President Barack Obama threw out a few items in his state of the union speech that sounded as if they could have been lobbed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Obama’s already launched a review of rules and regulations with an eye on getting rid of those that hamstring businesses – the same thing the Republican governor started on his first day in office earlier this month.

And the president plans a massive reorg of the federal government, merging agencies to get rid of redundancies, another plan of Scott’s.

But Scott’s statement issued just after the conclusion of Obama’s hour-long talk didn’t mention any similarites. Instead, Scott derided the president’s “Sputnik moment” while making some big promises about his own budget, scheduled to come out Feb. 7 – three days later than he was supposed to deliver it to state lawmakers.

Read Scott’s remarks after the jump.
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Florida Republican strategist Brett Doster:

“This was the season’s most entertaining episode of American Home Makeover.”

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Florida Democratic Party Hispanic Advisory Council Chairwoman Millie Herrera:

“I fully support his proposal for $30 billion for small business access to capital. The focus in 2010 is jobs.”

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Florida Republican strategist Albert Martinez:

“If you are one of the 1.1 million Floridians without work, and wondering why your tax dollars were squandered in a stimulus package that hasn’t created a single net job, there wasn’t anything in the President’s speech that will bring you any comfort.”

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Florida Democratic operative Steve Schale:

“Tonight, the President laid out an agressive agenda to get the country back to work, but more importantly, he showed why the American people sent him to Washington, to be the country’s adult.”

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Florida Republican operative Rick Wilson on Obama’s request that Congress take a second look at health care reform:

“We’ll take another look. Ok. Looked. Still no.”

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Florida Democratic strategist Phillip Perry:

“Glad to hear an ambitious State of the Union from President Obama tonight. If we accomplish everything in it, Democrats shouldn’t have problems in November.”

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We’ve got a live feed of the State of Union speech embedded next to our Twitter list, a live-updating page of more than 260 Republicans, Democrats, independents, etc., etc.

Click here.

But newly elected Virgina Gov. Bob McDonnell says its time to get a grip on spending: (excerpts from his Republican response to the State of the Union here)

The amount of this debt is on pace to double in five years, and triple in ten. The federal debt is already over $100,000 per household. This is simply unsustainable. The President’s partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one. The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level.

From President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight: (more excerpts here)

Rather than fight the same tired battles that have dominated Washington for decades, it’s time for something new. Let’s try common sense. Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt. Let’s meet our responsibility to the people who sent us here.

To do that, we have to recognize that we face more than a deficit of dollars right now. We face a deficit of trust – deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.

That’s what I came to Washington to do. That’s why – for the first time in history – my Administration posts our White House visitors online. And that’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.

Notwithstanding that Massachusetts special election and sinking poll numbers for Democratic health care proposals in Florida and across the nation, it looks like President Obama isn’t throwing in the towel.

The guest list for First Lady Michelle Obama’s box at tonight’s State of the Union address includes a Central Florida woman whose family, according to the White House, was denied coverage in 2008 because of preexisting conditions and can’t afford to buy insurance now.

Cindy Parker-Martinez of Belle Isle, near Orlando, is one of 26 people who will be seated near Michelle Obama for tonight’s speech, according to the White House.

Read the White House’s bio of Parker-Martinez after the jump….

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Gov. Charlie Crist, apparently recovered from the man-hug he shared with President Barack Obama last year, is trying to meet with the president tomorrow in Tampa.

Obama will be in Florida to announce the winners of about $8 billion in federal grants for high speed rail projects, and it is almost certain that at least part of the state’s $2.5 billion ask will be granted.

Crist, who is scheduled to be in Tampa tomorrow, said his staff is working on a get-together with the president.

“I would like to see him, yes. It looks like it’s possible, yes,” Crist said after a speech to editors and reporters at the Capitol this morning.

Crist said he has three things to discuss with Obama, including some advice on reaching out across the aisle, a practice that has landed Crist in hot water with his fellow Republicans.

“I hope that what he announceas in Tampa brings a lot of jobs to Florida in the form of high speed rail. Number two, I’d like to talk to him about a more bipartisan approach which means, you know, it’s a two-way street, you know, reaching out more to Republicans and have them involved in the important issues of the day.
And then finally, encourage him on Race to the Top and lobby him a little,” Crist said. Race to the Top is a federal education grant program that could bring about $1 billion to Florida.

GOP critics lambasted Crist, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, for cheerleading for Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package last year. Crist appeared with Obama in Florida last year and a photo of the two embracing was used by critics to embarrass Crist in his GOP primary campaign against former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Crist later denied he supported the stimulus, saying he did not have the opportunity to vote for it in Congress.

Crist repeated his “let’s-all-get-along” emphasis when asked what he expected from the president’s state of the union address tonight.

“A common sense approach, more bipartisanship, and I hope he delivers,” he said.