The White House was Grand Central Station today as journalists and pundits arrived for briefings in advance of the State of the Union speech. A senior administration official promised a “somewhat different” speech tonight, although perhaps the biggest difference will not be the speech, and not the president, but the audience. Speaking of that, the official said the speech is about as long as previous SOTU’s, as measured in words, but it should go more quickly because nobody expects there will be as much applause as in past years.

We’ve all heard about some of the subjects that will be discussed — health care, energy, immigration, etc. — but the official was asked what the White House’s priority list is. “We don’t control what comes up when,” he said, referring to Democratic control of Congress. Nevertheless, the official said immigration is something the president will “push hard” to get done. (People in the White House and the GOP would like to get a bill passed before the presidential primaries.) The official also saw possible success for the energy proposals and called health care a “wild card,” saying it could succeed if Democrats drop their solid opposition to the president’s ideas. (Nobody seemed to think that was in the offing).

One last thing. Remember the president’s speech a few weeks ago on Iraq — the one delivered from the White House Library? The official said the original plan was for the speech to be delivered from the White House Map Room, complete with maps, but the plan was eventually abandoned because it didn’t look quite right. You may remember that David Frum was suggesting just that scenario — but it didn’t quite make it.