Super Bowl XLV: Lawmakers get in the game, DHS stays on its game
The Super Bowl is as much of an occasion for chips and dip at the White
House as any other American home, but it’s also a time for lawmakers to
raise cash and for Homeland Security to raise its defenses.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to join
more than 100 politicians, celebrities, and Cabinet officials with their
friends and family at the White House for the big game on Sunday, but
she implored the public to be on guard as more than 100,000 people are
expected to stream through the stadium gates in Dallas for one of
the largest public events of the year.
{mosads}Eyeing the possibility of a terrorist attack at the event,
Napolitano announced the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS)
partnership with the National Football League (NFL) this week in its
“See something, say something” campaign that pushes the public to notify
authorities of any suspicious activity during the game between the
Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers.
A training video was shown to hundreds of NFL employees ahead of
the game and advertisements highlighting the security campaign have
been lighting up television channels and newspapers this week.
Construction crews have been working around the clock erecting concrete
barriers around the stadium while attendees will be forced to pass
through X-ray and magnetometer machines on their way into the game.
Meanwhile, security at the White House will be even tighter as
scores of high-profile football-loving lawmakers, entertainers, and
political appointees are scheduled to join President Obama and his
family for a party at his home on Pennsylvania Avenue. Though the menu
hasn’t been released yet, Steeler fans Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and
Bob Casey (D-Pa.) are likely to bring a taste of their home state,
while Republican Rep. Reid Ribble and former Gov. Jim Doyle (D) may
provide some of their native Wisconsin fare.
Toomey and fellow freshman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have made a gut-busting bet on the game: if the Steelers win, Toomey gets bratwurst, cheese and beer; if the Packers prevail, Johnson will get famous Pittsburgh sandwiches that have meat, french fries and coleslaw stuffed inside.
The two new GOP governors of those states, Scott Walker (Wis.) and Tom Corbett (Pa.), have also bet a bevy of local foodstuffs — and much harder stuff — including cookies, chocolates, pretzels, horseradish, mustard, vodka, rum and wine.
Some members are trying to cash in the game, even before the annual
championship is played. For the second year in a row, Rep. John Conyers
(D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, hosted
a fundraiser lunch on Saturday.
Conyers supporters who doled out a cool $4,800 at the famous Palm
restaurant in Washington D.C. landed themselves a muchly coveted ticket
to Super Bowl XLV. The lunch itself, which was supposed to carry a Super
Bowl theme, cost $1,000 per person or political action committee (PAC). Conyers hosted a similar
luncheon last year in Miami where he offered tickets for $5,000 apiece,
according to the Sunlight Foundation
Though no promise of a game ticket has been offered, Rep. Sanford
Bishop (D-Ga.) is also holding his second annual 6-hour long Super Bowl
party on Sunday where supporters are encouraged to give $500 apiece and
$1,000 per PAC. And as the chairman of the
National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has
secured a luxury suite at the game for high-rolling GOP donors.
The ticket sales website Stubhub.com had tickets for as cheap as
$1,890 each, but depending on the seat’s location they can run all the
way up to $162,000 for a Hall of Fame suite. But the majority of tickets
to the game can’t be bought directly. Roughly three-quarters of the
tickets are divvied up among NFL teams themselves, who can then give
them to whomever they want.
An avid sports watcher, Obama may give a bit of a pre-game analysis
on Sunday in his scheduled interview with Fox anchor Bill O’Reilly. The
game will be broadcast on Fox and the president has traditionally given
the interview to the channel hosting the game.
On Capitol Hill, however, game analysis and predictions have already
begun, as Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told ABC News this week that the
Packers are going to win by a touchdown.
“Quite frankly
Pittsburgh, with [Ben] Roethlisberger and Green Bay with [Aaron]
Rodgers, I think they’re going to score upwards of 55, 60 points in this
game,” he said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is putting his support behind the
Steelers, telling ABC News that they “have what it takes defensively to
win this game. Plus they have a very, very schooled quarterback who’s won
two Super Bowls already, so he knows what it’s like to be in there.”
Celebrity entertainers and co-owners of the Miami Dolphins, Jennifer
Lopez and Marc Anthony, are planning to join the Obamas on Sunday,
along with Attorney General Eric Holder, Transportation Secretary Ray
LaHood, and a slew of other city mayors, family and friends.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed..