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, and Senate Democrats should adopt new rules to stop filibusters that are far stronger than the modest changes recently adopted.

Larry Cohen, presient of the Communications Workers of America and chairman of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s organizing committee, said in a news briefing that Senate Democrats had various options on how to get those nominees approved and “we expect you to use all the options.”

Mr. Cohen warned that if Senate Republicans filibustered to block the nominations and Senate Democrats did not then adopt tougher rules to overcome filibusters, “we will mobilize and take action against the Senate Democrats like we never have before.”

“We will be mobilizing across the country in every state in every one of their offices,” he added.

In its statement, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s executive council said the Republican “aim is to tie up the N.L.R.B., render it inoperable and keep it from enforcing! workersâ! €™ rights.”

Q&A: Moving iTunes Libraries

Q.

How do I transfer my iTunes library from a desktop PC to a laptop, neither of which are Apple computers

A.

All the items in your iTunes library, like music, TV shows and podcasts, are stored in folders on the computer. The iTunes software itself, which is basically a big database program crossed with a media player, displays the items in your library in lists and makes it relatively easy to manage your collection.

To move your library to a new computer, you just need to move your iTunes library folder from the old machine to the new one with a copy of the iTunes software installed. You can do this in several ways depending on how you use iTunes â€" including transferring all the files over your network with the Home Sharing feature, copying your iTunes folder to an external hard drive or set of DVDs for transport between computers, or transferring content from the iTunes Store with an iPod, iPad or iPhone.

Apple has step-by-step, illustrated instructions for all these moving methods (and others) on its site. If you plan to get rid of the old computer, be sure to deauthorize it for use with your iTunes purchases, as explained here.

The Early Word: Losses

In Today’s Times

• President Obama’s trip to the Newport News shipyard in Virginia on Tuesday was intended to draw attention to the automatic budget cuts beginning Friday, which officials say would have a far bigger financial impact at home than abroad, Michael D. Shear and Thom Shanker report.  Mr. Obama warned that private companies doing contract work for the military could begin to shed jobs amid an overall loss of economy activity.

• The cuts will only accelerate what are already considered unusually severe cutbacks by the federal government, the nation’s largest consumer and investor, Binyamin Appelbaum reports.

• Federal immigration officials have arranged for hundreds of detainees to receive a supervisd release in another highly unusual effort to save money as the so-called sequester cuts loom in Washington, Kirk Semple writes. Republicans called it a political gambit by the Obama administration that jeopardizes public safety and undermines negotiations over comprehensive immigration reform.

• The Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel as defense secretary on Tuesday, approving him by the smallest margin for a defense secretary since the position was created, Jeremy W. Peters reports. Mr. Hagel’s confirmation, along with the bipartisan support for Jack J. Lew to become Treasury secretary, suggests that the Republican blockade against the administration’s second-term nominees is beginning to ease.

Happenings in Washington

President Obama will deliver remarks at the unveiling of a Rosa Parks statue at the Capitol.

• Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will speak with Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and to the National Association of Attorneys General about reducing gun violence. Later, he and his wife, Jill Biden, will host a Black History Month reception at the Naval Observatory.

Senate Republicans Fail to Reach Consensus on Alternative to Cuts

Senate Republicans emerged from a policy meeting Tuesday deeply divided over what they should offer to replace or mitigate across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to hit Friday, probably postponing a showdown in the Senate on the parties’ two approaches.

Republican leaders had hoped their 45 members would unite around legislation that would give the Obama administration flexibility in implementing the cuts, allowing department and agency heads to spare the most critical federal programs. That would have set up votes Wednesday on a Republican and a Democratic approach to the budget cuts ahead of the March 1 deadline.

Instead, some Republicans protested that such flexibility would give President Obama far too much power. Others said they still wanted the party to at least try to stop the cuts, known as the sequester.

“I would be happy to give the president more flexibility and rely on agency heads to apportion this amount of spending reduction in a different way than the sequester envisioned,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. “There are some members of our conference who are suspicious the administration â€" taking advantage of such flexibility â€" would seek to punish their political enemies.”

