New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco found out something he didn’t catch during his 10 years in Cincinnati Tuesday night -- Washington-style theater.

Tweeting his way through a bout of insomnia, the three time all-pro stumbled upon the State of the Union address, watching the yearly event for the first time.

The player, who famously changed his last name to the Spanish-style pronunciation of his jersey number, asked his more than 3 million followers a host of questions about the event: its length (varies), how the president remembers the entire speech (TOTUS, ask any Republican to explain) and who "the guy over Obama’s left shoulder" was (House Speaker John Boehner, an avid Cincinnati Bengals fan).

That guy "doesn’t seem very happy," Ochocinco tweeted of the stone-faced speaker, who earlier in the week told "Fox News Sunday" he was going to get through President Obama's speech by staring at the back of Obama's head.

After learning Boehner’s identity, Ochocinco turned up the compassion, asking via Twitter if the speaker, who is known to wear his emotions on his sleeve, was "ok." (read more)

As is custom, multiple members squatted Tuesday in the House chamber to reserve seats, preferably on the aisle, so they can either get their mug on TV or shake hands with President Obama when he comes into the chamber for the State of the Union.

They include: Reps. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., Dale Kildee, D-Mich., Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, Al Green, D-Texas, Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

Kucinich, Ros-Lehtinen and Jackson Lee are old hands at this craft.

A couple of factors in the mix. Due to redistricting, Kucinich and Rothman face primaries against fellow members so it may help them to get on TV.

Kildee is retiring. But in the fall, he had to fend off never-proven charges by an alienated, distant family member that he sexually abused him in the 1960s.

Expect a lot of attention on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who will be sitting between Reps. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.

Last year, the State of the Union fell just weeks after Giffords was shot. This year, we are told that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will keep a seat open for Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who suffered a stroke over the weekend. Kirk’s seat is President Obama's old Senate seat (with former Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., in between). (read more)

For the first time ever, reporters can now bring electronic devices such as laptops, BlackBerries and other smartphones into the press gallery for the State of the Union address.

They cannot make calls and the devices are expected to be in silent mode during President Obama's speech Tuesday night.

This is the start of a trial period. Previously, all electronic devices were banned. Reporters had to rely on their notebooks.

This will apply to all garden variety House sessions. This rule change applies only to the House and not to the Senate.

And, of course, the fact that reporters can now bring iPhones into the chamber means they can now play Angry Birds during the president’s speech.

Warren Buffett's secretary will be sitting with the first lady in her gallery box Tuesday night as President Obama announces his plans for tax reform at the State of the Union address.

Debbie Bosanek, who has worked for Buffett for nearly two decades, has become as symbol of Obama's tax reform plan. The "Buffett rule," named after her billionaire boss, aims to insure that wealthy taxpayers do not pay an effective tax rate lower than their secretaries.

Buffett raised the specter that he pays less than his staff last year, arguing that millionaires and billionaires should be taxed at higher rates. Buffett pays a lower effective tax rate than Bosanek, he claimed, because his income is earned off of investments and capital gains rather than on wages.

"I had this boyhood dream I would have a tax named after me," Buffett joked with a group of college students visiting his Berkshire Hathaway offices in Omaha, Neb., earlier this month.

In reality, millionaires generally don't pay less in taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center. Last fall, the center found that households making more than $1 million will pay an average of 29.1 percent of their income in federal taxes while households making between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay 15 percent of their income in federal taxes. It added that low-income workers do pay Social Security payroll taxes, another target for extended cuts favored by the president and lawmakers.
 
The IRS also found that in 2009, 43 percent of households paid no federal income tax at all while taxpayers making $1 million or more paid on average 24.4 percent of their income in federal income taxes.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told reporters on Tuesday that Obama is going to offer additional details on the Buffett rule at the address.

"You’ll hear more details (than) you've heard before," Pfeiffer said, "with some significant information." (read more)

Colorodo Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn is skipping Tuesday night's State of the Union speech in a protest of President Obama's policies over so-called recess appointments, rejection of the Keystone pipeline, deficit spending and "draconian" cuts to the defense budget that were negotiated in the debt ceiling deal last summer.

