44, Day 21: Obama Has Three Republican Friends

-Senate Democrats and three of their Republican friends gave President Obama a big win Monday on a procedural vote over its version of the stimulus bill. Voting with the Democratic majority were Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. This means that debate on the bill will end and Republican opponents won't be able to mount a bill-killing filibuster. Expect a final vote on the $827 billion plan Tuesday.

-Obama faces reporters and the nation tonight in his first full-scale press conference from the White House.

-The question-and-answer session with the press caps a long day for the president. He left the White House and flew to Indiana, where he stumped for his stimulus plan in Elkhart, Ind. Wrote Peter Baker on NewYorkTimes.com: :Wrapping himself in the mandate of his election last November, Mr. Obama sounded like a candidate all over again, scolding greedy Wall Street bankers and pointedly rejecting Republican critics for sticking with what he called a failed philosophy." ... Read the president's remarks here.

-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other administration officials put the final touches on a bank rescue plan, which is set to be unveiled Tuesday.

by J. Jennings Moss

Sources: Fox News, Washington Pos, New York Times, Reuters, and the White House.