Keeping with tradition, President Obama is traveling to the American heartland to sell his State of the Union message. That message — the country is in better shape than the presidential campaign rhetoric makes it out to be — seems to be aimed helping his party continue to occupy the White House and burnish his legacy.

Hillary Clinton returns to the stage after the Democratic presidential primary debate resumes after a break as Bernie Sanders stands at his podium on Dec. 19, 2015 in New Hampshire. (AP)

As most of the media attention is focused on the fractious campaign among Republicans, the race between democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders is getting closer and more contentious. How unscathed either can emerge will go a long way to determine how shiny the Obama legacy will look.

What If Bernie Sanders is the Democrats’ Best Bet?

David A. Graham – The Atlantic

If you’d told most Americans a year ago that Bernie Sanders would be a serious threat to Hillary Clinton in January 2016, they probably would have laughed. (Or asked who Sanders was.) If you’d told them that Sanders would be arguing that he was a better candidate than Clinton because he was more electable, the reaction would have been even more incredulous. She was cautious, sure, and a bit more conservative than some Democrats, but surely she was more palatable to voters than an acerbic democratic socialist from Vermont.

That is, however, exactly the state of the Democratic race on January 11. … In Iowa, Clinton leads Sanders among likely voters by just three points. In New Hampshire, where he has mostly kept a small lead for months, he’s up four. … the most salient electability question for both Sanders and Clinton is who will win the Democratic nomination, and Sanders has gone a long way to closing up the gap.

Jaylen Reese, 12, marches to downtown Atlanta to protest George Zimmerman’s not guilty verdict in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin on July 15, 2013. (AP)

Trayvon Martin’s Mother: Why I Support Hillary Clinton

Sybrina Fulton – CNN

Gun violence is an epidemic that kills 33,000 men, women, boys and girls every year. On top of those needless deaths, law enforcement agencies in America kill more people in a month than many other countries’ police forces kill in years. When those precious lives are taken, it forever tears apart the lives of thousands more — the friends and families who loved them, and who always will. …

Last week, President Barack Obama took some important steps that included strengthening the background check system for purchasing guns without diminishing our Second Amendment rights…. I agree with the President: We should only support leaders that fight for common-sense gun reforms. Clinton passes that test.

Hillary Clinton’s Coming Legal Crisis

Charles Lipson – Real Clear Politics

The latest release of Hillary Clinton emails entails real risks for her, churning just beneath the surface of her successful primary campaign. True, Democratic voters have shown little interest, and the mainstream media only a bit more….. [B]ut Clinton faces a far bigger problem. She and her closest aides could be indicted criminally.

Former Secretary of State and current presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks to reporters,conceding she should have used a government email to conduct business during her tenure as secretary of state, saying her decision was simply a matter of “convenience” on Mar. 10, 2015, New York.

Secretary Clinton is exposed twice over.

First, she used an unsecured, home-brew server to send and store reams of classified materials.

Second, in her official capacity, she worked closely with major donors to the Clinton Foundation. …

Whatever (Attorney General Loretta) Lynch decides, there will be a maelstrom if FBI agents found substantial evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Consider what would happen if Lynch and her boss, President Obama, quashed an indictment.

 Watch Obama’s State of the Union Address