The three-term lawmaker said he has never passed on a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, but this year’s speech is different because President Obama is "in full campaign mode and will use the address as an opportunity to bash his political opponents."

His office added that as far as the congressman knows, he is the only Republican who will pass on attending the State of the Union, and he is not trying to coordinate this with any other members. But, the office said Lamborn wants "to send a clear message that he does not support the policies of Barack Obama, that they have hurt our country."

Lamborn said he plans to watch the speech on television.

Less than a year after the oil spill that killed 11 rig workers and did untold damage to wildlife and beaches along the Gulf Coast, many who watched President Obama's State of the Union address were surprised by his decision not to mention the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Speaking Sunday to Fox News, Gulf Coast Senator David Vitter (R-La.) said he "wasn't shocked" but was "certainly disappointed" by the exclusion. Vitter is strongly against the administration's moratorium on Gulf Coast drilling, noting that the "shut down of activity in the Gulf has been very, very hurtful for Louisiana and the economy at large."

Vitter says Americans he's talked to are "tired of President Obama's stale rhetoric about oil and gas being the energy of the past." Vitter noted the president regularly uses the same gas for "jet fuel on Air Force One to fly around the country." While acknowledging there's a need to explore alternative energy sources, Vitter classified oil and gas as the "energy resources of the present." (read more)

Jeffrey Zients, the Office of Management and Budget's deputy director for management, will become President Obama's man in charge of reorganizing the federal government and the nation's first federal chief performance officer.

Zients is a former CEO and chairman of The Advisory Board Company and chairman of the Corporate Executive Board.

"Jeff’s years of private sector experience means that he brings a unique perspective to his job as CPO and to this new assignment. Having been a CEO, management consultant, and entrepreneur, Jeff has a deep understanding of business strategy, process reengineering and operational management. In fact, Jeff spent the majority of his career leading two companies that help corporations around the world improve their performance by adopting best management practices," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer wrote in a blog post.

UPDATE 10:33 p.m. -- As he left the House Chamber, the president encountered and shook hands with the following lawmakers:

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA)

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA)

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA)

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA)

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)

Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

Rep. Al Green (D-TX)

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

Rep. Tim Murphy (D-PA)

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY)

Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)

Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL)

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY)

Rep. Jean Schmidt (D-OH)

Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA)

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA)

Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA)

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Rep. Phil Gingery (R-GA)

Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-PA) (read more)

Ahead of the president's State of the Union Address, a group of first responders from the September 11 terror attacks gave an American flag to staffers in Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' office. The flag, signed by 50 9/11 responders, was their way of honoring the victim of of the recent Tucson tragedy.

Giffords remains in a Houston rehabilitation hospital after she was shot in a rampage that targeted a "Congress On Your Corner" event she was hosting at a supermarket in Tucson.

The flag was presented to Daniel Hernandez, an intern in Giffords' Tucson office who is credited with helping to save the congresswoman's life when he came to her aid in the shooting's aftermath. Hernandez will be seated with First Lady Michelle Obama in the House Chamber as the president addresses the joint session of Congress. (read more)

"Kumbaya" may be the tune of the evening, but a presidential address wouldn't be a presidential address without prebuttals and reactions from members and groups on both sides of the aisle. AEHQ keep you posted, right here, throughout the night as we hear from lawmakers, PACs, and advocacy groups on President Obama's State of the Union address.

Economy

"A truly impactful competitiveness agenda would start with President Obama putting the brakes on his own administration... No amount of new government spending on ‘competitiveness' can break the hammerlock that President Obama's regulatory agencies are putting on job creation and economic growth." - Steven Law, president of American Crossroads

"In Louisiana, one of the most decisive steps we can take to put people back to work is to start again issuing permits for deepwater oil and gas drilling. Since the administration imposed the moratorium in May, five of the 33 deepwater platforms then operating in the Gulf have left for other parts of the world, putting the squeeze on supply and service providers and costing Louisiana and the Gulf Coast nearly 5,000 jobs." - Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La.

"I was encouraged by the tone of the President's speech, and hopeful about his promise to finally pivot to job creation. (read more)