Almost live-blogging the president's news conference

by Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

First off, we all noted the new, darker and more dramatic lighting down the central hallway, and the emphasis on the candelabra-like fixtures. The president continues to use the single, large flat-screen teleprompter in the center of the room (not the dual flanking glass panes) to make it look like he's looking right at the cameras/American people.

Photo by Mandel Ngan | AFP/Getty Images
Click on image to watch the full press conference.

He called on the journalist from Detroit very early -- we're guessing it was in order to hit his talking points on the auto industry.

A co-worker here is worrying aloud that the combined Fiat-Chrysler entity could wind up shortened to: Fiasco. That would be bad. Especially as the owner of a Chrysler product.

This hand-washing obsession, combined with the Stimulus package, could lead to badly-needed public restroom refurbishing.

Zeleny-enchanted: While multi-layered (and the President played along), Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times asked the question that might have given us the most revealing and reflective answer of the night. Though I thought we'd hear a mention of what it's like to look out his office window and see his family. Or walk upstairs after work to dinner.

The President continues to call on a lot of journalists who have never had a question in prime time.

Now we do two new feeds of Nightly News for the West Coast!