Hey, Senator, will you sit by me on Tuesday?

Mary from Louisiana asked Olympia from Maine because they are BFFs, but had a backup in Bob from Tennessee in case she was rebuffed. Kirsten from New York went the Sadie Hawkins route and asked John from South Dakota, and thus the deal between two members of the Senate with seriously good hair was sealed.

The talk in the West Wing may center on what President Obama plans to say on Tuesday in his State of the Union address to Congress about the still-ailing economy, or United States-China relations, or his education agenda.

But here on Capitol Hill, the conversation for the last few days has been all about the seating for the president's speech.

Ever since Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., pushed for lawmakers of both parties to mix it up rather than sit among their own in the House chamber as if the other side has cooties, there has been a mad scramble among lawmakers for the right partner.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., was early out of the box, saying he would sit next to his political antipode, Sen. Tom Coburn, the conservative Republican gentleman from Oklahoma.

Others are doing it by delegation; for instance, Colorado's two Democratic senators and its four House Republicans will assemble as a group. Illinois' bipartisan Senate duo, Richard J. Durbin and Mark Steven Kirk, will be joined at the seat, as will the one from Pennsylvania, Bob Casey and Pat Toomey.

Sometimes the link is shared interests.

The idea of mixing and mingling was originally advocated by the centrist group Third Way after the Tucson shooting that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a moderate Democrat from Arizona, critically wounded.

Since mere moments after the idea was broached, lawmakers have also found themselves under steady questioning from the news media -- local and national -- demanding to know with whom they plan to sit. It has made for some pressure, perhaps even some sweaty palms, in finding an available partner.

Among the Minnesota delegation, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar will sit alongside Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., has invited GOP state Sen. Julie Rosen, who has been discussed in the past as one of his potential challengers.

"Steny Hoyer and I try to talk quite often," Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 3 House Republican, told reporters, making his availability quite clear. "I would enjoy sitting next to him."

Asked whom the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, would sit with, his spokesman, Don Stewart, said, "Whoever sits next to him."