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The Situation Room
President Bush Prepares to Deliver State of the Union Address; Do Democrats Have Message of Their Own?; Designated Cabinet Survivor; Interview With House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Aired January 31, 2006 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time.
Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you a special report on the State of the Union.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And happening right now, our State of the Union countdown.
It is coming up on 8:00 p.m. here in Washington, where President Bush has his critical speech in hand, and not much time left before he delivers it, about an hour from now.
Will he give many skeptical Americans a reason to have renewed confidence in him again?
BLITZER: And the Democrats, Paula, are standing ready to try to use the president's words against him. But do they have a message of their own, a plan of action that will -- that will convince voters to respond positively to them?
ZAHN: And, then, you have the case of the missing Cabinet member. Who is the designated no-show at the president's speech this year? And what would that person actually do if the unthinkable happened?
I'm Paula Zahn.
BLITZER: And I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ZAHN: So, normally, at this hour, you would be seeing PAULA ZAHN NOW, but not tonight, because we're coming to you live from THE SITUATION ROOM, where Wolf Blitzer has been gracious enough to allow me to call...
BLITZER: We love...
ZAHN: ... home this evening.
BLITZER: We love having you here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ZAHN: Thanks, Wolf. Nice to be here.
BLITZER: I hope you will be a frequent visitor.
ZAHN: I would love to...
BLITZER: Good.
ZAHN: ... as long as that invitation remains.
BLITZER: Deal.
ZAHN: But we're getting ready to follow the president, as he heads to Capitol Hill this hour, knowing he has a lot of ground to cover, from the war, to the economy, and he, obviously, has a lot of repair work to do, if he hopes to regain support he has lost since his last State of the Union address.
BLITZER: And we have our correspondents all over the place. We're watching every angle of this. Anderson Cooper and Ed Henry, they are up on Capitol Hill.
Dana Bash is over at the White House.
Dana, let's start with you.
Give our viewers a sense of what we're going to hear tonight from this president.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the White House knows that the state of our union, if you will, is one of some pessimism right now. And that is definitely reflected in the president's poll numbers, as you said, and it is reflected in how Americans feel, also, about the Republican Congress, up for reelection this year.
So, Mr. Bush will try to battle the bad news coming at them nearly every day -- the bad news about Iraq, about Katrina, about high gas prices, and what aides will call -- are calling an upbeat speech. Even the president himself said he intends to be upbeat tonight.
But he will also try to remind Americans of the threat of terrorism and say that, big picture, he does think Americans should continue to take a leadership role around the world. He will say -- quote -- "In a time of testing, we cannot find security by abandoning our commitments and retreating within our borders."
Now, last year, you remember, of course, his big initiative was Social Security. Don't expect anything like that -- of course, which failed. Expect some small initiatives on things that they think people really care about.
BLITZER: Dana Bash at the White House, stand by. We will be getting back to you -- Paula.
ZAHN: And we are going to quickly turn out attention to Ed Henry, who is standing by on Capitol Hill, to give us a sense of what the Democrats might say post-speech.
Are they going to come out swinging?
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
You know, in fact, the Democrats have been so eager to steal the president's thunder -- thunder -- that they started a weeklong series of rebuttals -- pre-buttals, rather -- even before the speech was delivered, over the last week. Tonight, we get the official rebuttal from a new face, really, Tim Kaine, the new governor of Virginia.
He's somebody they want to showcase, because he won in one of those so-called red states that the president carried in the last election. According to excerpts we have obtained, Kaine will hit the president for having tax cuts at a time of record budget deficits, hit him on Iraq, and raise questions about whether that strategy is really going to help win the war on terror.
Kaine will also attack the president on these Republican ethics scandals, and also on what he calls bad management by the federal government that has slowed Katrina recovery efforts. In fact, some Democrats were told, in that House chamber, he will be wearing this little button they have, a red and white button, saying to pass a Katrina survivors piece of legislation that the Democrats say they need, and they say the White House has fallen short -- Paula.
BLITZER: All right, Ed, thanks very much -- Ed Henry, up on Capitol Hill.
Also on Capitol Hill, Anderson Cooper.
