Obama to foreshadow campaign in State of the Union, says Zelizer

...The address begins at 9 p.m. eastern (8 central) and will be carried on all the major broadcast networks and cable news channels. About half of Americans are expected to watch the address.

Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said the president realizes this is his opportunity to lay out the case for why he deserves to be re-elected.

"To contrast with what his opponents are saying in their primaries and caucuses," Zelizer said.

And it can have a major impact. Zelizer said Ronald Reagan's 1984 address won a landmark, with huge impact on his re-election.

"Reagan had spent the first four years being very bellicose, and using aggressive language against the Soviet Union," Zelizer said. "By 1983 and 1984, he's mellowed. He's worried about the potential for nuclear war with the Soviets, and his advisers were telling him you have to show you're genuinely interested in peace, or you're going to scare away voters."...