Bush Speaks in Hive of '08 Contenders

President Bush speaks at the White House in Washington in this, Aug. 21, 2006, file photo. The president will deliver his first State of the Union address to a Democratic-controlled Congress, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007, trying to balance a rebuke of his Iraq policy already promised by lawmakers with a high-profile invitation to cooperate on vexing domestic problems. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, file) (Ron Edmonds - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Whenever a president's words wash over a crowd in Congress, it's a safe bet many in the chamber picture themselves in his position and think they could do better if only they had the chance.

What distinguished the crowd assembled for President Bush on Tuesday night was the sheer number of lawmakers reaching for that chance.

Not willing to let Bush have the first word and then gamely react, the presidential candidates were in motion all day, playing off his State of the Union themes in their own I-can-do-better way.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York discussed health care, Iraq and more on a day packed with four TV interviews, a news conference, a Web cast and a forceful appearance at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing where she appealed for better equipment and security for troops.

"The Humvees are turning into death traps," she complained.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona commanded attention in that hearing room, too. The 2008 GOP presidential prospect, a supporter of Bush's troop increase in Iraq, explored the consequences of pulling out.

"It took us a long time to recover from losing a war," he said in a reference to Vietnam, where he spent five years as a prisoner.

Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware led a Foreign Relations Committee hearing rich with presidential prospects, including him.

After a day of hearings and more, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama arranged a last word of sorts, a late-night TV news interview after Bush's speech and the formal Democratic response to it.

Together in the House chamber for the speech, the candidates paired off in groups.

Obama took a seat directly in front of Clinton, underlining his copy of the speech with a fine-tipped marker as Bush spoke. Clinton appeared to listen intently, hands folded in her lap. She sat one seat away from Biden, who was in the same row and several seats away from Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, another candidate for the Democratic nomination.

Republican Sens. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska sat together on the opposite side of the chamber, behind McCain.