Anderson, give us a little lead-up to this speech, from your vantage point. What are you picking up?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we are going to be seeing a lot of activity over the course, really, of the next hour or so. At about 8:10, in about -- well, about eight minutes from now, the diplomatic corps is going to start to -- to enter the didn't hall of Congress, enter the -- the -- the chamber.
About 40 minutes after that, though, we are going to see the -- the Joint Chiefs of Staff entering as well. Then, the members of the Supreme Court will be coming in.
First lady Laura Bush will be coming in just a few moments before 9:00 p.m. She will be seated. There are going to be a -- a number of special guests inside her box, a number of members of the Afghan National Assembly, as well as a -- a family of a fallen Marine from Iraq, also, the teacher of the year, and even a dog by the name of Rex, who is an Iraq war veteran, a bomb-sniffing dog from Iraq named Rex. He's not going to be sitting in a seat, going to be sitting in a -- in the aisle, near Laura -- first lady Laura Bush's box.
That is the dog, and that is the dog handler. They both served together in Iraq.
Also in attendance -- probably, the White House not too thrilled about this -- war protester Cindy Sheehan is going to be seated inside the chamber. She was given a ticket by Democratic Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey just today. So, we learned, just a short time ago, she will be listening to the president's speech.
Of course, she had wanted all along to meet with the president. That was her initial -- her initial argument. She will now be in the same room with him.
And the speech begins, Wolf, at 9:06 p.m.
BLITZER: We will -- we will be watching every step of the way, Anderson. Thanks very much. We will be checking back with you as well.
So, the stage is now set. We're learning more about the president's speech.
We want to bring in some of our own experts for our strategy session.
For that, we're joined by four CNN contributors, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and Paul Begala, former Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke, and former Congressman, GOP Conference Chairman J.C. Watts.
Guys, thanks to all of you for joining us.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Let's go quickly through what we expect to hear.
Let's start with you, Donna.
Give us a little flavor of the specific Democratic strategy that we will see unfold over the next few hours.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Governor Tim Kaine will lead off with our -- our rebuttal. He will talk about a better, the -- the Democratic way, of cleaning up Washington, D.C., providing American people with real health care, giving them real opportunities, real security.
Also, Tony Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles, will also provide a rebuttal to the Hispanic listening stations. And...
BLITZER: He will be speaking in Spanish.
BRAZILE: He will be speaking in Spanish, but he will make perfect sense in English, when you talk about the fact that the American people are losing jobs.
ZAHN: Torie Clark, let's toss the ball around a little here.
And explain to us tonight what you think one major thing the president has to accomplish.
VICTORIA CLARKE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Context, making sure people really understand what's at stake for our country, certainly, in terms of national security, and the dramatically different environment which we find ourselves, and in the inherent challenges of that, but also economic security.
The world is changing rapidly. We have huge competitors out there, in the -- China, India, just to name a couple. And this country has to reform the way it does business to succeed in that environment. So, I want to hear -- and I think we will -- a lot of emphasis on the context and what's at stake.
BLITZER: You know, the president is going to be making a big deal out of, we can't -- the United States cannot be isolationist, cannot be protectionist. Immigration is going to be a big issue.
This is going to divide, J.C. Watts, a lot of Republicans.
J.C. WATTS, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Well, protectionism is kind of like steroids. It makes you look good in the short run, but it kills you in the long run. And, so, I -- I...
BLITZER: So, you support him on that?
WATTS: I -- I do support him on that.
I think we do have to be active in a global economy, a global marketplace. I think it's a tough political environment, but I think there are good things out that the president needs to emphasize. Stay on the offense. Don't get defensive, and continue the momentum beyond tonight.
ZAHN: Paul, let's talk about some of the challenges the Democrats have to challenge tonight.
And -- and one is the perception that they're reactive, not proactive; they have no agenda of their own, and we heard it in a briefing today, that, basically, the only thing they're good at is blasting the president.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, and I wish they were better at that.
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: I would be happy if that's all that they did. But...
CLARKE: I think they're pretty good.
BEGALA: Well, they're -- they're getting better.
The -- I think they did a smart thing, though. Ed Henry just said they had a whole week of what they call pre-buttals. And I was talking to them up on the Hill. And they understand, they can't beat the president on the night of the State of the Union. They said, we're going to win the State of the Union before he ever gets up on the podium.