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said proponents of the flexibility legislation added a provision that would allow Congress to disapprove of the shifts if they were particula! rly suspect. But, he said, for senators most worried about the magnitude of cuts â€" especially to defense â€" changing the way they are apportioned is pointless.

“I don’t care how flexible you want to be,” he said. “The top line numbers don’t add up to me on defense.”

The strife was striking because Senate Republicans have been able to remain remarkably united in the minority. Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and an advocate of the flexibility legislation, said heated back-room discussions were all the more strange because whatever Republicans put forward would have little chance for winning the 60 votes that will be necessary for passage.

“I’ve never seen so much passion around something that’s not going to happen in my life,” he quipped.

It came on the same day House Speaker John A. Boehner said he would do nothing to mitigate thecuts “before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something.”

Stuck, Mr. McConnell suggested multiple votes later this week on a variety of Republican approaches to the pending cuts. But Democrats are largely united around one $110 billion package that would replace this year’s cuts with tax increases on income over $1 million, cuts to farm subsidies, and cuts to defense in 2014. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, flatly rejected Mr. McConnell’s request.

“The agreement was we will have a bill, they will have a bill,” he said.

Follow Jonathan Weisman on Twitter at @jonathanweisman.

House Republican Expresses Support for Guest-Worker Program

Representative Robert Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia, appeared willing to carve out a sliver of middle ground on Tuesday in the debate over the future of the nation’s immigration system, offering up the possibility of a guest worker program as a trial case for how the country handles both legal and illegal immigration.

At a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the topic of agricultural workers, Mr. Goodlatte, the chairman of the full committee, said that he could support a measure that would offer at least temporary legalization for illegal immigrants who are currently in the country working in the agriculture industry.

“A guest worker program should help farmers who are willing to pay a fair wage for law-abiding, dependable workers â€" not punish them,” Mr. Goodlatte said. “And for this reason I support replacing the H-2A program and implementing new policies that will bring our illegal agricultural workers out of the shadows, as a first step in the process of overhauling our naion’s immigration system.”

An H-2A visa allows workers into the country to perform temporary or seasonal agricultural work. As Mr. Goodlatte acknowledged, the vast majority of farmworkers in the United States â€" as much as 70 percent of the farm labor force, according to growers’ groups - are immigrants here illegally.

Mr. Goodlatte, a former immigration lawyer, has previously taken a hardline stance on an immigration overhaul, opposing a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants already in the country illegally. But he has also said he is open to finding some middle ground between deportation and full citizenship.

The agriculture guest worker program, he implied on Tuesday, could be a first step.

“Addressing the complex labor issues of the relatively small agriculture sector can help us understand how we can build our broader immigration laws and enforcement mechanisms in order to enhance the U.S. economy and make our immigra! tion laws more efficient and fair for all involved,” he said.

Visas for lower-skilled workers have proved a divisive issue in past immigration debates, pitting the business community â€" which favors allowing guest workers into the country to help employers fulfill their labor needs â€" against the labor community, which worries that immigrant workers could depress wages and take away jobs from Americans. But last week, labor and business groups jointly called for a visa system that would meet labor market demands while protecting American workers.

The tone of Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing was far less heated than a full-committee hearing on broad immigration proposals earlier this month, and several members expressed optimism that, at least on this topic, an agreement could be reached.

Still, some House Republicans remained hesitant about the logistics of eforming the temporary worker program. Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, said that a “true” guest worker program would have to be a “short” guest worker program, seeming to rule out the possibility of any form of legalization for the workers. And Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, suggested a program that would “bond” workers; employers, he explained, would be forced to post a bond of sorts â€" much like the bond system in criminal court â€" to ensure that their workers would ultimately return home.

“I’m going to guess from the look on your face that you haven’t discussed that,” Mr. King said, shortly after making the suggestion.

On Wednesday, the subcommittee is set to look at the record of the E-Verify program, the current tool to help employers determine the legal status of newly hired workers.

Follow Ashley Parker on Twitter at @AshleyRParker.

