Thursday in politics: Obama, Romney have lunch at White House, and more

Mitt Romney will finally make it to the White House on Thursday, but only for a 12:30 p.m. EST private — make that very private, no reporters — lunch with President Barack Obama.

What will they talk about? Maybe a spot on the Cabinet? "No," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.

Obama said in a Nov. 14 press conference that he wants to get ideas from Romney.

[Want to get a daily update of what's happening in politics delivered right to your inbox? Sign up for our Daily Ticket newsletter]

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the "fiscal cliff," and the talk goes on. Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner heads to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner in the morning and then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in the afternoon. Geithner's obvious mission: Get some traction toward a deal to avert the tax increases and spending cuts set to automatically go into effect Jan. 1 and Jan. 2.

Also worth noting on Thursday: Obama will meet with the 2012 American Nobel Prize winners, and there will be a reception and discussion in honor of former Sen. Warren Rudman, who died Nov. 19 at age 82. Rudman represented New Hampshire in the Senate from 1980-1993 and later led a commission that predicted the danger of terrorism on U.S. soil and called for the creation of a Department of Homeland Security.

And then there is this: If you haven't heard enough about the 2012 presidential campaign, you probably would enjoy a program this evening at Harvard University titled "War Stories: Inside Campaign 2012." David Axelrod and Jim Messina from the Obama campaign and Eric Fehrnstrom and Stuart Stevens from the Romney campaign will participate. Of course, if you have heard enough, you're probably OK with missing it.

Sources: Yahoo! News White House Correspondent Olivier Knox, Associated Press