Behind the decision to tap Nikki Haley for State of the Union rebuttal
President Obama is preparing to lay out his priorities for the country in Tuesday night's State of the Union address, and so is one other person who will be answering him.
While the president is technically the man of the night, the Republican party also gets a voice in rebuttal - a tradition that dates back to then House Minority Leader Gerald Ford in 1966, who went on to become president.
Ford was followed by Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who went on to become president after his response to Reagan's State of the Union in 1985.
This year, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will become the seventh GOP woman to give the address. She is popular in the party, widely seen as a top vice presidential pick and has agreed to give the address that is sometimes seen as a blessing, but also a curse, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.
It's hard to compete with the pomp and circumstance of the State of the Union and it's no wonder Haley -- daughter of Indian immigrants and the youngest governor in the country -- took a weekend to think about it before accepting the task.
"I always go back to that five
-year-old Indian girl that lived in Bamberg that just wondered what was out there. And to be able to think that I will now have the ability to address the country is very humbling, but it's really an honor," Haley said.
It's a role that's only doled out to rising stars, including Paul Ryan before he was Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick.
Republican strategist Doug Heye said he is unaware of any politician who has refused to give the response, and it is no accident that Haley is the third woman in a row to be tapped for the role.
"It's no secret that the Republicans have had a problem appealing to woman voters over the past presidential cycles," Heye said. "Nikki Haley -- not only being a female governor, but also a minority --- she's had great success creating jobs in her state, fixing the education in South Carolina that's had real systemic problems."
And Marco Rubio - whose State of the Union rebuttal got major attention for an awkward water bottle moment during the speech -- is proof that even rocky performances don't have to hold you back.
"She is a great choice. My only advice to her is drink the water before the speech," Rubio said.
Rubio actually got the same advice from a CBS News producer in the room before he gave his speech, but he didn't take it.
His staff later acknowledged it would have been a little less awkward if they had set a glass there instead.