A weekly roundup of the buzz from the Sunday talk shows

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday that Democrats are fewer than 20 votes short of overriding a presidential veto and expanding SCHIP, the federally funded health insurance program for children. She added that her caucus will work over the next two weeks "to try to peel off" about 14 Republicans to move closer to achieving that goal.

The Senate already has enough votes to override President Bush's veto. Bush says expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program would permit coverage for children in families that can afford private insurance.

Although Bush has suggested he might be open to a compromise, Pelosi appeared skeptical on "Fox News Sunday" about the prospects for a deal. "It's hard to imagine how we could diminish the number of children who are covered," she said.

The White House objects to the legislation's concentration on middle-income families, said Mike Leavitt, health and human services secretary. "The president's position on this can be summarized in three words: poor children first. Poor children ought to have health insurance before we begin to focus on adults. They ought to have it before we start focusing on middle-income families," Leavitt said on ABC's "This Week."

Speaker's review: Pelosi also discussed Congress's historically low approval ratings, which she blamed on the Iraq war. "The public is weary of this war. They want it to end, and they had expectations that Congress could end it," she said. "You know we can't without a presidential signature. But that focus on the war has eclipsed all that we have accomplished here."

Clinton as bull's-eye: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former senator John Edwards (N.C.), both Democratic presidential candidates, used their talk-show appearances to trash the front-runner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), mentioning her a total of 13 times in about 40 combined minutes.

Edwards mentioned Clinton more often, arguing that he favors ending the war in Iraq while she wishes only to change the mission. Richardson admonished his rivals for refusing to say that they would remove all troops from Iraq.

By Zachary A. Goldfarb