The votes are in from Hollywood, and the war in Iraq is the big winner as "Hurt Locker" took home the gold. Meanwhile, Iraqis themselves actually voted this weekend. That winner is still TBD.

Back in the world of politics, the outcome of health care reform legislation is still up in the air (to belabor our Oscar theme), with the President hitting the road again this week to sell his plan ahead of an Easter deadline. Here's our look at the week in politics.

**The White House: President Obama keeps minding his purple states with his travel this week to sell health care, starting with a morning visit today to the Philadelphia area, to be followed this Wednesday with a trip to one of the ultimate bellwether states, Missouri. Expect to continue hearing the president call for an "up or down vote" in the Senate for his plan, even though the real effort is in getting the votes in the House. The first deadline set by the White House is for that House vote to occur by next Thursday, when Obama leaves for an extended overseas trip.

Speaking of foreign policy, Obama this week meets with the president of El Salvador, the prime minister of Greece and the president of Haiti. Meanwhile, Vice President Biden has started a week-long trip to the Middle East, a visit that comes just after the aforementioned Iraqi elections.

**Capitol Hill: The country awaits Democrats' next move on health care. If they stay on a tentative schedule that the White House has intimated, there should be some action during the next two weeks. The plan: the House will pass the Senate bill, then both will pass a separate bill that fixes certain budget-related aspects to it that House members don't support. In the meantime, the House passed last week a slightly altered version of the Senate's $15 billion jobs bill, so the Senate is expected to take that up this week. Speaker Pelosi said that will be just the beginning of jobs-related plans to come to the floor in the months ahead. The upper chamber begins this week with work on the tax extenders bill, with votes on Tuesday.

**Politics: We start by noting the filing deadlines in the states this week: Arkansas (3/8); Oregon, Pennsylvania (3/9); California, Nevada (3/12).

Democrats are hoping for a better week after seeing two New York congressmen taken down last week by ethics investigations. Facing mounting pressure, Charles Rangel stepped down from his post as chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, while freshman Eric Massa first announced he wouldn't run for re-election -- then said he'll resign from Congress today to save himself from an ethics investigation into an allegation that he sexually harassed a staffer. We're also still keeping an eye on New York's governor, David Paterson, who holds a town hall meeting with voters this week and meets with the New York archbishop today as he tenuously holds on to his post.

On the 2010 front, Scott Brown was in Arizona campaigning with John McCain this weekend. But this week, it's McCain who plays a supporting role as he heads to a special state for him -- New Hampshire. He'll be campaigning for Senate hopeful Kelly Ayotte, a notable visit considering that there's a very active primary there. Looking at 2012, Mitt Romney's book tour kicks into high gear with stops in Florida, Michigan, California and Utah this week.

Trying to turn the attention back to the GOP, the DNC is airing a national TV ad this week on cable on the GOP "fear" fundraising appeal. Republicans will also be closely reading Karl Rove's new book, "Courage and Consequence," out Tuesday.

**Poll Watch:
Obama Job Performance: Approve 48.7 / Disapprove 45.8 (+2.9)
Congress Job Performance: Approve 18.8 / Disapprove 75.6 (-56.8)
Generic Ballot Test: Republicans +0.7

**In Case You Missed It: Just one month ago we were enduring back-to-back blizzards here in DC. But this week, we're looking at some 60-degree-plus days. This spring-like weather reminds us that baseball is just around the corner, and for Nats fans a pretty important spring training game this week as Stephen Strasburg will get the start in an exhibition Tuesday against Detroit, who'll start 2009 rookie star Rick Porcello.

Don't look now, though, the NCAA basketball tournament is coming even sooner. This weekend, the following programs punched their tickets to the big dance: Cornell (Ivy League); Winthrop (Big South); East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun); Murray State (Ohio Valley); Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley). Sadly, Mike's Loyola Greyhounds lost in the first round of the MAAC tourney.

And congratulations to Sandra Bullock for taking home Best Actress last night for her role in "The Blindside." Like Kyle, Bullock is an Arlington, Va., native and Washington-Lee High School graduate.

--Mike Memoli and Kyle Trygstad