Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Solid SOTU Speech Frames Reelection Campaign - President Obama used his bully pulpit to highlight themes to be used in his reelection campaign. Building an economy built to last for the middle class, ending the unpopular war in Iraq and winding down the one in Afghanistan, to battling a do-nothing Congress, the death of Bin Laden and Gaddafi and the need to work together on moving America forward were all themes sure to be hear throughout the year from the Obama campaign. Text of Speech is here.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels gave the Republican response and framed Obama as a "pro-poverty" president. Thought is increasing among Republican leaders to convince Daniels to enter into the Republican presidential primary.

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Obama Begins Tour of Swing States - immediately following his SOTU speech, the President will travel to Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Michigan and Nevada over the next three days.

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SEALS Rescue Hostages - on his way to the podium, last night, President Obama stopped and said to defense secretary Leon Panetta "good job". What no one knew at that time was he was referring to a rescue operation conducted by Navy SEAls, freeing two hostages held by Somali pirates. One, was an American woman and the other a Danish man. CNN.com has more here.

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Romney-Gingrich Tied In Florida - the latest Quinnipiac poll has Romney at 36%, Gingrich 34%, Santorum 13% and Paul 10%. A Time/CNN/ORC poll will be released today at 4:00 PM. TheHill.com has more here.

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Who will Take Gifford's Seat - it was a touching moment last night when President Obama gave Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) a big hug prior to delivering his SOTU Address. Her resignation will be official today.

Some of the Democrats considering running for the seat are state senate minority whip Linda Aboud, state Rep. Steve Farley, and businesswoman Nan Stockholm Walden.

Republican names being floated are state senators Frank Antenori and Dave Sitton.

Democratic Party leaders are hopeful an endorsement from Giffords will help them keep what was considered a "safe" seat in the House. RollCall.com has more here.

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One Year Anniversary of Egyptian Revolution - Tahrir Square was full one year after the start of the revolution which resulted in the ouster of President Mubarak. You can read more here.

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