“Political warfare over the budget in Congress took a new twist Thursday as Senate Democrats openly schemed ahead of the blizzard of votes expected this week,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Democrats want to make sure that Senate Republicans are forced to put their support or opposition for Mr. Ryan’s budget on the record. Budget votes can carry political ramifications: Last week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign said it would target 14 House Republicans who might run for Senate seats in 2014 by trying to tie the lawmakers directly to Mr. Ryan’s budget proposal.”

Roll Call: 10 Senate amendments to watch for.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) “placed the odds for a bipartisan debt-reduction deal at better than 50-50, and outlined plans to roll out fresh ideas in the coming weeks on where to find the revenue to finance it,” Bloomberg reports.

Ron Fournier: “House Speaker John Boehner has stubbornly insisted he will not bargain with Obama one-on-one. He also says the House, after increasing taxes by $600 billion last year, will not raise new revenue.”

“Don’t believe him. Don’t mistake a negotiating position for reality. House Republicans tell me they are open to exchanging entitlement reform for new taxes — $250 billion to $300 billion, or approximately the amount that Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania proposed raising over 10 years under the guise of ‘tax reform.'”

Meanwhile, Roll Call breaks down the 10 Republicans who voted against the Ryan budget plan.

Michael Grunwald argues that President Obama should cave to Republicans and agree not to seek additional tax revenue — “not to appease the chattering classes, unify Washington or show the country he’s open to compromise. He should cave to ease pain, advance his agenda and improve the country in tangible ways.”

“Forget the dopey spats over White House tours and Easter-egg rolls. The sequester will cause real harm, so the President ought to at least try to replace it. And the pursuit of new revenue, while a reasonable goal, is not as important as his other goals–like avoiding short-term austerity that could derail the recovery, promoting long-term prosperity through targeted investments and tax reform, moving the budget in a fairer direction and preventing the GOP from taking more hostages in the future. He can’t possibly get a deal with everything he wants. But Republicans are so eager to avoid new taxes–and to make Obama look weak–that he might get a lot of what he wants if he gives them their top priority.”

Greg Sargent: “Which is worse, indefinite sequestration or a grand bargain that includes serious entitlement cuts?”