About tie color, time and words...

CNN has dissected the President's State of the Union Address in many ways this morning. I thought you might find some of their observations interesting:

1. The speech contained roughly 5,577 words. Putting that in perspective, Harry Truman's 1946 speech was the longest ever at more than 25,000 words. And George Washington's 1790 address was the least with a mere 833 words.

2. The president did not use the word "Republican" or "surge" once during his speech. Here's a quick look at words and phrases he did use - and how often:
"America" or "American" - 49
"Iraq" or "Iraqi" - 34
"child" or "children" - 15
"enemy" - 10
"democratic" (little "d") or "democracy" - 8
"success" - 5
"War on Terror" - 4
"courage" - 4
"Madam Speaker" - 3
"failure" - 3
"troops" - 3
"Baby Einstein" - 3
"freedom" - 3
"evil" - 2
"friend" - 2
"victory" - 2
"Democrat" or "Democratic" (big "D") - 1

3. CNN noted the president wore a blue tie, raising some speculation that it was a tip of the hat to the new Democratic majorities in Congress. But then again, maybe not. They researched his six previous speeches to determine tie coloring in the past:
2002: Blue
2003: Blue
2004: Red
2005: Red
2006: Blue
2007: Blue

4. The speech was interrupted 63 times by applause and lasted 50 minutes. (The 2006 speech was interrupted 64 times - and lasted 51 minutes).