So, now they have had a week where they said, here is our plan on energy independence; here's our plan on cleaning up corruption.
And they're -- they're -- they know the president will command the stage tonight. But I suspect, after the speech, in addition to Tim Kaine doing his -- whatever he is going to say, they're going at the president's credibility.
The new "Washington Post" poll says, 53 percent of Americans say the president is not honest and trustworthy. OK. The last midterm election, 71 said he was. Now the majority of the country thinks he doesn't tell the truth. That could be deadly.
ZAHN: But security is still going to be a huge issue in this country. And, whether you like it or not, you have got a lot of people out there saying that, if you're a Republican, we're going to keep America safe; you know, if you vote for a Democrat, basically, you want to be bombed.
BEGALA: Well...
ZAHN: And -- and, you know, that that's a -- a perception that has...
BEGALA: It is...
ZAHN: ... taken root.
BEGALA: It is dwindling so fast, though.
So -- the opposition to the war, now 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way the president is handling Iraq. The only issue he has a lead on anymore is terrorism. And that is seven points. Now, 18 months ago, it was -- wait -- I wrote it down -- it was 23 points.
So, even his -- his one ace in the hole, terrorism, if I were advising him, I would actually say, be careful about pulling out 9/11, like a cheap handgun in a bar fight. Too often, I think he has played that card...
BLITZER: All right. Let's let...
BEGALA: ... for political effect.
BLITZER: Let's let Torie react to that.
Go ahead.
CLARKE: No, it's just -- the issues are too serious for -- for really cheap rhetoric like that.
He doesn't pull it out like a stunt. He is starkly aware of the realities of the world in which find ourselves. It's a very, very different world, with very, very different kinds of threats. And he has the courage to stand up and face those. He doesn't just trash others for their ideas.
BLITZER: Donna.
BRAZILE: Well, look, there's no question that national security is a threshold issue. And Democrats understand that you can be safe and strong and -- and still provide the American people with their constitutional guarantees.
The Democrats are not going to shrink from the fight on national security. But, on the same table, they're looking at economic issues, health care. And they want to fight the president on those terms as well.
BLITZER: A final thought, J.C.?
WATTS: Well, you know, Wolf, Paula,, I think, on those economic issues, unemployment is under 5 percent. Inflation is low. Interest rates -- interest rates are low -- good things happening in the economy, on the national security front.
I -- I think the Democrat Party is -- is probably as politically tone-deaf on the security issues as the Republicans are on -- on -- on poor people's issues. That's the perception. And that perception is -- that's a huge hurdle that I think the Democrats have to -- have -- have to cross. And the president's going to play that, and I think that he should, because he has been very effective in that arena.
ZAHN: Thank you, team. Look forward to talking to you again.
CLARKE: Thank you.
ZAHN: Next time, when you come back, we will make you stand even closer together.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: We're going to mix it up. Yes. Paul's not complaining. He loves his sandwich.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Don't leave. Don't leave, because we will have you back soon.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Thanks, guys.
BRAZILE: Thank you.
CLARKE: Thank you.
BLITZER: It's a safe bet that the Democrats won't like a lot of what they will be hearing tonight. But what alternatives does the Democratic Party have?
Joining us now is the House minority leader, the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
Congresswoman, thanks very much for joining us.
I'm here with Paula. We have some questions for you.
What -- what is the Democratic -- what is the Democratic strategy tonight in dealing what -- with what the president is going to say?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Well, first of all, let me say, on this day, when we're saddened by the loss of Coretta Scott King, I hope that the president will present a message of unity, of -- of justice and equality for all Americans.
Democrats have proposed in our pre-buttals an Agenda for Innovation that is our commitment to competitiveness, to keep America number one. It's about investing in education and research and development, to making us energy-independent in 10 years, to creating an atmosphere for small businesses that will create jobs, and -- and jobs for the future.
And it's about providing health care, which is a big competitiveness issue, whether you're an individual, whether you're a company, or whether you're a country.
BLITZER: Here...
PELOSI: So, we hope that the president will address some of these issues, which are crucial to our country's being number one, but also to relieving the middle -- middle-class squeeze that many Americans are experiencing.
