POLITICO: Billionaire Warren Buffett's longtime secretary will be joining first lady Michelle Obama in her box at tonight's State of the Union, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer announced on Twitter.

The Huffington Post: A look back at past speeches

The New York Times: Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who will give the G.O.P. response to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, is sure to raise wistful “if onlys” in the Republican establishment. Full Article

Six hours to go. Look for Economic Fairness to be a prominent theme in Obama's speech. Central to that will be a call for reforming the U.S. tax system, which allows the world's third richest man Warren Buffett to pay a lower tax rate than his secretary.

How well has Obama delivered on his promises to boost jobs and rebuild the economy? Here's a checklist

Gene Sperling, of the National Economic Council, tells CNBC that Obama will lay out a blueprint for strengthening American jobs and encouraging U.S. manufacturers to locate at home rather than offshore. Education to provide American companies with the skilled workforce they need will be part of the proposal, he says.

As for tax reform, Gene Sperling said that Obama will talk about the Buffett Rule, which would set a minimum tax for those earning $1 million or more. Romney would face a very different tax bill, were that to pass. His tax returns released today showed that he earned $42.6 million in 2010 and 2011, mostly in interest, dividends and capital gains, and that his tax rate was 13.9 pct and 15.4 pct respectively -- less than Warren Buffett's secretary.

News breaking from the White House on key messages in the Obama's speech -- Reuters reports:
--OBAMA TO SAY WEALTHY MUST DO THEIR SHARE FOR ECONOMY, PLEDGE 'NO BAILOUTS, NO HANDOUTS, NO COPOUTS' IN STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH-OFFICIAL EXCERPTS
--OBAMA TO STRESS NEED FOR MORE U.S. ENERGY PRODUCTION AND INVESTMENT IN MANUFACTURING AS A JOBS ENGINE IN STATE OF THE UNION-SPEECH EXCERPTS

Fixing the housing market will be part of the speech, but there are no quick fixes. Barclays Capital estimates that 1.9 million homes are going through the foreclosure process, and banks own 440,000 homes. In addition, mortgages on an estimated one million homes exceed the property value.

For all the buzz around Newt Gingrich, Obama`s reelection team still seems to be acting on the assumption that Mitt Romney will be the candidate the president will face in the general election. And, in what will surely be complemented by his speech tonight, Democrats are focusing on the former governor`s effective tax rate, which is lower than many top wage-earners -- and, as Stella points out, also lower than Warren Buffett`s secretary, who, it just so happens, will attend the speech as a guest of the White House.

In a press call earlier this afternoon, DNC Executive Director Patrick Gaspard said Romney had not yet "released sufficient information for Americans to be able to evaluate his investments and whether he has any financial conflicts that could cloud his judgment.” An accompanying DNC press release included a series of bullet points intended to demonstrate that "Romney is against Americans paying their fair share." Among them:

-- Romney says that he's paying every cent legally owed to the U.S. Treasury, and not one cent more. The problem is that, unlike the American people, Romney doesn’t believe we all have a responsibility to do our fair share, and as president he would protect the loopholes, special deductions and other gimmicks that wealthy Americans use to pay a lower tax rate than middle class Americans.

--He opposes the Buffett Rule to make sure that millionaires and billionaires do not pay lower tax rates than the middle class does. Now we know why -- Mitt Romney pays a lower tax rate than most police and firefighters, teachers and small business owners, and he doesn't want that to change.

--According to a recent analysis by the Citizens for Tax Justice, his tax plan would cut his 2013 taxes by nearly half.

Ezra Klein points out that according to Gallup, which in 2010 looked back at polling numbers for the past five presidents, Obama's approval rating is unlikely to get much of a post-SOTU boost:

"Jimmy Carter's average bump was...negative one percent. Perhaps surprisingly, Ronald Reagan did no better. Nor did George W. Bush. George H.W. Bush, however, did worse -- he tended to lose four points in the polls when he delivered a State of the Union address. The only recent president who consistently benefited from the speech was Bill Clinton, who gained, on average, three points."

State of the Union is among the Top Ten trending topics on Twitter in the United States -- and that's two hours before the president begins.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who once considered running for president in 2012, will be giving the Republican State of the Union response.

President Obama just sent this email to supporters:

Subject: Before I speak tonight

Friend --

I'm heading to Capitol Hill soon to deliver my third State of the Union address.

Before I go, I want to say thanks for everything you're doing.

Tonight, we set the tone for the year ahead. I'm going to lay out in concrete terms the path we need to take as a country if we want an economy that works for everyone and rewards hard work and responsibility.

I'm glad to know you'll be standing with me up there.

Barack

Among those expected to be in attendance this evening are the justices of the Supreme Court. Don't expect Justice Scalia though - he hasn't attended an address since 1997. www.nytimes.com

State of the Union excerpt as released by the WH Press Office: "As long as I’m President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. "