McCain to skip State of Union address

Republican Sen. John McCain is skipping President Bush's State of the Union address on Monday night even though Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton plan to attend.

"We'll be campaigning here," Sen. McCain of Arizona said Sunday in Florida, where he is locked in a tight campaign for the Republican presidential nomination against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Sens. Clinton of New York and Obama of Illinois are battling in the Democratic primary. For Democrats, the significance of Florida's vote is diminished because the national party stripped the state of all its delegates to the nominating convention for holding its primary too early in the year.

While the GOP imposed a similar penalty, it is less harsh: the Republican winner will still get 57 delegates, half of Florida's total.