Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) will give the Republican address to the nation following President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress on February 24. Republican congressional leaders Mitch McConnell and John Boehner announced the decision today.

"Gov. Jindal's leadership during a time of recovery in Louisiana, his commitment to real government reform, and his protection of hardworking American families make him an excellent choice to offer Republican solutions for the challenges which lay ahead," McConnell said in a press release.

Jindal is a former member of Congress who was elected governor in 2007. There was speculation that John McCain considered him as a running mate last year, and many believe Jindal could run for president in 2012.

New polls out in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania:

Quinnipiac
Connecticut (Feb. 5-8, 1603 RV, MoE +/- 2.5%)
CT voters give Obama a 69%-18% approval rating in CT. It goes up to 92%-2% among Dems, and is 69%-15% among independents and 49%-31% among Republicans. Voters approve of Obama's economic stimulus plan by a 58%-32% margin.

Pennsylvania (Feb. 4-9, 1490 RV, MoE +/- 2.5%)
By a 69%-28% margin, PA voters oppose of Gov. Ed Rendell's plan to allow counties to raise the sales tax by 1% and keep the revenue for local government. However, voters do support Rendell's proposal to increase cigarette taxes by 10 cents per pack (67%-28%) and his plan to legalize video poker machines in bars (62%-34%).

Strategic Vision
Florida (Feb. 6-8, 1200 LV, MoE +/- 3%)
FL voters give Obama a 64%-25% approval rating, similar to that of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist (62%-25%). On the economic stimulus package, 47% favor the proposed package while 38% oppose it.

Tribune Poll
Illinois (Feb. 4-5, 500 RV, MoE +/- 4.4%)
Appointed Sen. Roland Burris remains unknown to a large portion of Illinois voters -- 34% view him favorably, 18% unfavorably, and 43% have no opinion of him. Asked if Burris should run for re-election in 2010, 37% said they wanted him to seek office, 33% said he should not, and 29% didn't know.

As soon as Tom Daschle withdrew from consideration for HHS Secretary, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen's name was in the mix as one of the short-listers along with Howard Dean, and Kathleen Sebelius, to name two others.  The knock on Bredesen, from the view of some Obama supporters, is that he's a cost cutter and more pragmatic than progressive.

For what it's worth, I interviewed Governor Bredesen last June at the DLC's annual meeting in Chicago. You may remember that Obama dissed the DLC pretty badly, skipping the meeting altogether but still finding time to play hoops and get his haircut, despite the fact the event was held just steps away from his campaign HQ.

Anyway, my interview with Bredesen touched only tangentially on healthcare, but for those who are interested it does provide some additional insight into how he approaches politics and how he viewed the landscape last year.

Kirsten Gillibrand, who had a 100% voting record on NRA related issues as a US Representative in her upstate district, changed her tune yesterday:

"I'm going to write the legislation and offer it in the Senate," Gillibrand promised. "I will be a fighter to make sure to keep those illegal guns off the street."

Gillibrand also changed her tune on bailouts. Last year she voted against the $700 billion financial rescue plan in the House, yesterday she voiced support for Obama's $800+ billion stimulus package in the Senate. Asked by reporters about her sudden change of heart, Gillibrand responded that they are ""two entirely different issues."

Having run out of fawning historical analogies for Obama (he's JFK! He's Lincoln!. He's FDR! He's the Democrats' Reagan!) Bob Herbert turns to the chess metaphor:

Mr. Obama is like a championship chess player, always several moves ahead of friend and foe alike. He's smart, deft, elegant and subtle. While Lindsey Graham was behaving like a 6-year-old on the Senate floor and Pete Sessions was studying passages in his Taliban handbook, Mr. Obama and his aides were assessing what's achievable in terms of stimulus legislation and how best to get there.

Please. Only a slavish sycophant like Herbert can take what was unquestionably a bumbling, error-filled week for Obama and recast it as the work of a political Bobby Fischer. (Obama was really three moves ahead of the public on his decision to stand behind Tom "Car & Driver" Daschle's failure to pay taxes, wasn't he?)

Obama was in Elkhart, Indiana yesterday - and he's in Ft. Myers, Florida, today - not because he wanted to rush out and hit the trail again but because he needed to rally public opinion and ratchet up the pressure on Republicans in Washington because he lost control of the process over the last two weeks.  Obama was never four moves ahead of anybody. To the contrary, the reason he improvised this PR push is because last week he found himself - quite surprinsgly - a move or two behind.

That said, I don't think Obama is in danger of losing this fight. He remains extremely popular and looks to be unharmed by the missteps of the last couple of weeks. Public opinion of the stimulus has fallen recently, but most poll show pluralities, if not slim majorities, in favor of passing a bill.  Obama has just enough votes in the Senate, as of right now, to get something through.

In other words, Obama will get what he wants, as most new presidents do. But it was a much heavier lift than anyone would have imagined just a few weeks ago, made more difficult by Obama's initial decision to outsource the writing of the bill to House Democrats.

But let's not try to pretend that the turmoil of the last couple of weeks was some sort of grand plan by chess master Obama. It's much closer to the truth to say that while the old bulls of both parties on the Hill were playing chess, Obama sat down and started playing checkers.

With Obama facing the press live for the first time tonight, Walter Shapiro takes a look back at the man who invented the live press conference: JFK. Shaprio got access to broadcasts of Kennedy's first three press conferences and fills us in on the details. Fascinating stuff.

David Plouffe flies half way around the world to make some money giving a speech, and then has to donate his fee to stave off a wave of bad pr.

A new poll by Pew Research shows that just 51% of those surveyed say the $800+ billion stimulus package winding its way through Congress is a "good idea," down six points from last month.  Those who consider the stimulus a "bad idea" increased to 34% in the current  survey from 22% last month.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama continues to enjoy high ratings from the public. Sixty-four percent approve of the job he's doing as president, only 17% disapprove and 19% are undecided.

In other ratings, 92% say he is a "good communicator," 81% believe he "cares about people like me," 79% call him "well informed," 77% believe he is a "strong leader," 76% find him "trustworthy," and 70% believe he will be able to "get things done."

Sixty-six percent say Obama offers "a new approach to politics in Washington," while 25% see him as conducting "business as usual."

Fifty-one percent of those surveyed disapprove of the job Republicans in Congress are doing, while 34% approve. Democrats in Congress fair much better, with 48% approving of the job they are doing and 38% disapproving.

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows 76% of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, while 23% disapprove.

A smaller majority, 54%, favor the $800 billion stimulus package the president is trying to get pushed through Congress, with 45% opposed. As you might expect, support breaks down along partisan lines: 75% of Democrats support the stimulus, 51% of Independents, but just 32% of Republicans.

Vanity Fair has a podcast of its interview with David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, Derek Smalls and producer Marty DiBergi that appears in the March issue.