<P> For the 2011 address, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado proposed a break in tradition wherein all members of Congress sit together regardless of party, as well as the avoiding of standing; this was in response to the 2011 Tucson Shooting in which Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt . This practice was also repeated during the 2012 address and every address after . </P> <P> Since 1966, the speech has been followed on television by a response or rebuttal by a member of the major political party opposing the President's party . The response is typically broadcast from a studio with no audience . In 1970, the Democratic Party put together a TV program with their speech to reply to President Nixon, as well as a televised response to Nixon's written speech in 1973 . The same was done by Democrats for President Reagan's speeches in 1982 and 1985 . The response is not always produced in a studio; in 1997, the Republicans for the first time delivered the response in front of high school students . In 2004, the Democratic Party's response was also delivered in Spanish for the first time, by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson . In 2011, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann also gave a televised response for the Tea Party Express, a first for a political movement . </P> <P> Although much of the pomp and ceremony behind the State of the Union address is governed by tradition rather than law, in modern times, the event is seen as one of the most important in the US political calendar . It is one of the few instances when all three branches of the US government are assembled under one roof: members of both houses of Congress constituting the legislature, the President's Cabinet constituting the executive, and the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court constituting the judiciary . In addition, the military is represented by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, while foreign governments are represented by the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps . The address has also been used as an opportunity to honor the achievements of some ordinary Americans, who are typically invited by the President to sit with the First Lady . </P> <P> Certain states have a similar annual address given by the governor . For most of them, it is called the State of the State address . In Iowa, it is called the Condition of the State Address; in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the speech is called the State of the Commonwealth address . The mayor of Washington, D.C. gives a State of the District address . American Samoa has a State of the Territory address given by the governor . Puerto Rico has a State Address given by the governor . </P>

The importance of the state of the union address
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