Obama to Put Economic Divide at Heart of State of the Union Speech  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to declare Tuesday night that he will not wait for Congress to act on reversing the tide of economic disparity, as he uses his annual State of the Union address to outline a list of actions …

Wendy Davis hits back at Bristol Palin  —  Texas gubernatorial hopeful Wendy Davis brushed off criticism about her life story from Bristol Palin, saying that nothing Palin accused her of was true.  —  Davis was responding to a blog post from the daughter of former Gov. Sarah Palin …

Obamacare: Tom Coburn loses cancer doctor  —  Cancer-stricken Sen. Tom Coburn revealed Tuesday that his health insurance under Obamacare doesn't cover his oncologist, but said he still is receiving excellent care.  —  “I'm doing well from a health standpoint, got great docs,” Coburn said on MSNBC's …

America's Most Successful Communist  —  It was no surprise last year when rock stars, led by Bruce Springsteen, barnstormed battleground states for John Kerry, and no surprise that, save for a handful of country singers, George W. Bush could count on no similar support from pop performers.

56 Dems endorse Hillary for 2016  —  Fifty-six Democratic lawmakers say they would endorse Hillary Clinton for president if she launches a 2016 White House bid, according to a survey conducted by The Hill.  [SEE COMPLETE LIST]  —  Twenty-two congressional Democrats had already publicly endorsed Clinton.

The Political State of the Union Is Not Good  —  Obama and the Democrats are in deep trouble  —  In his memo this week, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg warns me to “forget the conventional wisdom” that “the president is in trouble.”  Greenberg points to Barack Obama's approval rating being up …

How Obama Prepares for the Grueling State of the Union  —  The president puts in back-to-back 2 a.m. nights rewriting his speech to make it “sing” and hopefully sway Congress.  A former speechwriter shares what it's like inside the White House.  —  There are plenty of reasons to think that the State …

If we want more income equality, should we return to the economy of George W. Bush?  —  Other things being equal, income equality is better than inequality.  But other things are NOT equal.  The easiest way to make incomes more equal in the short run is to have a recession.

Christine Whitman recalls her 1995 GOP State of the Union response  —  Former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman during a walk-through of her response to President Clinton's State of the Union Address, at the state Assembly chambers in Trenton, N.J. (Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press / January 23, 1995)

Medium, Evan Williams's Post-Twitter Media Startup, Raises $25 Million Round  —  Medium is about to become large.  —  The collaborative publishing startup has just closed a $25 million round of financing, the company confirmed, marking its first major funding raise since it launched a little more than a year ago.

Ryan Loskarn leaves letter  —  Jesse Ryan Loskarn, the former top Senate GOP aide who committed suicide last week, said in a letter released by his family that he was sexually abused as a child, and the horror from that episode eventually led him down a path toward possessing child pornography.

State of the Union 2014: Rand Paul to stress jobs in Obama rebuttal  —  Sen. Rand Paul plans to offer up Republican red meat by calling for lower taxes and blasting the president's jobs record as he delivers one of several GOP responses to the State of the Union address Tuesday night.

One-Third of Americans Who Were Middle Class in 2008 Now Consider Themselves Lower or Lower Middle Class  —  Pew Research has a new poll out tracking how many people call themselves middle class vs. some other class.  The chart on the right shows the basic results over the past few years.

Kain Colter starts union movement … For the first time in the history of college sports, athletes are asking to be represented by a labor union, taking formal steps on Tuesday to begin the process of being recognized as employees, ESPN's “Outside The Lines” has learned.