SB shindig part of O's GOP outreach

The Washington Post on Sunday published a piece about President Barack Obama's social outreach to Republicans -- whom he now needs to help govern -- including having a couple GOP'ers over to the White House for the Steelers-Packers Super Bowl. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., provided the Post a view into the festivities -- and the White House's homebrew:

At the Super Bowl party, the president and first lady, dressed casually, spent most of the evening mingling separately with guests, moving about in the East Room.

Obama spent a few minutes chatting with Toomey's 10-year-old daughter about school. He also told the newly elected senator that he wanted to "get some things done" and work with Republicans if they would "meet him along the way," Toomey recalled.

Twice, Ribble and his wife looked up to see the president bounding over to his table.

"He sat down right next to us," Ribble said. "We had conversations about how the game was going. ... I tried to bait him, but I couldn't get him to take sides."

At one point, Obama brought some snacks over, Ribble said, and noted the Wisconsinites were drinking Hinterland, made by a Green Bay brewery. "'That's your local brew,'" Obama said to the group, Ribble recalled. "'But make sure you try the White House brew.' He was pretty proud of what they make right there in the White House."

The White House Honey Ale, Ribble said, was "medium bodied" and "a little sweeter than normal."

Perhaps just the taste Obama was looking for.