The Gaggle: SOTU response

>>> let's bring back our gaggle for a little bit of a lightning round . nia-malika henderson, blanche lincoln , okay, chuck and i are both agreed that this is a fascinating moment for marco rubio , who's giving the republican response. are we overblowing it? feel free if --

>> no, i don't think -- this is the big thing. i'm in some ways more excited about this than president obama . this is his big debut, his big national debut for marco rubio . one question i have, for marco rubio , is, how tea party is he? and does it party? you'll give rand paul give the tea party response tonight. you've had bill o 'reilly call marco rubio a moderate. it will be interesting.

>> senator, how difficult is it to follow the president of the united states , giving a speech, no matter who you are?

>> i think it's tough, but i think they also know what their objective is. and he obviously wants greater visibility. he wants to be able to position himself in a way. and i think that's going to be the big issue, because, as a moderate myself, i'm looking for a moderate.

>> christian, is marco rubio the guy your party should put forward as their foil to barack obama ?

>> absolutely. i'm so thrilled that he's going to be giving the response to the state of the union . i think it is his time. i'm looking forward to him getting this national exposure. i think he issing t ing ththe right person at the right time to lead the republican party into this time of renewal.

>> john allen , who gets more attention tomorrow morning, marco rubio or rand paul ?

>> i think marco rubio , actually, will get more attention, than rand paul , giving a tea party address, depending on what he says, could, in fact, grab some headlines.

>> now, i'm going to do this in the snake order. jonathan, you get to go first.

>> my sister's birthday today and my wife is pregnant with our second. i love you, honey. happy valentine's day.

>> kristen?

>> i also have a birthday, last time i was on the show, i wished happy birthday to my sister, now more sister heather.

>> senator?

>> no birthdays in my house. yesterday i joined the fix the debt campaign. about 20 plus of my former colleagues in the congressional leadership council. we had a press conference to kick off our efforts to really bring the focus back to long-term solutions for the debt.

>> nia?

>> i'll go with my great colleague, who i believe is the justin timberlake of politics, and that is chris cillizza .

>> wow, i am taking that. justin timberlake and i are also both good at basketball. my shameless plug is for all political junkies out there. this is a great day if you're like and chuck around the tables, enjoy it, this is our super bowl , nerd political super bowl . that is it for this edition