A rookie Republican in Iowa’s congressional delegation has accepted the invitation of the lone Iowa Democrat in congress for tonight’s (Tuesday’s) “State of the Union” address. Republican David Young of Van Meter has agreed to sit next to Democrat Dave Loeback of Iowa City for President Obama’s speech. “I’ll sit with him and we’ll listen to the president,” Young says. But Young says he wants to find out if Obama “understands” what happened during the November 4th election.

“And that was about the American people saying: ‘It’s time to govern. It’s time to come together. It’s time to do the will of the people and the people’s priorities,'” Young says. Rod Blum is Iowa’s other rookie representative in the U.S. House. He’ll also be listening with a critical ear. “I’m all for listening to his ideas and I hope they’re good ideas and I hope they help the economy and I hope they help working families, but I also want them to be constitutional,” Blum says.

Blum, who is from Dubuque, is Iowa’s new first district congressman. Democratic Congressman Dave Loebsack, who represents Iowa’s second congressional district, was part of a movement in 2011 to break up the partisan cheering sections for the president’s State of the Union speech. Republican Congressman Steve King has said just finding a seat on the House floor is a challenge with 435 members of congress, 100 senators, members of the president’s cabinet and U.S. Supreme Court justices all crowding into the area.

Iowa’s rookie Republican Senator — Joni Ernst — has a special spot reserved for her tonight (Tuesday) on network television. Ernst will deliver the Republican response to President Obama’s speech.

(Radio Iowa)