Photograph by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Singer Carole King performs onstage at the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on April 18, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.

President Barack Obama has got a friend in Carole King, a staple singer of the Democratic fundraising performance circuit who will appear at the White House next week to receive the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

It’s not too late to recognize the singer and songwriter who has made the Earth move for so many fans so far away. She’s been to Canaan and may feel home again among the tapestries in the house where Obama has handed the same award to Stevie Wonder (2009), author of the president’s election and re-election theme song, “Signed, Sealed Delivered. ”

This is the first time the Gershwin award has gone to a natural woman, indeed a nightingale.

There will be no crying in the rain, as the show will be staged indoors, in the East Room, not up on the roof.

It should be one fine day, though it’s going to take some time to get through the program, with James Taylor (Democratic convention troubador), Billy Joel, Gloria Estefan and Trisha Yearwood playing at Wednesday’s installment of “In Performance at the White House.”

The whole Loco-Motion will be aired on PBS on Tuesday, May 28, at 8 pm EDT.

Meanwhile, King is polishing her credentials as a Democrat who takes good care of her babies, in this case Terry McAuliffe, the super-fundraiser and candidate for governor of Virginia:

Please join @terrymcauliffe for a Day of Action. Watch: youtube.com/watch?feature=… … #vagov

— Carole King (@Carole_King) May 17, 2013

Original post is Carole King: White House Earth-Mover by Political Capital.

In the second, public turn of an oath already taken at the Naval Observatory yesterday, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor swore-in Vice President Joe Biden for a second term.

James Taylor sang “America the Beautiful” with an acoustic guitar.

Original post is Obama, Biden: Take Two by Political Capital.

Photograph by Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Singer James Taylor performs on the final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Updated at 3:20 pm EST

Singer-songwriter James Taylor, a self-described “yellow dog Democrat,” took a victory lap at the National Press Club today.

Taylor campaigned for President Barack Obama’s re-election, including performing at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, where he grew up.

Despite his Democratic leanings, he says effective governments needed the participation of both major political parties.

“We really need a strong Republican Party and a strong dialog between left and right,” Taylor said at a club luncheon.

He called for Election Day becoming a national holiday and criticized Republican-championed voter-ID laws.

“It’s a solution without a problem,” he said.

He disagreed with calls to raise the eligibility age for Medicare in exchange for tax increases and avoid the fiscal cliff. Cutting Medicae spending by making fewer people eligible for the program is a “terrible idea,” he said. “We may have to go over the cliff.”

Taylor says he has no personal interest in running for office.

`With my personal history, that would be a massacre,” he said. “It would be fun to cover though.”

Original post is James Taylor Live: Left, Right Unite: `May Have to Go Over Cliff’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Crew members stand on the deck of the Arosa Basel ship after it ran aground along the Mississippi River in Hurricane Isaac's storm surge on August 31, 2012 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

The House and Senate are not in session today. With time running short before automatic tax increases, program cuts take effect in January, negotiations on avoiding fiscal cliff will dominate next week. Look for a conference committee to hammer out the final fiscal 2013 defense authorization. The Senate may also take up a bill next week that would extend Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantee program to help community banks retain deposits.

Bloomberg Government hosts a cyber-security breakfast this morning with Rep. Dan Lungren, a California Republican. The Army Corps of Engineers may recommend releasing more water from the Missouri River to raise Mississippi levels and ease barge traffic. The Supreme Court may announce it will take up gay-marriage case.

And Singer/Songwriter James Taylor will deliver a National Press Club Newsmaker Luncheon address on election reform, starting at 1 p.m.

With assistance from Chelsea Mes in London and John Hughes and Juliann Francis in Washington.

Original post is Washington Daybook: Fire and Rain and the Fiscal Cliff by Political Capital.

Photograph by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Singer James Taylor performs at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 6, 2012 on the final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Updated at 5:50 pm EDT with sunshine

“In my mind, I’m gone to Carolina,” James Taylor sang on the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte just now. “Can’t you see the sunshine, can’t you just feel the moon shinin’, ain’t it just like a friend of mine to hit me from behind. Yes I’m gone to Carolina in my mind.”

That’s where President Barack Obama has gone for renomination for a second term.

To the state he narrowly won in 2008 — the first Democrat to do so since Jimmy Carter (a parallel that the Republicans have been ready to draw all week long.)

“There ain’t no doubt in no one’s mind that love’s the finest thing around,” Taylor sang on the blue stage of the Time-Warner arena.

It’s been some time since “Sweet Baby James” sang this song with a younger head of hair. He performs hatted now.

(The version below is now 40 years old). 

The Democrats, closing their convention tonight with Obama’s acceptance speech, are looking for Taylor’s love here.

And sure enough, the clouds parted and rain passed and the sun started shining in Charlotte as his act was underway — an ironic turn of weather for a party that called off its outdoor celebration at a football arena tonight. Inside, Taylor warmed up the late afternoon crowd with a small band and chorus. And they were dancing in the hall.

Original post is Obama: Carolina in his Mind by Political Capital.

Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

A sign for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

President Barack Obama will deliver his nomination acceptance speech at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte despite a weather forecast that calls for a 50 percent chance of rain, according to his campaign spokesman.

“It will be there rain or shine,” Ben LaBolt, Obama’s spokesman, told reporters today in Charlotte. “If there is very severe weather, we’d be prepared for that as well.”

Obama’s speech is not  `final” yet, LaBolt said at a press conference today.

In a sign that convention planners are nervous about the weather, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx joked that he hopes singer James Taylor wouldn’t be singing “Fire and Rain” at today’s festival celebrating the Carolinas and rather sing songs that would bring the “sunshine” out.

Taylor was warming up and making sound checks this morning on an outdoor stage erected in “Uptown” for Charlotte Fest 2012 two blocks from the indoor arena where the convention will open Tuesday. We didn’t hear “Fire and Rain.”

Original post is Obama: `Rain or Shine’ at Stadium — James Taylor: `Fire and Rain?’ by Political Capital.