App Smart Extra: More Slide Show Apps

Last week in App Smart I talked about the many apps that promise to turn photos from your smartphone or tablet’s digital photo album into an attractive photo slide show. These apps make looking at digital photos of a vacation, or perhaps an event like a wedding, into the modern equivalent of flipping through a photo album.

On iOS, one powerful app for creating dynamic photo slide shows is ProShow (free on iTunes). The interface is easy to use, and the app tries to do much of the fiddly stuff involved in creating a new slide show by offering you themes. These themes automatically adjust settings like special effects between slides and background images. You can manually change these settings later if you prefer. The app can even include video clips. The app does require thatyou sign up for the company’s services, free, but this minor inconvenience gives you access to its Web site. There you can edit your slide shows and also view them online â€" a great option for sharing your slide show efforts with friends.

One neat option for Android is the $1 app Slideshow 5000. This app creates an unusual kind of slide show: the photos look as if they are being tossed onto a table while a camera pans above the table’s surface. Each photo is animated as if it were really falling, and even casts a shadow. You can adjust the background image and turn each of your images into a faux Polaroid snap, and it’s easy to select the photos you want. You can even turn the photo slide show into your device’s live Android wallpaper. But the show it produces is more for casual fun; it’s not really ideal for sharing treasured memories.

A simpler option fo! r Android is the free app Slideshow Bob. This app is limited to showing photos from folders on your device, and you can’t organize them inside the app because you’re limited to sorting the photos by parameters like date or title. It does, however, have some transition options, and when it’s displaying the slide shows, it does so elegantly.

Many apps for smartphones and tablets can create photo slide shows, but their quality varies widely. I found it hard to find sophisticated apps that offer a lot of slide show control on Android devices. Luckily, many have a free or “lite” edition, meaning you could try out several before you buy.

Quick call: Lego Galaxy Squad Bug Battle is a new free game for iOS devices. It’s a 2-D scrolling space shooter that combines all the gaming fun of this genre with Lego’ cute imagery. The mission is to save humans by squashing the alien bugs. It will keep you amused when you have the odd five minutes to spare.

Measuring Your Health With Jawbone’s Up

The Up band, made by Jawbone, is an electronic bracelet that helps you log your activities, eating and rest, and it can record an awful lot of data. But the more detailed the data you want, the more work you’ll have to do to get it.

Up, costing $130, is the technological cousin of devices like the Striiv, Fitbit, and Fit Link, among others, which range in list price from $70 to $150. The idea is that measuring your activities, what you eat and how much you sleep will help you develop a healthier lifestyle and stick to it.

The Up bnd is available in seven colors and is worn loosely on the wrist. Initially it got in the way when I typed, but I got used to sliding it up my sleeve at the keyboard.

It has one feature not found in the others mentioned above â€" a vibration motor. You can set the band to remind you with a vibration to get up and walk around if you’ve been at the desk too long. Or set it as an alarm to buzz you awake in the morning.

The food logging also worked quite well for me, The bar-code scanner correctly recorded all of the food I tried  â€" often not the case with other devices â€" but as with any food log, if you want precision, you have to type in every ingredient in a meal. It can take longer to enter what you ate than to eat it.

Also, as with all these kinds of devices, it can recognize and count your steps, but unlike some of the others, the Up band cannot tell the difference between walking, running or going up stairs. Exercise like bicycling or weight lifting has to be manually ! entered.

To monitor your sleep, you have to remember to press a button that sets the band to sleep mode; I sometimes forgot to do this. You switch back when you wake, although after 25 or so steps, Up will change to wake mode itself.

The social component lets you post selected statistics to Facebook and Twitter, or share privately with other Up users you pick. The camaraderie (or competition) is a big help in achieving a goal.

Plug the band into an iPhone with the Up app to see colorful charts of your progress, share results and see suggestions based on your performance. The band lasts about 10 days on a charge and can even be worn in the shower, though not while swimming.

The Up band is not really for the devoted athlete, and it’s not quite as simple as some other devices, but for the modestly active who would like to be more so, the Up band can keep track when you make tracks.

