Via Tom Maguire, marveling at how quickly assent has become the highest form:

The details [of the stimulus compromise] were negotiated at an afternoon meeting in the office of the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, involving Mr. Reid, other top Democrats and two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. After they came to terms, the senators brought in the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, for assurance that the deal was acceptable to the administration. Mr. Emanuel signaled it was…

Mr. Obama called Ms. Collins and Mr. Specter, as well as Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, another Republican expected to support the deal, to acknowledge they were acting against pressure from their party and, one official said, to thank them for their patriotism in helping advance the bill at a critical time.

WaPo says the cloture vote’s tentatively scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday with a final vote due at noon the next day, hot on the heels of Obama’s Monday night primetime presser. In the meantime, here’s The One’s latest exercise in the politics of fear, another concept earning Strange New Respect these days among the fightin’ nutroots. Fun fact from Rasmussen: The spread between those who strongly approve and disapprove of him has dropped 15 points since Inauguration Day.