Stacey Abrams To Give Democratic Response Tonight.
KING: It's a high-profile spotlight tonight for Georgia's Stacey Abrams delivering the official Democratic response to the President's State of the Union Address. Abrams should probably remember narrowly lost in last year's governor's race and many Democrats hope she'll run for Senate in 2020. She promise in November not to stand on the sidelines too long but she isn't ready to be specific.</s>STACEY ABRAMS (D), FORMER GA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I intend to go back into politics, but I'm going to take the time necessary to make sure no matter who runs that they can believe that their votes will count and that their campaigns will count. And so my private citizen future is what looms ahead of me, but I will certainly reenter politics, I just haven't decided how.</s>KING: Well, tonight she will be the first black woman to give the Democratic response as the party counters President Trump with a message of diversity. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is gives the party's official response in Spanish and Senator Bernie Sanders who's an independent but likely Democratic presidential contender is again giving his own response. We'll comeback to the Sander's question in a minute but for Stacey Abrams, this is a golden opportunity for any politician every year, but it also sometimes comes with a little quicksand.</s>BALL: Yes and historically it's almost been more of a jinx than an opportunity and you have to think if you're offered this time slot. On the one hand, how can you say no? On the other hand, what is it going to do to your future if all that anybody remembers about you is, you know, that moment with the water bottle or whatever it happens to be. But, you know, Stacey Abrams, I spent a little bit of time with her for a profile that I wrote last year. She is the rising star in the party despite having lost that election. She's a very charismatic politician and I think the Democrats particularly after 2016 have realized that they need messengers who just have personal charisma. Who just have the ability to make people respond to them that it's not about a policy checklist. It's not about a resume like it was with Hillary Clinton, just people who make people feel good and I think that's a lot of what the fixation on Beto is driven by as well. It's not about where is he on XYZ, it's about when people are around him, he makes them feel good and the party is dying for that right now.</s>TALEV: Well Molly raises a good point also both with Beto and with Stacey. Abrams -- you've got two candidates who are famous for losing. But famous for losing close enough that they could be a winner next time. So there some sort of symbolism that the Democratic Party is trying to convey in not that subtle a way, which is if you don't succeed the first time you come at it with a second crack which I think is going to be part of kind of the 2020 theme, whoever that nominee ends up being. So that's part of it. Part of it is the changing phase the Democratic Party, they very clearly want to send a message about women and people of color and if it is a female person of color, you know, so be it. The symbolism is not nuanced at all. It's totally hits you over the head.</s>KING: Yes and nobody hear the humor here, you mentioned the quicksand for people in the past I call the quicksand. You said that, Joe Kennedy for the Democrats -- Congressman Joe Kennedy and a long list of advice on Twitter including misplace your Chapstick and go back and look it up in the internet. Marco Rubio, yes had say to Stacey Abrams, hydration, it's a very good idea. Trust me on this, Marco Rubio and of course the great water about a moment. Help with the Sanders. He has done this for some time. He's an independent, he's not a Democrat. He likes to do this every year. But because of this, the moment of the Democratic Party the year of the woman, the diversity in 2018. Is it smart to do it again, or do you step back and give the -- if you're going to say hey, I'm a Democrat when you run, if you run?</s>BALL: It's a question of whether or not you run for president. Does the country need you personally, Bernie Sanders, or can somebody else deliver that message?</s>KING: OK, it's fascinating that. Thanks for joining us INSIDE POLITICS. Stay with CNN all day long including Brianna Keilar, she starts after a quick break. Have a great afternoon.