From Boehner, a Salty Demand That the Senate Act on Spending Cuts

Speaker John A. Boehner said in no uncertain terms Tuesday morning that he expected the Senate to pass some sort of alternative to the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts set to go into effect on Friday before the House would take any more action.

Speaking at a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters and referring to the two alternative measures that House Republicans passed in the previous Congress, Mr. Boehner said, “We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something.”

An aide to Mr. Boehner said that he had used similar salty language â€" arguing that the House could not be expected to move on the budget cuts until the Senate got off its butt â€" at a private meeting with his conference earlier in the morning, and had liked the phrase so much he repeated it, with the cameras running.

In reply, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said: “I think heshould understand who is sitting on his posterior. We’re working to pass something. The speaker’s doing nothing to try to pass anything.”

On Wednesday, the Senate is supposed to vote on two competing alternative budget packages â€" one from the Democrats, one from the Republicans â€" though neither is expected to pass.

Mr. Boehner again said that he would not give in to the administration’s demand that a deficit reduction package contain additional revenue in addition to the spending cuts, and he said repeatedly that it was time for President Obama and the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, to act.

“The president has been traveling all over the country, today going down to Newport News in order to use our military men and women as a prop in yet another campaign rally to support his tax hikes,” he said. “It’s time to focus on the real problem here in Washington, and that is spending.”

Mr. Boehner added: “The president’s been going all over the count! ry, holding rallies, instead of sitting down with Senate leaders to try to force an agreement over there in order to move a bill.”

Follow Ashley Parker on Twitter at @AshleyRParker.

Q&A: Staying Safe From Java Threats

Q.

I hear lots of scary stuff about hackers getting into computers thru Java. What do I need to do to make my Mac and PC safe Any worries about tablets

A.

Java is a computing platform with its own programming language that is used in many games, business applications and other utilities. It runs on more than 850 million computers worldwide and is used often by Web browsers. Recent attacks on Apple and Facebook used a flaw in the Java Web browser plug-in to infect computers with malicious software when visiting certain sites, and the Department of Homeland Security even issued a warning about Java back in January.

Computers running Windows, Mac OS X and Linux are most at risk. Tablets running systems like Android and iOS are not generally affected; mobile browsers havea setting for the JavaScript programming language, but JavaScript is basically unrelated to Java and its not subject to the current malware issues.

Disabling Java in your Web browser should protect your computer from the recent types of security threats, although you may not be able to play certain games or use Java-dependent applications. Oracle, which develops Java, has instructions for disabling Java in several browsers on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. Independent security sites, like Krebs on Security and Sophos, have add! itional information.

Apple released its own Mac OS X update to deal with the Java problem on Feb. 19, and the Macworld site has an article on going beyond the browser plug-in and removing Java altogether. Oracle has instructions for uninstalling Java completely on a Windows system, as well as on a Mac.

The Early Word: Plan C

In Today’s Times

• Congressional Republicans have hatched a plan that they say could protect the most vital programs from the automatic budget cuts that take effect Friday, while shifting more of the political fallout to President Obama, Jonathan Weisman and Michael D. Shear report.  Though the White House vigorously opposes their plan, it is dividing Democrats who are from the states facing the deepest cuts.

• The mandatory spending cuts scheduled to begin on Friday are already affecting operations at many of the nation’s national parks and wildlife refuges, John M. Broder reports. Dire predictions from Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, are part of a concerted administration effort to pressur Congress into canceling the automatic cuts.

• The Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to consider the embattled nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, though it remained unclear just how many more obstacles Republicans were willing to throw in his path, Jeremy W. Peters reports.

• Barely moments after Michelle Obama announced the winner for best picture from the White House at Sunday night’s Academy Awards, the question of whether it was proper or dignified or awesome for the first lady of the United States to open the same envelopes as Hollywood stars disintegrated into a predictably partisan rhubarb, Jennifer Steinhauer reports.

• Dozens of prominent Republicans have signed a legal brief arguin! g that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports. That position reflects the continuing civil war in the party since the November 2012 election.