BLITZER: Congresswoman, we heard from the Senate majority leader in the last hour, Bill Frist. He said, the Democrats don't have a clear agenda. Our -- not our, but "The Wall Street Journal"/NBC poll asked: Are Democrats doing an excellent or good job presenting a clear agenda?
Only 34 percent said they were. Sixty-three percent said they're not doing a good job, they're doing a poor job in presenting a clear agenda.
Why do you apparently have this problem?
PELOSI: Well, we're about to roll out our agenda. We're a democratic party.
We've been working with the governors, the mayors, the state legislators, the House and Senate together to create a unity agenda, again, about jobs and health care and education and real security for our country, and dignified retirement, and doing it in a fiscally sound way.
Our innovation agenda is something we went around the country in the past year and built in a bipartisan way. We hope it will be received that way by the president. But you're right. We had to win the fight on Social Security last year. We committed all of our resources, over 1,000 town meetings outside of Washington, to defeat the president's privatization of Social Security. Look at those results.
We also now have finally gotten the public to be aware of the Republican culture of corruption in Washington, D.C., which -- for which the American people are paying a price, a price at the pump for energy bills written by the energy companies, also, their home heating bills, and also, a price for prescription drug bill that was written by the pharmaceutical companies for the pharmaceutical companies and the health insurance industry, at the expense of the American people.
So, we -- we -- we had to defeat the president on Social Security. We had to differentiate on these other issues. And we now go forward, rolling out our positive agenda.
ZAHN: All right.
PELOSI: First, we...
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: But, Congresswoman Pelosi, one thing that you -- you probably have to acknowledge tonight, even members of your own party are being critical of the Democrats for -- for lacking vision right now.
Senator Barack Obama had this to say: "There is an over-reliance on the part of Democrats for procedural maneuvers and mechanisms to block the president, instead of proactively going out to the American people and talking about the values that we care about."
PELOSI: Well, I told you we just did that on Social Security, and we won. One year ago, the president was flying high, and his Social Security plans were being well received by the public, until they knew what they were.
But you're right. Barack, Senator Obama, is correct. It can't just be about no, and it can't be about process and procedural measures. It has to be real initiatives, and our initiative -- our innovation agenda is just that. We hope the president will embrace it.
One thing I know is not good for the American people that the president will be proposing -- and I'll say no to it every day of the week relentlessly -- and that is his approach on health care, with health savings accounts and association health plans. These will do nothing to increase the number of people who have health insurance, nothing to lower the cost of health care in America, and nothing to...
BLITZER: How are...
PELOSI: ... reduce the deficit.
BLITZER: Congresswoman, how are you going to respond when the president says, the United States is at war; there are sworn enemies out there, Osama bin Laden among others, this whole al Qaeda network, these -- these terrorists who want to kill Americans, and the United States, and he, as commander in chief, specifically, has this responsibility to take charge and protect Americans?
PELOSI: Well, first of all, let's say we all understand our responsibility to protect and defend the American people. The president does not have a monopoly on that.
The president, though, has mismanaged the war in Iraq and the president has made America less safe in this respect. Don't take it from me. Look at the report of the 9/11 Commission. Is America as safe as it could be? They said no, D's and F's in so many categories of readiness to protect the American people at home.
This report that was just leaked from the Department of Defense says that our readiness, our strength, our troop strength, and the rest is very much in jeopardy now because of the policies of this administration.
So, the president can say what he wishes. His deeds say something else. Democrats have to be very strong in fighting for real homeland security, real strength of our military, so that we can fight, not only where we are now, but in other threats to our security throughout the world.
But, again, it's not just Democrats saying this. This is the Department of Defense complaining about our troop readiness. This is the 9/11 bipartisan, unanimous report of the 9/11 Commission, saying that we're not as safe as we can be, not by a long shot.
ZAHN: Representative Pelosi, I need a real brief answer to this one. Tonight, the Democratic response will be delivered by Governor Kaine, who has been in office for only 18 days. And a number of Democrats have told me today they don't think that is the strongest response that you can un-hurl during a time of war.
Your response to that?
PELOSI: We're very excited about Governor Kaine. He's a new, fresh voice. His -- his compelling personal story, his -- his positive agenda for the future energized the people of Virginia. And I know it will energize the people of our country.
