welcome back to cnn's state-of-the-union post-game. i'm jake tapper on a very snowy washington, d.c. evening. the president had plenty of lines tonight that brought his fellow democrats to their feet, but supporting the president can be trickier for those democrats who are facing re-election in red or purple states. there are no fewer than four democratic senators running to keep their seats in states that are often thought of as republican. i'm joined by one of them right now. imagine that. alaska senator mark begitch. when you google him the link to his official web site says as independent as alaska. we're also joined by chief congressional correspondent dana bash. so senator, thank you so much for joining us. >> first we have snow here in alaska. we don't have snow it's 38 degrees. it's warmer there than here. >> balmy. >> so i feel at home right now. >> we're glad we could make you feel at home. we'll get some dogs and have a little iditarod later. >> there you go. >> when president obama says that he is going to go it alone on some issues, he talks about