Governor Bob McDonnell will address the joint houses of the General Assembly tonight, in what will be his first speech in this setting.

Gov. McDonnell told me he hopes to lay out where he wants the legislature to go over the course of its 60-day session.

Here’s what I’m looking for/expecting:

1) A very enthusiastic reception from the audience. The House is controlled by the Republicans and the Senate is closely divided. Gov. McDonnell is walking into a friendly place. And, it doesn’t hurt that he is calling for bipartisanship, which will make it harder for Democrats to criticize him.

2) The budget, the budget, the budget. This address will likely be dominated by the budget, or more specifically Virginia’s $4 billion shortfall. Gov. McDonnell and the Republicans have decided to not reject former Governor Tim Kaine’s budget proposal outright, but instead fix what they don’t like. Tonight, Gov. McDonnell will lay out how he plans to do that.

3) No New Taxes! House Republicans and Gov. McDonnell have made it crystal clear that they will not support any increase in taxes. That means that the solution to our shortfall will be all cuts.

4) Jobs will likely be the next biggest topic; although, it comes in a distant second. Candidate McDonnell ran on this a jobs platform and I imagine he’ll lay out a vision for how he hopes to recruit new jobs.

5) Very little will be said about transportation. Last week, Gov. McDonnell told me that the budget is the most pressing issue facing Virginians, followed by jobs. He said transportation will have to take a backseat until those first two issues are resolved. He told me very clearly that he doesn’t want to tackle transportation until he knows he can succeed.

Of course, generally there are some surprises. Wonder what tonight’s will be?