We couldn't have made a better choice. I'm very, very proud of that, as I am of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who will be making the Hispanic response to the president as well tonight.
You will see differentiation. You will see Democrats as a party of change, the Republicans stuck in their special-interest muck. You will see optimism and hope, as opposed to fear, the ongoing message of the Republican Party.
ZAHN: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, we have got to leave it there.
Thank you so much for joining Wolf and me tonight.
PELOSI: Thank you. My pleasure, Paula...
ZAHN: Appreciate it.
PELOSI: ... and Wolf.
Thank you.
ZAHN: Now it's time to move on to "The Cafferty File," 17 minutes past the hour.
Jack Cafferty is in New York.
Are you behaving tonight, Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely, Paula.
The president's approval ratings, depending on the poll you look at, all in the low 40s, well below the approval ratings of two of the -- of three previous presidents as they entered their sixth year.
Reagan was up around 65 percent. Clinton was at 68 percent, President Bush, around 41 percent. So, to say he has his work cut out for him tonight and as he moves on in to his second term is an understatement.
The content of these speeches tend to get out ahead of time. So, we know most of the stuff that he's going to talk about tonight, what they like to call kitchen-table issues, things like education and health care and energy.
He's also expected to talk about the war in Iraq, the war on terror, and the standoff with Iran. But there are other issues, issues that have muddied the Washington waters and been responsible for those dismal approval numbers, Katrina-gate, spy-gate, the ongoing investigation of the CIA leak. What about those?
So, pretend you're a speechwriter for a couple of minutes and help me with this. If you were writing the State of the Union address, what would you include? You can e-mail your thoughts to caffertyfile@CNN.com, or you can go to CNN.com/caffertyfile. Or you can go to bed. Or you can watch the cartoon channel.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: Or you can do whatever the hell you want. It's a -- it's a free country here.
ZAHN: Did he really just use that four-letter word?
BLITZER: Yes, he did.
ZAHN: Is he allowed to do that on this...
(CROSSTALK) BLITZER: This is THE SITUATION ROOM.
Jack Cafferty...
ZAHN: This is my hour.
BLITZER: Jack Cafferty can do whatever he wants.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN: Never from 8:00 to 9:00, Jack.
CAFFERTY: You heard it...
ZAHN: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: You heard it from the Wolf-man.
ZAHN: All right. Well, if he approved it, then I guess that's got to be OK.
I'm just a visiting...
BLITZER: He's special.
ZAHN: ... member of this team tonight.
Coming up, we're awaiting President Bush's arrival at the nation's Capitol tonight. His State of the Union speech is just about three-quarters-of-an hour away, give or take a minute or two.
Wolf and I will be back with more of our special coverage in a moment or two.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: You're now back in THE SITUATION ROOM for our special coverage of this night -- the president about to deliver the State of the Union address.
ZAHN: And, unfortunately, on a night like tonight, you have to look at the possibility of a nightmare scenario. What if virtually all of the nation's leaders were gathered in one location and the unthinkable happened? Well, some top officials won't be at the Capitol tonight for the State of the Union address, just in case.
Let's turn now to CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano for more on that.
Hi, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Paula.
Who those officials are isn't being made public just yet. But we do have some sense of what that experience is like.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): They're called designated survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE WEST WING")
MARTIN SHEEN, ACTOR: We will miss you tonight. Next year, it will be the surgeon general. I promise.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: On TV's "West Wing," it was the agriculture secretary chosen to stay back from the State of the Union address, to ensure continuity of government in a worst-case scenario.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE WEST WING")
SHEEN: If anything happened, you know what to do, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman knows what the experience is really like. In 1997, he was whisked out of Washington on a military plane with, in his words, all of accouterments of powers.
DAN GLICKMAN, FORMER AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: You know, the gentleman with the codes. And I didn't ask a lot of questions, frankly. When I saw the gentleman with a briefcase in my company, I knew that this was serious business.
QUIJANO: Glickman watched then-President Clinton's address from his daughter's New York apartment, and describes going from headiness to humility in the same night.
GLICKMAN: That night, there was a terrible rainstorm. We had gone out to eat. And I couldn't get a cab back to her apartment. And I commented that, here it was, four hours earlier, I was the most important person on the face of the Earth, and I couldn't even get a cab later on.
