Question: who sits in front of president during state of the union

title: State of the Union
text: Since 1966 , the speech has been followed on television by a response or rebuttal by a member of the major political party opposing the President 's party . The response is typically broadcast from a studio with no audience . In 1970 , the Democratic Party put together a TV program with their speech to reply to President Nixon , as well as a televised response to Nixon 's written speech in 1973 . The same was done by Democrats for President Reagan 's speeches in 1982 and 1985 . The response is not always produced in a studio ; in 1997 , the Republicans for the first time delivered the response in front of high school students . In 2004 , the Democratic Party 's response was also delivered in Spanish for the first time , by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson . In 2011 , Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann also gave a televised response for the Tea Party Express , a first for a political movement .