Bartlet's Third State Of The Union

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From TVGuide.com:
It's State of the Union night and West Wing staffers are basking in the address's glow (or spinning furiously on a special edition of Capital Beat, telecast from the Roosevelt Room). But Abbey (Stockard Channing) has serious problems with its tone. And that's not the only distraction: guerrillas have captured five DEA agents in Colombia; and it turns out that a cop Bartlet cited for heroism in the speech was once accused of brutalizing a black suspect. Meanwhile, Josh can't get numbers on the speech from the pollster the White House has hired, Joey Lucas (Marlee Matlin).

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Third of Second State of The Union?

George Bush recently gave his third state of the union, and will fight re-election in the same year. By the time of Bartlet's second term election campaign he had delivered four SotU addresses (S1: He Shall From Time To Time...., S2 Bartlet's Third SotU and S3: 100,000 Airplanes). So, what gives?

Answer:

In modern-day practice, is there a State of the Union Message every year?

There have been occasional variations concerning the State of the Union Message since World War II. Some recent Presidents (Reagan in 1981, Bush in 1989, and Clinton in 1993, for instance) have chosen not to give an official State of the Union Message the year they were first inaugurated as President, having just previously delivered a keynote inaugural address. Some (such as Reagan and Bush) have chosen not to give a message immediately prior to their departure from office (although President Reagan delivered a televised farewell address from the Oval Office on January 8, 1989). On the other hand, outgoing and incoming Presidents have occasionally given successive State of the Union Messages within weeks of each other. For instance, President Truman's final message, delivered in printed form to Congress on January 7, 1953, was followed by President Dwight Eisenhower's first message, delivered in person at the Capitol on February 7 of the same year. This circumstance was repeated by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy in 1961.

So, Bartlet gave a SotU message/speech soon after inauguration. George W Bush did not.