Nelson was given star treatment.
"I'm told we'll be on camera," DiMartino said. "That's a good thing, because in Nebraska it's good to be in pictures with the president."
Before dawn on Friday, with the temperature hovering around freezing, Pannett's protesters began to gather on a rise about a block from the arena where Bush would speak. Someone brought coffee and doughnuts. Police kept them far from the entrance, well beyond any place the president would see or hear them.
The opponents, who numbered about 200 by 8 a.m., held aloft signs that said "Hands off my Social Security."
Steve Horn, a military veteran and retired Boys Town math teacher, showed up after receiving one of MoveOn's e-mails. He relies on Social Security for a third of his retirement income, and he said he does not trust Bush to get things right. He told of his sister, a mother of nine, who fell into "pretty dang bad trouble" and fell back on Social Security when her husband died in an airplane crash.
"People forget it's an insurance policy," said Horn, 65. "I can't believe anyone would believe it should go into the stock market."
Across the way, Creighton University law student Leah Shadle, 24, stood with three friends who had learned of the rally through college Democratic circles. She worries less about herself than about people more likely to need a safety net as they age.
"We've all been very privileged to go to school and have our parents' support. I hope I would be able to support myself on my own in retirement. But there are people who haven't had those opportunities," Shadle said.
Nursing student Adrianne Wemmert, 23, said, "Isn't that the reality of the American people, that so many people can't live on what they make each day?"
The Qwest Center audience honored a different sense of reality as it gathered to hear what the White House called a conversation on "Strengthening Social Security." When Bush entered the arena, he was greeted with whoops, applause and a thousand camera flashes.
Mike Meyer, 46, an energy company executive, said he believes he can manage his retirement money better than the government does, although since college he has "never counted on a dime" from Social Security.
"If it's good enough for the senators, the representatives and the Cabinet, it ought to be good enough for the average American," said Meyer, who intends to push Bush's plan personally and expects to speak with Sen. Chuck Hagel (R), Rep. Lee Terry (R) and Nelson. He knows them. They are all from Omaha, he said, and Omaha is a "large small town."
Of Nelson, the Democrat who has not yet decided, Meyer said with a smile: "He'll do the right thing. He's up for reelection in two years."
Staff writer Mike Allen in Washington contributed to this report.