Around the Web

• Representative Steve Stockman, Republican of Texas, is accusing the White House of creating a fraudulent gun control campaign after he suspected some Twitter messages he had received from constituents were actually from fake accounts, The Hill reports.

• One of the news agencies in Iran edited a picture of Michelle Obama announcing a winner at Sunday’s Academy Awards so that her dress was more modest, Radio ree Europe reports.

Happenings in Washington

• Mr. Obama on Tuesday will visit a shipbuilding company in Newport News, Va., that supplies equipment for the Navy. He is expected to highlight the impact automatic budget cuts will have on businesses like that one.

• Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will meet with retired military officials in the White House to discuss the administration’s proposals to reduce gun violence.

Senate Judiciary Committee Set to Consider Gun Legislation

The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin to consider four separate gun safety measures on Thursday, although the process of narrowing actual legislative language will most likely dribble into next week.

Among the measures to be pondered is one that would reinstate the expired assault weapons ban and place limits on high-capacity magazines, offered by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California. The notion of such a ban has been radioactive among Republicans and many Democrats, especially those up for re-election in conservative states in 2014.

Also under consideration is a bill sponsored by Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vemont and chairman of the committee, which would address the problem of illegal gun trafficking; a measure offered by Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, that would improve school safety; and a “placeholder” proposal concerning universal background checks written by Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, as he attempts to work out a bipartisan version with Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma and a staunch Second Amendment supporter. The talks betw! een Mr. Schumer and Mr. Coburn have stalled over a provision that would require records to be kept of private gun sales.

President Obama has asked Congress to take up measures that would create a universal background check system for gun sales and enhanced tools to stem “straw purchases” of guns for criminals who cannot pass background checks. He has also called for reinstating the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004, and tightening limits on the capacity of some ammunition magazines, which, as its own measure, enjoys more support from lawmakers than an outright ban of assault weapons.

The growing consensus on Capitol Hill is that a bill that addresses only the improvements to the background check system has the best chance of reaching a bipartisan consensus, although the National Rifle Association, which once supported such a measure, is now opposed to one.

Debating ‘House of Cards’ 2: How to Reap the Cable Whirlwind

Welcome back to “House of Cards,” the Recap. Today, Ashley Parker and David Carr take on episode two and tease apart the collaborations between the various estates in Washington. Abundant spoilers so proceed at your own viewing peril. If you missed the first installment, you can read it here. More to come in the next few days and in the meantime, please consider weighing in with a comment below.

Episode Two
Synopsis: With the help of Zoe Barnes, Frank Underwood plants a story that will prove the undoing of Michael Kern, the president’s pick for secretary of state. Mr. Underwood also dispatches with the original author of the much-lauded education bill and begins rewriting it himself alongside a team of young aides.

Parker: This was the episode where we got to see the president’s original nominee for secretaryof state, Michael Kern, spiral downward into national news chum. The catalyst An original specious story by none other than Zoe Barnes, of course, loosely tying Mr. Kern to an anti-Israel editorial that ran in the college paper he edited. First, the image of Mr. Kerns trying to laugh off the charge on the Sunday shows goes viral and inflames supporters of Israel (“We do not consider the issue of Israel and Palestine a laughing matter,” says the president of the Anti-Defamation League), Mr. Kern’s subsequent stutter-stepping angers the Arab community, and by the end of the episode, he’s withdrawn his nomination.

Welcome to a Washington news cycle.

For all Ms. Barnes’s talk of going “online,” the “House of Cards” news cycle was driven in the traditional way, by front page stories in the morning paper, and the news shows on Sunday. In reality, Tweets and blogs and chattering pundits would have also played a leading role.

But it was interesting to watch this episode ag! ainst the backdrop of the Chuck Hagel confirmation process that’s unfolding now. Mr. Hagel’s secretary of defense nomination began in a fireball, with the former Republican senator having to apologize for past comments he’d made about gays and Israel. Then Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, raised questions about honorariums Mr. Hagel may or may not have received from sketchy sources (“I’m saying, it’s a question worth asking,” Mr. Underwood tells Ms. Barnes on the show) and then the whole nomination was sidetracked by a completely false charge that Mr. Hagel had taken money from a group called “Friends of Hamas.” (No such group even exists).

