— 7:59: Robert Gibbs, Rahm Emanuel and Phil Schiliro are huddling in the back of the room.
— 7:58: Jon sent over his rough sketch of who is sitting where, and it is not exactly the same layout as the briefing room. He says AP, Reuters, Ebony/Jet magazines and Helen Thomas are in the front row. Second row includes Bloomberg, New York Times, USA Today, CBS, Washington Post. The third row is ABC, LA Times, CNN, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Politico, NBC and Newsweek. Fox is in the fourth row, along with Jon, Mother Jones, AFP, Time, the Baltimore Sun and Times Picayune.
— 7:52: White House sends out POTUS’ opening remarks, which are embargoed, so stay tuned.
— 7:52: Before we get started, Jon Ward filed this blog (http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/potus-notes/2009/Feb/09/massive-journo-turnout-for-obama-presser/) about the packed house of more than 160 outlets for President Obama’s first press conference. I filed this blog earlier (http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/bellantoni/2009/Feb/09/who-will-get-questions-tonight/) about the 62 questions Obama took during the transition period.
— Christina Bellantoni, White House correspondent,
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