TOTUS Teetering

Michael Ramirez. Moderate Democrats in both chambers are worried about the cost of his budget. Roll Call. Then there's the Zogby poll, usually Dem-leaning, which shows his approval rating now 50-50:

As for the president’s love of the limelight, it could backfire, according to a media watcher.

“I thought he overexposed himself weeks ago,” said Tobe Berkovitz, associate dean of Boston University’s College of Communication.

“I wonder when the public will say ‘Instead of being in front of the camera, be in front of a spreadsheet.’ ”

He has a "press conference" tonight. TOTUS had better be on its toes.

More: Brawl over Obama budget brews. (Some Tea Party influence in the header and otherwise?). Reuters:

Obama will meet fellow Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday to try to shore up support for a budget blueprint that likely would increase the deficit more than initially estimated by the White House -- it was forecast at $1.4 trillion for next year.

The House Budget Committee will begin a marathon session on Wednesday to write its version of the budget plan, followed a day later by the Senate Budget Committee's unveiling of its budget plan for fiscal 2010 and the four subsequent years.

Republicans say Obama's budget plan expands government and raises taxes on the rich and small businesses at a time when the country is mired in a deep recession. Obama, for his part, is trying to keep fiscally-conservative Democrats on board.

Democrats, who control Congress, are looking for ways to shave some of the spending requests in a bid to persuade enough fiscally-moderate members of their party to support a $3.55 trillion budget next year.

Though they don't have the votes without moderate Democrat support, Republicans are working on an alternative budget:

At a morning press conference, Republican leaders John Boehner (Ohio), Eric Cantor (Va.) and Mike Pence I(Ind.) railed against the budget in advance of the President's prime-time news conference tonight.

"Our position is his budget is far outside of the mainstream," said Cantor.

"The president is proposing a gusher of new debt, new taxes and more spending," concurred Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), ranking member of the Budget Committee. "The president's budget is so far to the left that it's to the left of the Progressive Caucus budget that came to the floor last year that about 130 Democrats voted against. So we're seeing a strong lurch to the left."

"When you look at the debt numbers in this budget you'll see that over the next six years President Obama will create more debt than his 43 predecessors have in the last 220 years," said Boehner.

"The President's budget is the most fiscally irresponsible budget in the history of the United States," said Pence.

As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) did yesterday, Cantor noted that Obama's planned trip to Capitol Hill tomorrow was a sign that his plan was not favored by centrists in Congress or around the country. "We wouldn't have to see a campaign to try to convince moderate Democrats to support this budget if it was reflective of the mainstream of this country," Cantor said.