But David, what did you make of this “House of Cards” news cycle, which really seems to get away from its characters â€" the White House, the nominee â€" and suddenly, no matter what they try, just can’t be reined back in

Carr: I was struck by the same thing. Given the habits of the controlling habits of this curent (real-life) administration, that the media tail rarely wags the dog. But sometimes, given the overheated news cycle, custody of a story goes up for grabs. The series does a great job of showing the echo chamber as it builds to a roar, drowning out any actual debate.

I love the scene where Mr. Underwood watches the nominee nervously laugh at the wrong moment and, realizing his work is done, simply clicks off the television and moves on to the next delicious morsel.

There is something operatic and over-the-top about Mr. Underwood that both attracts and repels. For example, he deadpans to the camera: “You know what I like about people They stack so well,” Who says that No one, but it is still fun to watch. In the same way, the surreptitious meetings between Zoe Barnes and Frank Underwood against spooky federal backdrops and subway stops are hilarious. What congressman retails his own leaks to journalists Isn’t that what staffers are for Still, it makes for good television and puts ! the two s! trivers â€" one a congressman in search of payback and the other a journalist on the make â€" in the same frame.

The show continues to get the newsroom stuff pretty much right on the nose. Constance Zimmer is near perfect playing the experienced. world-weary senior reporter Janine Skorsky. I recognize her. She is a good reporter and a serious person in a changing world, trying to maintain her footing and her standards. First she ignores Zoe Barnes and her greasy approach to the craft, then she attempts to push back when it is clear Ms. Barnes may be a threat. “You were a metro scrub and now look at you,” she says, half in wonder and half in disgust.

In the same way, watching Ms. Barnes steady herself for her first remote cable news hit is very good meta-television. Everything she wants, everything she hopes to be, everything she is striving for, is on the other side of that lens. When the camera lights up - three, two, one â€" so does she. Zoe Barnes, the byline, has arrived.

Prker: In the last decade, television and print journalism have become so inextricably bound that it’s hard to imagine one without the other. There was a time â€" or so I’m told â€" when print journalists were simply print journalists: they reported, they wrote, and they left the on-air prognosticating to those folks whose silky hair and blessed bone structure seemed destined for television gigs.

Now, all reporters are expected to report, write, blog, Tweet, Instagram, shoot video, do radio hits and appear on television. Often, it feels like, all at once. But the reach of television, as Ms. Barnes seems to intuit, is still stunning. Write a lead, A1 story that drives the conversation, and you may get a “good job” from your editor and your mom; appear on a midday cable show for three minutes, and old high school classmates will mysteriously materialize in your inbox, to say how impressed they were to look up and catch you on their screen. (What, you almost want to ask the former ! star socc! er player, were you doing watching CNN at 1:43 p.m. on a Tuesday)

But just as Mr. Underwood watches Ms. Barnes deliver her scoop live on-air, so do real-life aides, staffers and politicians watch reporters say their piece on cable news. And that television-elevated profile, in part, can be what makes sources more likely to talk to you, the reporter, in the future.

The Mitt Romney campaign was notoriously tight-lipped and disciplined. Some senior staffers had an ability to go days without ever responding to press e-mails and phone calls. But my press corps colleagues, who also did cable hits from time to time, said the quickest way to get a sure-fire response from Team Romney was to shoot them an e-mail that read, “I’m going on MSNBC in 10 minutes, and I need to know …” Only then did the floodgates briefly open.

What if the Republicans Had Won the Senate

Alternative history is a popular niche in fiction. What would the world look like if Pickett had carried the day at Gettysburg  What if the Japanese had prevailed at Midway How different would current events be if President Kennedy’s assassination had been thwarted

A similar exercise is being conducted in Washington these days as President Obama and Congressional Republicans engage in a series of grinding showdowns over fiscal policy, nominations, gun laws and immigration changes, with more to come. In light of the implications of the partisan divide, it seems a fair question to ask: What would the political landscape in Washington look like if the Republicans had won the Senate last November

Given how the election played out, it isn’t a stretch to imagine an Obama presidency and a Republican Senate, along with continued Republican control of the House.  With Mr. Obama’s re-election, Republicans needed to gain four seats to win the majority.  Democrats won five seats in states won by Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, four of them in races where Republicans started out with big advantages: Indiana, Missouri, Montana and North Dakota.

