Greg Sargent says President Obama’s efforts to woo Republicans is part of long term strategy to break his rivals.

“Democrats are increasingly pessimistic about forcing real concessions from Republicans in the near term — for example, by using the threat of a government shutdown to force them back to the table — and are instead settling in for what will amount to a months-long war of attrition in hopes of ultimately getting Republicans to cave on new revenues.”

Jonathan Chait: “As sequestration begins, Republicans have been overtaken with something close to giddiness, and Democrats seized with gloom.”

President Obama “stepped up his wooing of rank-and-file Republican lawmakers Wednesday, hosting a dozen senators at a dinner at a Washington restaurant and setting a visit to the Capitol in hopes of reigniting talks on a broad budget deal,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The efforts mark his most aggressive outreach to lawmakers in years and show Mr. Obama is trying to build his own coalition in Congress at a time when his past negotiating partners in the GOP leadership are under renewed pressure to accommodate the party’s conservative base.”

Washington Post: “Obama picked up the tab personally, and two of his guests, Sens. John
McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), emerged flashing a thumbs-up.”

Meanwhile, Politico reports Obama invited Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to lunch at the White House.

The House “voted to extend spending cuts that went into effect on March 1 and keep the government operating for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The legislation is necessary to keep the federal government open after current funding runs out on March 27. It would keep in place automatic spending cuts known as the sequester for all federal agencies, while giving the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments more flexibility in setting spending priorities.”

However, Roll Call reports the “continuing resolution that will come out of the Senate will almost certainly be a larger and more complicated measure than the stopgap funding measure the House coped with this week.”