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Speaking on CNN's State of the Union talk show Sunday morning, Axelrod said he was confident the measure would pass, in spite of dogged resistance, "because at the end of the day, no one wants to see taxes go up on 150 million Americans on Jan. 1."

Voting on the measure could begin as early as Monday in the U.S. Senate.  Late last week, in a dramatic sign of Democratic discomfort with the measure which extends tax cuts for the wealthy for another two years, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) staged a Capra-esque nine hour solo filibuster on the Senate floor to stall any action on the bill.

Passage in the Senate, however, seems more certain than in the House where liberals, uneasy with the package negotiated between Obama and the G.O.P. leadership, have been furious in their opposition.

That resistance may be fading as few Democrats might be willing to publicly humiliate their own president by ultimately voting against him.  Reports The Los Angeles Times:

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who will be the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee next year, told " Fox News Sunday" that estate-tax relief remained a "choking point." The bill, for two years, would let individuals pass on to their heirs up to $5 million tax-free; higher amounts would be taxed at a top rate of 35%. He and others favor less generous terms and suggested the estate-tax provision should be voted on separately.

But Van Hollen indicated the estate-tax was not a deal breaker. He said he was confident that neither middle-income Americans nor top earners would see their taxes rise in January.

One of Obama's top economic advisers, Austan Goolsbee, also predicted victory in passing the bill while appearing Sunday on NBC's Meet The Press.

The deal would extend all of the tax cuts imposed during the presidency of George W. Bush including reductions for the wealthiest 2 percent -- a measure the Democrats and Obama had vigorously promised to let expire.  But the congressional G.O.P. vowed to filibuster all legislation in the current lame duck session, which expires at the end of the year, unless the reduction for the wealthy was also approved.