Victories there would have made Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky the majority leader while making Mr. Obama miserable, since a Republican Senate held the potential to significantly reshape the contours of the president’s second term.

It is clear that if Richard Mourdock, Todd Akin, Denny Rehberg and Rick Berg were now casting votes in the Senate, the national political dynamic would be sharply different. In the building fight over the across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect Friday, the Republican-controlled Congress would probably be dictating terms to Mr. Obama, sending him legislation that would redistribute the cuts away from the Pentagon to social programs that Democrats would be unable to protect.

Former Senator Chuck Hagel would not be about to clear a filibuster to become secretary of defense! , but wou! ld instead be bottled up in committee, perhaps along with John O. Brennan, awaiting a vote on his nomination to head the Central Intelligence Agency, and Jack Lew, the nominee for Treasury secretary. John Kerry would still be at the State Department, but his confirmation might have been bumpier.

Even the lame-duck session would have been different. It seems implausible that Mr. Obama would have been able to stare down soon-to-be-majority Congressioal Republicans over the Bush tax cuts. Instead, Republicans could have held out for all the cuts to remain in place and then tried to force the issue when the 113th Congress convened with them in control.

The Newtown shootings would still have spurred discussion in Congress about tighter gun laws, but it is highly doubtful that debate about new background checks and limits on magazine size would be as serious as it is. As for immigration policy, the lack of Hispanic support that helped doom Mr. Romney’s presidential bid would have provided strong reason for Republicans to explore changes in immigration law. But would a path to citizenship be on the table, given conservative resistance

And instead of using nominations to try to pry information out of the White House, Senate Republicans would have ! been empo! wered to conduct oversight hearings of the kind that can tie a second-term administration in knots.

Then there is the one aspect of a Republican Senate that might most frighten Democrats.

“Ted Cruz would be in the majority,” Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat re-elected in November, said about the confrontational Republican newcomer from Texas, who is already making his presence felt in the minority.

Republicans acknowledge that they have occasionally given wistful thought to what might have been.

“Maybe after a few bers,” said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio.  He, like other Republicans, believes that Congress and the country would be much better off if Republicans had taken over as a counterweight to the president, creating a unified Congress able to reach some agreement on thorny policy issues.

“If those five seats had gone the other way, we’d have a budget right now, the appropriations process would be working, it would just be very different,” Mr. Portman said. “It happened over two election cycles, so they kind of add up, but if we can even get a slim majority we can get a budget.”

Ms. Klobuchar said she thought the divided Congress offered more potential for true compromise than a Republican House and Senate constantly confronting a Democratic president.  With the Senate in Democratic hands and the House! under Re! publicans, lawmakers will have to reach consensus agreements on the tough issues of guns, immigration and spending if they want to see them enacted.

“I think this is just a better situation,” she said. “Instead of Congress versus the president, you at least have something in the middle, which is the Senate.”

Moving forward, Republicans will no doubt continue to rue the losses that kept them in the Senate minority. For instance, a Supreme Court seat could open up, and Republicans won’t have the same leverage they might have had to push Mr. Obama toward a pick that could clear a Republican-led Senate.

But that might just be more incentive for Republicans to try to seize that majority in the elections next year.

“You have to live with the reality of it,” said Senator John Barrasso, Reublican of Wyoming. “You just work that much harder for 2014.”

Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting.

Follow Carl Hulse on Twitter at @hillhulse.

