[Lou Waters, Cnn Anchor:] The president of the United States was in Florida this morning helping building a house. Now he's back in Washington, hoping to build a coalition for the future. CNN's John King is joining us now. He keeping watch over things at the White House. John, what's going on there today?
[John King, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] Lou, as you mentioned, the president is back here at the White House, and he is less than an hour away from looking directly into this new world order, if you will, here in Washington. A bipartisan group of senators is due here, to meet with the president to discuss that pending education bill that you just heard Jeanne talking about with Terry McAuliffe. At the table is Senator Jim Jeffords. Of course, he is the Republican who is now an independent, the reason the Democrats will take control of the Senate tomorrow. He will be here, along with other Democrats and Republicans. The White House believes the most important thing for the president as the Senate shifts and some poll show support for the president dropping a bit is to focus on getting things done, so the president will call for swift, final passage of that education bill. On Thursday, he will sign his tax cut, celebrate that as a promise kept to the American people. But it's no secret here there's a difficult row ahead, as Kate Snow was talking earlier in the show. There are major differences over the patients' bill of rights: The Democrats want to increase the minimum wage; the Republicans don't want to do that unless there is an accompanying set of tax cuts for businesses. Many disputes lie yet ahead, but the president is this week focusing on outreach. Senator Jeffords will be here today. Senator John McCain, not always on the same page as his former campaign rival, the president, is due for dinner tonight. Senator Lincoln Chafee, one of those moderate Republicans not always happy with the White House will get a meeting with the president on Thursday, and then on Thursday night, Tom Daschle, who by then will be the majority leader, gets dinner with the president. So the president recognizes this new environment here in Washington. White House officials say the agenda won't change, but certainly, the president is going out of his way, at least in these early days, to make an effort, at least in public, to show that he wants to operate in a more bipartisan manner as the Senate shifts to the Democrats Lou.
[Waters:] John King, keeping watch at the White House. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com