2011: A Yawner in SOTU Watch Parties

Watch parties for the President's State of the Union address are a tradition in Washington. Everyone is supposed to get together to watch POTUS (and drink) at a local watering hole. Or so we thought. This year, tradition is broken. No parties, just an avalanche of live-blogging. The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz will be hosting a "live chat" starting around 8:45, he tweeted last night. No party for Politico either - instead, they also promise live-blogging. At least Patrick Gavin has compiled a few rules for drinking games. But what about The Daily Caller, who can always be relied on for a party? They had a great one last year. But this year: "We'll be working! We'll be live blogging and reporting," spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins said in an e-mail. "No party for us this year because we just did the Capitol Hill party last week." Fair enough. HuffPost will be live-blogging as well. The Hill is live-blogging and live-tweeting. TWT live-blogged last year, but there's nothing on their website to indicate they'll do it again. Thank God for NJ. They're hosting a sold out reception for new members of Congress tonight at the Library of Congress to pre-game the SOTU. From 5-7 p.m., Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) will join Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) to offer insights on the workings of Congress to the newbies. Tomorrow, Ron Brownstein and Major Garrett (both of NJ), the Atlantic's Josh Green, and WaPo's Karen Tumulty will be joined by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), as well as Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) to discuss the president's address. That's at the Gallup Building at 8 a.m. And if there wasn't enough live-blogging going on, don't worry: NJ will also be blogging, analyzing, and fact-checking its way through the SOTU. The rest of you: step it up next year, guys. If none of this appeals to you, though, Professor Ezra Klein to the rescue, as usual. He writes that the State of the Union has only ever really affected poll numbers once. So forget all this live-blogging and instead mourn the fact that Glee is still in repeats. > Update: Maybe this won't be so horrible after all. Keith Olbermann will be live-tweeting.

Fishbowl

2011: A Yawner in SOTU Watch Parties

Alec Jacobs

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Alec Jacobs