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Bush Speaks in Hive of '08 Contenders
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who is making his second presidential bid, paid good attention, underlining passages of his paper copy of the speech.
Obama announced that his guest for the speech was a celebrated South Side Chicago schoolteacher, Rana Khan.
  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) |
Clinton, who has been advocating more money to help 9/11 emergency workers made ill by their recovery efforts, invited the son of a retired New York City police officer who she said was "fighting for his life." He died hours before the speech, and his son still attended.
Non-lawmaker candidates joined the buzz of the wannabes. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former House member and energy secretary, participated in a telephone briefing to discuss climate change and energy issues in advance of Bush's remarks on those topics.
Democratic candidate Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor, didn't wait to hear Bush's speech before criticizing it in a "pre-buttal," and Al Gore, who has not ruled out running again, saw his film on global warming earn two Oscar nominations.
The speech was the first in years with so many serious presidential contenders in the House chamber, hearing the dramatic introduction they hope will someday be for them.
The phrase that is used to usher Bush inside was amended to account for California Rep. Nancy Pelosi's historic rise as the first woman to lead the House, and Bush himself took note.
"Tonight," Bush said, "I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own, as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words: `Madam Speaker.'"
Pelosi took her place on the rostrum behind Bush and alongside Vice President Dick Cheney, who also is leader of the Senate. She blinked noticeably throughout the speech, a habit that perhaps was exacerbated by all the attention and bright TV lights inside the chamber.
Among her invited guests was Martin O'Malley, the newly elected governor of Maryland. He was previously mayor of Baltimore, where Pelosi was born and raised, the daughter of a congressman who himself became the city's mayor. O'Malley nodded off a few times during the speech and was awakened by applause.
Ten senators and members of Congress are vying for the presidency, including such top-tier prospects as Clinton, McCain and Obama, and more might enter the race. Except for the near-rookie Obama, many of them have sat through this ritual again and again.
Clinton sat through two State of the Union speeches shadowed by the Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to her husband's impeachment.
The chamber always has plenty of people in the audience with the potential to be president someday. But not since 1976 have there been more senators running, said Senate historian Donald Ritchie.
Then, there were eight, he said. Now there are six: Democrats Clinton, Obama, Biden and Dodd, and Republicans McCain and Brownback. Two more might join the field: Hagel for the GOP and 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry of Massachusetts.
The race includes four House members and several former senators, most prominently Democrat John Edwards.
