By Tracey Webb [twitter-follow screen_name='WebbWriterguru']

Get your daily scoop of what State of the Union is watching today, January 8, 2014.

1. Gates memoir fallout. The White House is pushing back against a new book by former defense secretary Robert Gates that includes scathing criticism of President Obama, top White House aides, Congress and especially Vice President Joe Biden.  In "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War," Gates called Biden "a man of integrity," but said "he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." In an initial statement in response to the book, the White House said the President "deeply appreciates Gates' service." At Wednesday's White House press briefing, press secretary Jay Carney disputed Gates' claim about Biden. "The President and the rest of us here simply disagree with that assessment," Carney said. "As a senator and as a vice president Joe Biden has been one of the leading statesmen of his time and he has been an excellent counselor and adviser to the president for the past five years."

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