The Note: Bipartisanship in Washington?

— -- This historic day full of pomp and circumstance got underway at 9:00 am ET with a bipartisan interfaith prayer service attended by the House leadership and rank and file members in honor of American military men and women.

At noon ET, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) becomes the first woman Speaker of the House and partakes in the swearing-in ceremony with all the members of the 110th Congress. Later this afternoon, Speaker Pelosi partakes in ceremonial swearing-ins in the Rayburn Room at the US Capitol.

Tonight, a celebration concert takes place at the National Building Museum at 6:30 pm ET where Speaker Pelosi is expected to make remarks.

Be sure to tune into ABC News' live coverage of the Capitol Hill events at 2:00 pm ET and all day on abcnews.com, ABC News Now, and ABC News Radio.

In the other body, Senators participated in a closed press bipartisan caucus meeting at 9:00 am ET. The new Senate convenes at noon ET for Vice President Cheney to administer the oaths of office in groups of four before heading over to the Old Senate Chamber later this afternoon for individual reenactments of the Senators being sworn into office.

President Bush meets with the Chancellor of Germany in the Oval Office at 5:00 pm ET and then the two leaders plan to make statements to cameras at 6:20 pm ET.

Fresh from filing paperwork yesterday with the Federal Election Commission to form a presidential exploratory committee, outgoing Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) plans to hold a 1:45 pm ET photo-op/media availability outside of his campaign headquarters (instantly well stocked with BlackBerries and working phone lines for his brand new campaign staff) in the North End of Boston.

Romney has not yet decided when and how to formally "declare" his candidacy. But money raised by Romney's "exploratory" committee can be used on his White House bid. In fact, it's the same account.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has a packed schedule today attending many of his colleagues' swearing-in receptions. Yesterday, per the Chicago Sun Times' Lynn Sweet, he stopped by the Chicago offices of his media strategist, David Axelrod. LINK

Sen. Obama, now in the majority, also plans to preside over the Senate for the first time today at 3:15 pm ET.

In Boston, Gov.-elect Deval Patrick (D-MA) takes the oath of office today. Gov. Lynch (D-NH), Gov. Douglas (R-VT), and Gov. Heineman (R-NE) also all participate in their inaugural events today.

US Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Thomas Donohue briefed reporters on the organization's 2007 policy objectives and priorities at 9:30 am ET.

An era of bipartisanship?:
"I think you are looking for a lot more gridlock than common ground," said ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" when sizing up the new Congress and its relationship with President Bush.

". . . behind the talk by both Republicans and Democrats about working together lie competing agendas and principles that may be at fundamental odds," write ABC News' Jake Tapper and Toni Wilson. LINK

Tapper also blogs on the "leaked" memo from the office of incoming Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to his Democratic colleagues. LINK

The Boston Globe's Rick Klein lays out how "early signs of bipartisan corporation have all but evaporated on Capitol Hill." LINK

In his White House Memo, New York Timesman Jim Rutenberg also wonders how long a commitment to bipartisanship will last, but one gesture Rutenberg Notes that the White House did arrange for a plane to bring Democratic Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin back to Washington, DC from the Ford funeral in Michigan to make it to the President's congressional reception last night. LINK

Madam Speaker:
Faye Fiore and Tina Daunt of the Los Angeles Times offer a Pelosi profile with details ranging from her task of finding consensus among her diverse caucus to her choice of The Grateful Dead as her favorite band. LINK

USA Today's Kathy Kiely writes up the "wave of women making political history" this Thursday. LINK

In the first in a series of occasional articles on the new Democratic-controlled Congress, the Washington Post's Michael Grunwald and Juliet Eilperin write that the new Speaker "must come to terms with her party's own troubles" on the "culture of corruption." LINK

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Pelosi festivities today, who made the guest list for some of the low key celebratory parties tonight, and a report on last night's Italian Embassy party that included entertainment by Tony Bennett and James Taylor. LINK

The Chronicle also goes into detail on the long voting process for Speaker of the House that will occur today.LINK

Democratic agenda:
With a healthy dose of skepticism that congressional behavior will be dramatically altered, Fredreka Schouten of USA Today writes up the Democratic plan to reform the lobbying/legislator relationship and the push to limit earmarks. LINK

In a story looking at House Democrats preparing to tighten lobbyist rules, the Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman and Jeffrey Birnbaum report that "a number of loopholes in the proposal have led ethics watchdogs to warn Democrats that their work will be far from done, even if the new rules are secured today." LINK

Carl Hulse and David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times cover similar ground. LINK

The Los Angeles Times: LINK

The Wall Street Journal's John McKinnon and John Fialka report that "worried industries and their trade groups" are responding to the new Democratic Congress by "hiring new lobbying talent, planning mass-market ad campaigns and, in some cases, focusing on getting goodies attached to legislation that they would rather see killed but know they can't stop."

The Wall Street Journal's Greg Ip and Christopher Conkey report that Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) "grand bargain" represents a "road map" on how Democrats "may strike deals to aid unionization, expand health-care coverage and find common ground on other issues, while giving businesses concessions on immigration, trade and investment."

For the Political Radar, ABC News' Teddy Davis looks at Frank's "grand bargain" LINK

as well as his dismissal of the charge aired last year that he and Pelosi will use the Democrats' House majority to impose a "radical homosexual agenda" on the country. LINK

The Washington Post's Steve Mufson reports that House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel and House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell want to be able to hold hearings on Democratic plans to shift oil tax incentives to renewable energy. "As a result, Pelosi will probably introduce the revenue-raising components first and set aside the money in a 'fund' to be divvied up later. Renewable energy lobbyists said that would set off a feeding frenzy among boosters of hydropower, nuclear, biofuel, geothermal and solar energy." LINK