ELIZABETH VARGAS, CHARLES GIBSON AND DIANE SAWYER TO ANCHOR ABC COVERAGE OF THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS BEGINNING TONIGHT AT 9:00 P.M., ET

Live Coverage to Include Democratic Response

ABC will carry President George Bush�s State of the Union Address live tonight, Tuesday, January 31. Coverage will begin at 9:00 p.m., ET and will also include the Democratic response.

Elizabeth Vargas, Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer will anchor ABC�s coverage � Vargas will anchor from ABC News� studio overlooking the White House, Gibson will anchor from Capitol Hill and Sawyer will anchor from ABC News Headquarters in New York. They will be joined by chief Washington correspondent and �This week� anchor George Stephanopoulos, senior White House correspondent Martha Raddatz and medical editor Dr. Timothy Johnson. Jake Tapper will monitor national reaction to the speech, including �The People�s Response,� a digital conversation with Americans on their views of the State of the Union, sponsored by ABCNEWS.com and AOL.com. News commentators George Will, Fareed Zakaria and Mellody Hobson will also contribute to ABC�s live coverage.

Charles Gibson is co-anchoring �Good Morning America� from Washington, DC on Tuesday. After the speech, �Nightline� will provide additional post-State of the Union coverage and analysis live at 11:35 p.m., ET, with Terry Moran anchoring from Washington.

On ABC News Now, Sam Donaldson will host a special edition of �Politics Live,� with live coverage of the State of the Union and the Democratic Response, including political analysis, guest appearances and live remotes from ABC News anchors.

On ABCNEWS.com, online viewers can now submit video and text comments at www.abcnews.com, and select portions will air online and across ABC News platforms. In addition, �The People�s State of the Union� online survey will allow viewers to vote on their national priorities, and video responses to viewer questions will be answered by ABC News reporters and posted online.

ABC News Radio will provide live coverage of the President�s address and the Democratic response starting at 9:00 p.m., anchored by ABC News special correspondent Gil Gross, with ABC News White House correspondent Ann Compton and ABC News correspondent Vic Ratner on Capitol Hill. In addition, ABC News Radio will provide a one-hour special prior to the President�s address at 8:06 p.m., ET.

ABC NewsOne, the affiliate news feed service of ABC News, will provide live reports from Washington DC with ABC News correspondent Sonya Crawford for more than 200 ABC affiliates and clients.