Washington in 60 Seconds: Who Needs Scott Brown When There's Ben Nelson?

Good morning, Capitolists! Once derided by Barack Obama as not "flinty" enough to handle a few inches of snow like the tough Chicago crowd, the capital region has more than handled the three feet dumped on us Saturday and is braced for the foot or more on its way tonight.

The Senate has several votes scheduled today, including a cloture vote on a controversial Obama nominee that will require 60 yeas, meaning the Capitolist will be strapping on our flintiest snow boots and heading to the Capitol to watch it go down.

Here's what's making news in Washington until then:

* Obama Nominee Gets the Full Nelson. Sen. Ben Nelson, the Nebraska Democrat best known for bucking his party one day and getting $100 million in stocking stuffers for his home state the next, has informed Harry Reid that he will join a Republican filibuster today against Craig Becker, a nominee to join the National Labor Relations Board. Nelson said he thinks Becker will take "an aggressive personal agenda" to the NLRB, so he'll do his part to block the nomination.

* Honors for Murtha. Flags are at half-mast across Washington, including at the White House, the Capitol and all war memorials, in memory of Rep. Jack Murtha, who died yesterday. Murtha was a Vietnam Marine and prolific federal spender for the cause of the U.S. military and his Western Pennsylvania district. His hometown paper, aptly named the Tribune Democrat, remembers him as being "like a father to the community."

* Bi-passing Bipartisanship? President Obama is meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders today to talk about passing a jobs bill, but the conversation will undoubtedly wander to Obama's invitation for the GOP to meet with him live on C-SPAN to talk turkey on health care. Word on the street, however, is that the White House wants to bring a fully cooked proposal to the table for discussion, a move Republicans say would force them to push back from the table.

* Barney Frank on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In an op-ed forThe Hill, the Massachusetts Democrat calls for the full repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, a policy he says "turns logic on its head." More: "As a gay man, I want to pay particular tribute to the decency, integrity, and courage of Admiral Mullen, who so clearly stated his opposition to a policy that has been deeply unfair to many men and women with whom he himself has served."

* Grsly Twts R th Bst! Is there anything more entertaining than Sen. Chuck Grassley's Twitter feed? We give you Exhibit A as to why the answer is no: a Tweet from the Iowa Republican before dawn this morning, relaying the fact that he slept in his office last night to avoid snow delays and appear on CNBC this morning. "Bad weather.Took 12hrs to fly bk DC. DCA shut down.Had fly BWI. Slept in office so b on Hill for CNBC intrvu 7am in 20min."