By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 24, 2007; 12:22 AM
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.
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.
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.