Tuesday heds: Petition day, SOTU

Good Tuesday morning.

Here's your advance on tonight's State of the Union address from Tracie Mauriello: Manufacturing, energy, job training and middle-class growth will be the cornerstones of President Barack Obama's speech tonight as he takes to the nation's grandest political stage for the annual address on the state of the union, according to senior advisers.

At the same time, the president's reelection team is running the Web ad above on sites in Pennsylvania and other states. The ad includes a postcard supporters can send to friends touting job growth figures in the ad.

Butler Republican Mike Kelly is among a group of 3 Republicans and 6 Democrats sitting together tonight in a show of bipartisanship. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey are doing the same.

The Pennsylvania GOP has released the agenda for this weekend's winter meetings in Hershey, including a speech by Tim Pawlenty and a U.S. Senate forum Friday night. Committee members are set to endorse a Senate candidate -- or not -- on Saturday.

Tom Barnes writes on yesterday's state Supreme Court hearing on the new state House and Senate lines (a verdict is promised "with all due haste" as petitions start getting circulated today), and Laura Olson writes on Day One of Greene County Democrat Bill DeWeese's corruption trial.

Here's my full story on the USW Critz endorsement and conservative Democrat Larry Maggi entering the Pa18 race.

The NYT's Caucus blog has a running look at the tax returns Mitt Romney released today, including looks at his charitable giving and income from "carried interest," the profits earned by private equity executives that are taxed at the 15 percent capital gains rate.

Here's Jim O'Toole on last night's GOP debate.