A new seating plan, a more civil Congress?

WASHINGTON - Can a congressional game of musical chairs be an antidote for vitriol?

Looking for ways to foster political civility in the wake of the Arizona shooting rampage, a few Minnesota lawmakers will join their congressional colleagues in prearranged bipartisan seating for President Obama's State of the Union address.

Come Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar will sit alongside Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions. U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, another Minnesota Democrat, has invited GOP state Sen. Julie Rosen, who has been discussed in the past as one of his potential challengers.

Other pairings have been announced: New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and Oklahoma GOP Sen. Tom Coburn say they'll sit together; so will House Majority and Minority Whips Kevin McCarthy and Steny Hoyer.

So far, Klobuchar and Walz are the only Minnesotans in Congress to formally sign on to a radical departure from tradition: the practice of Republicans and Democrats dividing themselves along a center aisle, like families of the bride and groom at a wedding.

"No business would divide their aisles so that you have girls on one side or boys on the other," Klobuchar said. "What we're doing here is crazy. ... We should have Democrats and Republicans sit with each other. And we should be running the Senate that way instead of going to our own corners of our boxing arena."

Amid a health care debate that has flared up anew, some lament that it took the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., to focus attention on the rancorous state of American politics.

Both Republicans and Democrats have called for ramping down the acrimony, but not everyone is impressed with the conspicuous display of bipartisan comity on national television.

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson, with one of the most centrist voting records in Congress, questions whether mixed seating will amount to more than just good publicity. "Some of the people jumping on the bandwagon are among the most partisan that we have," he said. "I don't think sitting next to somebody is going to change that."

Peterson sat on the Republican side last year. His reward? Party-switching rumors.

Others in the delegation, including Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat, and Rep. Erik Paulsen, a Republican, support the break with tradition. But so far, neither has announced an opposite-party seatmate or signed a letter from more than 40 of their colleagues calling for mixed seating.

"Last year I sat near several of my colleagues across the aisle," Paulsen said. "The symbolism is important, if nothing else just to show the American public that we're listening."

Logistics for bipartisan intermingling remain unclear, as seating for the State of the Union is simply first come, first served. Will members roam the aisles like high school students looking for a table in the cafeteria?

Klobuchar said that while the mingled seating is largely symbolic, it should spill over into the way Congress conducts business. With rare exceptions, she said, lawmakers self-segregate by party at most committee hearings with Republicans on one side, Democrats on the other.

"This is a larger issue than just the State of the Union," she said.