By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

• 12 STATE OF THE UNION SPOILERS: At 9 p.m. ET tonight, President Obama will deliver his sixth State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. It will be his first before a Republican majority in both chambers and likely his biggest U.S. television audience all year. But unlike years past, the content of the speech itself won't be much of a surprise, ABC's DEVIN DWYER notes. In a nod to the new political dynamic, changing media environment and a desire to fight "lame duck" status, Obama has spent the past two weeks rolling out his policy proposals on daily basis. Senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer dubbed it the "SOTU Spoilers" tour. Here's a look at what we already know about the speech theme, Obama's proposals and his plan for the days ahead: http://abcn.ws/1J31mxB

• OBAMA TO TELL CONGRESS LIFTING CUBA EMBARGO IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO: President Obama will tell members of Congress tonight he has done all he can do to normalize relations with Cuba and only they can lift the 50-year-old embargo, sources told ABC news. The president will say it's the right thing to do and will make his case again to the American people that the embargo is failed policy and it's time to engage Cuba, ABC's JIM AVILA and SERENA MARSHALL report. He will not explicitly tell Congress to lift the embargo, but instead will use the time and pulpit to sell his idea that opening full diplomatic relations with the island nation is in America's national interest and will help Cubans move toward more freedoms. http://abcn.ws/1ukdW4S

• THE ONE LINE PRESIDENT OBAMA SHOULD SAY: ABC News political analyst, Matthew Dowd asked the "This Week" roundtable to weigh in on what they hope President Obama will say tongight. Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, and Fusion host Alicia Menendez each shared one thing they want the president to address: http://abcn.ws/1yAlast

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's JEFF ZELENY: When President Obama stands before a joint session of Congress tonight and declares "the state of our union is strong," he's actually right. The state of our union is stronger than at any other point of his presidency, at least measured by the rising economy and slowly-improving sense of optimism in the direction of the country. That doesn't, of course, mean Americans are pleased with Washington or that the Republican-controlled Congress will get behind the proposals tonight. Far from it. But as the president begins his seventh year in office, it's clear he intends to try and play offense in this new era of fully-divided government. His proposals for free community college and new tax credits for parents might never gain approval from Republicans on Capitol Hill, but they will find far more favor to middle-class Americans, which is the central audience for the president's message tonight and for any legacy he hopes to leave behind.

ABC's RICK KLEIN: The "spoilers" strategy may sap what's left of the drama of anticipation around Tuesday night's State of the Union. But that drama has been dissipating naturally anyway - and that's why the White House has to be pleased with the way it's gotten items off the laundry list and into display cases. The community-college proposal, the president's tax plan, the new paid-leave policy - these are all in the political bloodstream now. If we first learned of them Tuesday night, maybe one or two plans total would be expected to get traction. Maybe none of these things end up happening. But the White House has found new ways to cut through the clutter and get presidential ideas front of mind, despite full Republican control of Congress. So yes, the trailers have given away some of the best stuff in this movie. But a State of the Union in the seventh year of a presidency is rarely going to be a blockbuster anyway. If the takeaway is just that the president has a solid script, that might be enough to be counted as a success.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

HOW TO SCORE THE BEST SEATS AT THE STATE OF THE UNION: Rep. Eliot Engel goes by many titles: Congressman, Democrat, New Yorker. But how about "velcroid"? The velcroids might sound like the name of a 90's alternative band, but it's actually a term - coined in 1991 by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times - for the members of Congress who go out of their way to "photo bomb" the president at the annual State of the Union address. More recently, they've become known as "aisle hogs," and Engel is not just one of them - he's an expert. The New York Democrat has staked out one of the best seats in the House of Representatives for the past 27 years, arriving in the chamber hours before the speech begins to claim his spot alongside the president's entrance route. His first experience as a "hog" was an accident. In 1989, Engel was a freshman member trying to cozy up to a more powerful lawmaker and found himself in an aisle seat a few hours before the speech. By 2013, he told the Washington Post he had to arrive 10 to 12 hours in advance to save his spot. Why does he do it? ABC's STEPHANIE EBBS asked him: http://abcn.ws/1sVJgLQ VIDEO by JORDYN PHELPS, RICHARD COOLIDGE, KARI REA AND TOM THORNON: http://abcn.ws/1xNLyIv

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT…

THE STATE OF THE UNION 'DESIGNATED SURVIVOR'. During President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night, most of our nation's leaders in government - members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices and almost all of the president's cabinet - will cram into the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives to hear the commander-in-chief outline his 2015 agenda. Security, of course, will be tight. But if the unthinkable happens - the Capitol is attacked, wiping out everyone inside the chamber - there's one cabinet secretary surrounded by Secret Service agents somewhere else, waiting in the wings to become president, ABC's ERIN DOOLEY notes. He or she is known as the "designated survivor," and it's one of the most fascinating, and mysterious, jobs in Washington: http://abcn.ws/1J3y8P2

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

READY FOR HILLARY, EMILY'S LIST IN TALKS TO JOIN SOCIAL MEDIA FORCES. With Hillary Clinton's not-yet-official presidential campaign revving up, the shadow campaigns are winding down, ABC's LIZ KREUTZ reports. Ready for Hillary, the energetic, pro-Clinton super PAC, plans to shut down for good if and when Clinton announces for president, but not before finding a home for two key assets: A massive e-mail list of roughly 3 million supporters that the group has generated and its extensive social media network, which includes more than 2 million Facebook fans and roughly 150,000 Twitter followers. The e-mail list and corresponding data are expected to be transferred to Clinton's official campaign in what is called a "list swap" - a legally complicated process that will surely be scrutinized by outside groups, such as the Campaign Legal Center, which work to enforce campaign finance laws. The fate of Ready for Hillary's social media accounts is still undecided. But, Adam Parkhomenko, the Executive Director of the super PAC has an idea: Transfer its Facebook and Twitter accounts in to the hands of another pro-Democratic group, Emily's List. http://abcn.ws/1zrLsNq

WHO'S TWEETING?

@EKamarck: Ranking the best - and worst - #SOTU speeches. Video here: http://bit.ly/152Wn2z

@rollcall: Why do members keep showing up to the #SOTU? @davidhawkings answers the question http://roll.cl/1KVXG4w

@NKingofDC: Interested in policy ideas that might actually happen? Read the governors' state of the state speeches: https://www.multistate.com/site.nsf/sosaddress2015%3FopenPage …

@DavidNakamura: Obama's tone entering SOTU raises doubts about whether he can - or wants to - break through partisan gridlock http://wapo.st/1yicm8S

?@Benenati44: Great inside look - NYT: "Obama's Social Media Team Tries to Widen Audience for State of the Union Address" http://nyti.ms/1unbH6v