QUIJANO: Now, post-9/11, members of Congress also designate survivors.
Senator Trent Lott stayed away last year.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: We were flown away from Washington to this remote site, which was underground.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: And, while the senator can't say exactly where they went, he said he did enjoy the change of scenery and also the chance to view history from a unique vantage point -- Wolf. BLITZER: Elaine, when are we going to know who this individual, this one member of the Cabinet, who won't be at the Congress? When are we going to know who that is?
QUIJANO: Well, it's a very closely held secret. And we won't know right up until the last very possible minute. But stay tuned. About 15 minutes or so, we should have something for you -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Elaine, thanks very much -- Elaine Quijano reporting from the White House -- Paula.
ZAHN: And I know -- Bill Bennett, a former Cabinet secretary, was with us a little bit earlier tonight, and he was explaining, one year, when he was the designated survivor.
BLITZER: He was secretary of education.
ZAHN: Yes, at that time, he was sent to a pizza parlor. Not sure what the secret location was, but...
BLITZER: I -- I have -- I have had -- spent some time with Dan Glickman, the former agriculture secretary. And he tells the story of what it was like that night, when he was close to power, but, obviously, thank God, not too close to power.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: And it's very funny, the story he tells.
ZAHN: When President Bush begins that ceremonial walk to the podium, not too long from now, probably about a half-hour or so, he will likely be hoping for a new beginning with the American people.
Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is in Columbus, Ohio, tonight. That's the state that ultimately handed Mr. Bush his second term in 2004.
And Bill joins us now.
Hi, Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Paula.
President Bush will be looking for a bounce in the polls from his State of the Union speech. And you know what? He needs it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Seven national polls taken in late January show President Bush's job approval rating between 39 and 43 percent -- the average 42, very low for a president beginning his sixth year in office. Only Richard Nixon was lower.
A year ago, those same polls averaged 50 for President Bush. He's lost eight points -- not a good year. Right now, 50 percent on the average approve of the way President Bush is handling terrorism, his highest rating.
So, what do voters want to hear the president talk about tonight?
This Ohio reporter says:
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's enormous uncertainty about what will happen with jobs in the future.
SCHNEIDER: This Ohio voter says
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's getting harder to find jobs. It's getting harder to afford anything.
SCHNEIDER: The anxiety in Ohio is reflected in the national polls. On the average, only 40 percent approve Bush's handling of the economy.
President Bush is likely to focus on health care in his State of the Union speech. Good idea, because his rating on health care is the lowest of all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: Can the president turn those numbers around with one speech? Probably not. But he can at least show Americans that he shares those same concerns -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Bill Schneider, where is the hat? We saw you in THE SITUATION ROOM earlier. You had a nice hat on.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHNEIDER: Thank you.
BLITZER: I guess it is warming up in Ohio?
SCHNEIDER: A little bit. That's my private energy conservation plan.
BLITZER: It's a lovely, lovely hat.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Thanks, Bill.
SCHNEIDER: Thank you.
BLITZER: We will get back to you...
ZAHN: Subtext...
BLITZER: .. throughout the...
ZAHN: ... he is no wimp.
BLITZER: He is a strong guy, Bill Schneider, reporting for us. The Internet is playing a vital role in how Republicans and Democrats are reaching out to their respective bases tonight.
Our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton, has more -- Abbi.
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, reaching out to those bases, but also trying to expand those bases tonight.
Take a look at this e-mail, "Join the Party." This arrived in in-boxes across the country over the last month from the Republican National Committee, inviting people to host a State of the Union house party. There are going to be almost 1,400 of these happening all over the country tonight, watching the president making his speech -- but, also, an important aim, voter registration drives happening at these events throughout the country.
The Democratic National Committee is also doing their own version of this. Watch parties are happening, over 1,000 of these in all 50 states taking place -- maybe a little bit more lighthearted. Look at this bingo card that's being distributed online. When people watch along with the president, when he says certain words, like tyranny or patience, you can fill in with your chips here -- but, also, an important message going on from the Democratic Party as well, downloadable host materials for the hosts of these parties across the country, fact sheets for all 50 states about the Democratic Party's mission and their aims in each place, and, also, online tools for writing letters to the editor of local papers in the days to come -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Abbi Tatton, thanks very much.