What if the Republicans Had Won the Senate

Alternative history is a popular niche in fiction. What would the world look like if Pickett had carried the day at Gettysburg  What if the Japanese had prevailed at Midway How different would current events be if President Kennedy’s assassination had been thwarted

A similar exercise is being conducted in Washington these days as President Obama and Congressional Republicans engage in a series of grinding showdowns over fiscal policy, nominations, gun laws and immigration changes, with more to come. In light of the implications of the partisan divide, it seems a fair question to ask: What would the political landscape in Washington look like if the Republicans had won the Senate last November

Given how the election played out, it isn’t a stretch to imagine an Obama presidency and a Republican Senate, along with continued Republican control of the House.  With Mr. Obama’s re-election, Republicans needed to gain four seats to win the majority.  Democrats won five seats in states won by Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, four of them in races where Republicans started out with big advantages: Indiana, Missouri, Montana and North Dakota.

Victories there would have made Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky the majority leader while making Mr. Obama miserable, since a Republican Senate held the potential to significantly reshape the contours of the president’s second term.

It is clear that if Richard Mourdock, Todd Akin, Denny Rehberg and Rick Berg were now casting votes in the Senate, the national political dynamic would be sharply different. In the building fight over the across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect Friday, the Republican-controlled Congress would probably be dictating terms to Mr. Obama, sending him legislation that would redistribute the cuts away from the Pentagon to social programs that Democrats would be unable to protect.

Former Senator Chuck Hagel would not be about to clear a filibuster to become secretary of defense! , but wou! ld instead be bottled up in committee, perhaps along with John O. Brennan, awaiting a vote on his nomination to head the Central Intelligence Agency, and Jack Lew, the nominee for Treasury secretary. John Kerry would still be at the State Department, but his confirmation might have been bumpier.

Even the lame-duck session would have been different. It seems implausible that Mr. Obama would have been able to stare down soon-to-be-majority Congressioal Republicans over the Bush tax cuts. Instead, Republicans could have held out for all the cuts to remain in place and then tried to force the issue when the 113th Congress convened with them in control.

The Newtown shootings would still have spurred discussion in Congress about tighter gun laws, but it is highly doubtful that debate about new background checks and limits on magazine size would be as serious as it is. As for immigration policy, the lack of Hispanic support that helped doom Mr. Romney’s presidential bid would have provided strong reason for Republicans to explore changes in immigration law. But would a path to citizenship be on the table, given conservative resistance

And instead of using nominations to try to pry information out of the White House, Senate Republicans would have ! been empo! wered to conduct oversight hearings of the kind that can tie a second-term administration in knots.

Then there is the one aspect of a Republican Senate that might most frighten Democrats.

“Ted Cruz would be in the majority,” Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat re-elected in November, said about the confrontational Republican newcomer from Texas, who is already making his presence felt in the minority.

Republicans acknowledge that they have occasionally given wistful thought to what might have been.

“Maybe after a few bers,” said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio.  He, like other Republicans, believes that Congress and the country would be much better off if Republicans had taken over as a counterweight to the president, creating a unified Congress able to reach some agreement on thorny policy issues.

“If those five seats had gone the other way, we’d have a budget right now, the appropriations process would be working, it would just be very different,” Mr. Portman said. “It happened over two election cycles, so they kind of add up, but if we can even get a slim majority we can get a budget.”

Ms. Klobuchar said she thought the divided Congress offered more potential for true compromise than a Republican House and Senate constantly confronting a Democratic president.  With the Senate in Democratic hands and the House! under Re! publicans, lawmakers will have to reach consensus agreements on the tough issues of guns, immigration and spending if they want to see them enacted.

“I think this is just a better situation,” she said. “Instead of Congress versus the president, you at least have something in the middle, which is the Senate.”

Moving forward, Republicans will no doubt continue to rue the losses that kept them in the Senate minority. For instance, a Supreme Court seat could open up, and Republicans won’t have the same leverage they might have had to push Mr. Obama toward a pick that could clear a Republican-led Senate.

But that might just be more incentive for Republicans to try to seize that majority in the elections next year.

“You have to live with the reality of it,” said Senator John Barrasso, Reublican of Wyoming. “You just work that much harder for 2014.”

Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting.

Follow Carl Hulse on Twitter at @hillhulse.