Barack Obama was elected President one year ago today.

Eliza Browning
AC360° Associate Producer

The GOP scored big on election night last night. In the wake of recent Democratic landslides, many had left the Republican Party for dead, but could the gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey breathe new life into the GOP?

The victories were tempered by the loss of a congressional seat in upstate New York held by the GOP since the Civil War, but some have deemed the majority of election results as the first major referendum on President Obama’s young administration. What do you think? Were you surprised by the results? We’re taking a look at what this means for the Obama Administration and leaders up for re-election next year. Will this affect progress on issues – namely health care – that are on lawmakers’ plates right now? What are Blue Dog Democrats thinking this morning?

David Plouffe will be talking to Anderson tonight about what the elections may mean for the Democrats next year. Plouffe was President Obama’s campaign manager and many credit him with a grassroots strategy that helped Obama get elected. His new book, “The Audacity to Win,” came out yesterday and includes some surprising revelations about Obama’s campaign and transition period.

A new federal study shows that nearly one-third of states lowered their academic proficiency standards in recent years – a move that helps schools stay immune from sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law. But lowering standards also confuses parents about how childrens' achievement compares with students in other states and countries. The Department of Education study found that 15 states lowered their proficiency standards at the middle school level in basic subjects from 2005 to 2007. Three states in particular – Maine, Oklahoma and Wyoming – lowered standards in both math and reading at the fourth and eighth grade levels. Were schools allowed to lower standards? And why? Randi Kaye is keeping them honest tonight.

And President Obama is talking education in Madison, Wisconsin today with parents, educators and students. It’s been exactly one year since Barack Obama was elected President. How has this first couple impacted Washington D.C. and the image of the first family? Do you think they’ve changed our traditional notions of what it means to be President and First Lady?

In Iran 30 years ago, a group of Islamist students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 53 hostages for 444 days and effectively ending diplomatic relations with the US. Amidst opposition protests in Tehran and other cities, Mr. Obama released a message to the Iranian people to mark the anniversary and told the Iranian government that it is now time for them to move on from the past and choose what kind of future they wish to stand for. Why have US-Iran relations been so contentious for so many decades? We’ll have more on what this symbolic anniversary means for the U.S. and Iran today.

What are you following today? Let us know and see you at 10 p.m. ET!