Always interesting, what these people are doing on the Internet.
ZAHN: Yes. And it's such immediate response.
BLITZER: Immediate.
ZAHN: Either insulting or gratification. You never know which way it's going to go.
We are going to quickly turn our attention to Ed Henry, our -- our man on the ground on Capitol Hill.
He's already on the VIP dignitary watch.
Who are among the early birds whose vision...
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well...
ZAHN: ... you have caught so far?
HENRY: Very interesting, Paula, the drama starting to build here in Statuary Hall, the historic room where the Senate, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court walks through here on their way to the House chamber, which is just around the corner from where I'm standing. Just a moment ago, I was walking with the newly sworn-in Justice Samuel Alito. We were all wondering whether he will be here. He's in the building right now. I can tell you he was joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, as well as Justice Clarence Thomas.
I did not see Chief Justice John Roberts. We were expecting him. He could be coming in another entrance. But what's very interesting -- I kid you not -- as I was walking with Justice Alito, John Kerry walked by, the man who was leading that quixotic filibuster against Judge, now Justice Alito, which, obviously, failed.
They did not acknowledge each other. They walked past one another. And on they went -- just kind of interesting to see the different people showing up -- Paula.
ZAHN: Did it seem like they were purposely ignoring each other?
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN: Or was it one of those more casual kind of things, where you could pretend you hadn't seen each other?
HENRY: It seemed like Justice Alito genuinely did not see Senator Kerry.
But, after they passed, I saw Senator Kerry sort of take a peek back and realize what had just happened, and he sort of smiled. And -- and everything moved on. But it's just kind of interesting, these players, big battles. But it is over now, Justice Alito on the high court.
And I also just spoke a moment ago to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. And he told me, quite candidly, in recent months, Republicans have been very down in the dumps about the president's poll numbers, about their own poll numbers. But using Justice Alito as one example, Senator Frist just told me they feel like they're on the rebound. This is a big victory for the president, Paula.
BLITZER: You know, Ed, it's Wolf. We're going to show our viewers this live picture from Statuary Hall. You can see all the people. This is sort of the equivalent of the red carpet before an Academy Award. Literally, all the leaders are going to be walking past you on their way into the chamber.
HENRY: That's right. The diplomatic corps, as you know, comes through, Wolf. Vice President Cheney just walked through a couple of moments ago. In fact, he is moving over to another room. And then of course will come through with others and lead, as president of the Senate, lead the entire U.S. Senate over. The U.S. House will come through, as you noted, the Supreme Court, the cabinet, as well. We saw Karl Rove walk by a short while ago.
So you're right. Just about all the dignitaries, anybody who's anyone in Washington will be passing through here on their way to the House chamber. It's a big night for the president. He obviously -- in addition to the Democratic persons (ph) we were talking about, I've been talking to Republican Senators who privately, quite candidly, will say there's a lot riding on this speech. They've been disappointed. They feel last year the president seized (ph) control of the agenda to the Democrats. They want to see him come back tonight, seize control back of that agenda, Wolf.
BLITZER: As we look at this live picture, Ed, where you are, Statuary Hall. A few years back, I was -- I was there. And literally, all these guys when they're walking in, members of the House, members of the Senate, the joint chiefs, the diplomatic corps, the Supreme Court justices, you have an incredible opportunity to sort of just reach out and grab them, if you can.
HENRY: That's right. And I can see a lot of congressional staffers waiting along the rope lines. This is a rare night for them. They're snapping pictures, cell phone cameras. There's a little bit of lightheartedness about it, but there's also seriousness. A lot of high drama. As you noted, a lot of very important people coming through.
And this is one of the rituals we have in Washington once every year, where the president, both sides come together. Obviously, we're going to see some applause on the Republican side, some boos on the Democratic side. There will be some bipartisanship. In fact, you know, you see that back and forth. It's almost a little bit of a political game. But yes, this is quite an interesting place to be, Wolf.
BLITZER: We're only half an hour or so away, Paula, from the start of the president's State of the Union address.
Ed Henry, we'll get back to you. Thank you very much.
