Politics

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Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, center, waves before delivering his State of the State address as Speaker of the House Gordon Fox, left, and Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, right, applaud and look on in the House chambers of the Statehouse, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014 in Providence, R.I. The annual speech traditionally sets out a governor's priorities for the year. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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Colorado state Republican Sen. Ted Harvey, center, attends a committee hearing discussing a bill he has sponsored which would strike down a new law that raises renewable energy requirements for Colorado's rural cooperative electric associations, at the Capitol, in Denver, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014. Also pictured are, right to left, Republican Sen. Bernie Herpin, and Democratic Sens. Matt Jones and Jessie Ulibarri. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

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** FILE ** In this Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, file photo voters wait in line outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland on the final day of early voting. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)

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Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, reviews testimony during a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, in Topeka, Kan. Legislators are considering amending the penalty for premeditated first-degree murder to mandate a minimum 50 years to life in prison. (AP Photo/John Milburn)

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Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, is concerned about President Obama's announcement outlining his national security policies. "If the speech is anything like what is being reported, the president will go down in history for having retained and defended George W. Bush's surveillance programs," he said. (Associated Press)

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In this Sept. 3, 2013, photo provided by the Arkansas Secretary of State, Democrat Steve Rockwell poses in a filing picture at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. Rockwell faces Republican John Cooper in a special election in northeast Arkansas Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, to fill the state Senate District 21 seat vacated by former Sen. Paul Bookout. (AP Photo/Arkansas Secretary of State, Lori McElroy)

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State Senator-elect John Cooper of Jonesboro, Ark., is interviewed in a hallway at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014. Cooper, a Republican, on Tuesday won a seat left vacant when Democratic Sen. Paul Bookout resigned last year over ethics violations. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

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State Senator-elect John Cooper, second from left, is joined by Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, left, Sen. Bruce Malloch, D-Magnolia, far right, and Sen. Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014. Cooper, a Republican, on Tuesday's special election won a seat left vacant when Sen. Paul Bookout, D-Jonesboro, resigned last year over ethics violations. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)