Former President Bill Clinton spent Tuesday afternoon pushing Senate Democrats to move on health care legislation sooner rather than later, amid talk that the legislation may not get to the president's desk this year. Tuesday night, Clinton made an interesting point about what might politically be a final deadline for Obama's top legislative priority.

"We need to put a bill on the president's desk and he needs to sign it, so at the State of the Union he's not explaining why we haven't done health care," he told Delaware Democrats at their Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Wilmington, per the News Journal.

There's no set date for the State of the Union yet, but it would likely be in late January or early February. It's fair to say that if health care hasn't moved by that point, it may not ever get to his desk.

Last night's Delaware Dems' J-J Dinner was otherwise a pep talk for Attorney General Beau Biden's campaign in waiting. Though the son of the VP hasn't announced yet, Gov. Jack Markell (D) signaled the party is counting on it. "We will work hard by sending Attorney General Beau Biden to Washington," he said.