Still to come here in our special coverage in THE SITUATION ROOM, anticipation building with just minutes to go. About 30 minutes or so before the president's speech. We're watching as everyone takes their places for the main event.
And the two big upcoming elections are hanging over Capitol Hill tonight. And coloring reaction on both sides of the aisle. Will all of the State of the Union spin really be about the '06 and '08 votes? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Paula, this just coming in. The president has now left the White House. He's in his limousine. There he is. The president and the first lady only seconds ago walked out of the White House into the presidential limousine. They'll be driving from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue down Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill, where they'll be getting ready for the president's State of the Union address tonight.
The president and the first lady have a chance in that limo, Paula, to have a few last-minute words about what he should be doing tonight. I'd love to be in that limo listening to what they're saying. Wouldn't that be fun?
ZAHN: And one wonders if he'll make any last-minute edits to the speech, as Paul Begala has described. President Clinton was going over and over it again.
BLITZER: That is not happening. He likes to prepare. He's been ready with this speech for a long time.
Let's go to our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, who's got a little bit more on what the president's up to tonight -- Dana.
BASH: Well, Wolf, you just saw, as you said, the president leave the White House on his way to the Capitol, actually for his fifth State of the Union address, but the sixth time he's addressed a joint session of Congress because, of course, he went to speak there after 9/11.
And speaking of 9/11, there is, as Elaine Quijano was explaining, a system in place that actually preceded 9/11 to make sure that there is continuity of government. They do keep back one member of the president's cabinet. We can report to you that that member tonight is the veterans affairs secretary, Jim Nicholson. He is going to be the one you won't see in the chamber, in the House chamber there.
He, of course, is a new member of the president's cabinet. He's been there just under a year. He was his ambassador to the Vatican, to the Holy See. Actually, he's been around a long time. The chairman of the Republican National Committee. He is going to be the person who was chosen to stay back just in the very, very off chance that is a necessary thing.
BLITZER: God forbid that anything like that should happen. But Jim Nicholson will get a briefing, we're told, Paula. He'll be told what he would have to do. There are representatives from the National Security Council, from the military, who will be with him. Because, as we heard from Dan Glickman, who was Bill Clinton's agriculture secretary, they take this very, very seriously.
ZAHN: And they should. Dana, thanks so much. We'll see you in a little bit, as we count down to the president's speech, which we are told will get under way at 9:05 Eastern Time, which puts us about a shade less than 30 minutes from now.
Time to check in with Jack Cafferty, who is standing by in New York, who posed a very important question about whether you guys out there think this speech matters tonight. What are folks saying, Jack?
CAFFERTY: Before we get to that, I was just remembering that report we saw earlier, Wolf. The person who's left behind is also given an escort who's carrying the black bag that has the nuclear launch codes in it. So you talk about taking it seriously. When have you those in your possession, you matter.
BLITZER: That's right. You know, it's a big deal. And they take it -- Jim Nicholson, the secretary of veterans affairs, former chairman of the Republican Party, former ambassador to the Holy See, he's got his work cut out for him for the next couple of hours. Then he can go and relax, and then he can have a pizza.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
All right, we asked you to pretend you're a presidential speechwriter. And the question is if you were writing Mr. Bush's State of the Union address, what would you include in the speech?
Bill in Huntington, West Virginia, "More corporate tax breaks. Tax breaks for companies that hire illegal aliens. College only for the rich who can best make use of it. No minimum wage. Give bonuses to the biggest bribe takers. These are the things that make this country great."
Linda in Lucas, Texas: "I'd like to hear the president say that he'll continue his efforts in Iraq. In the speech we should hear a moral tone that will cause us to want to be a better people. Encourage us in the work we're doing and know that our efforts will continue to produce results."
Mike in Marion, Ohio: "I'd like this president to say he's going to lead the way in returning the government to the people of the United States, take it away from the corporations, theocrats and lobbyists that now make policy and determine the direction of this country."
Neil in Germantown, Tennessee: "I would make comments about his failure to change the Social Security program. If it was in dire straits in 2005, where is it now? He should still have a plan to fix it. One bump in the road should not stop a plan to fix the program."
Joel in Cairo, Illinois: "I would announce a 10-year alternative fuel initiative. Government research facilities and the private sector teaming up like the Apollo moon program. Make it the national homework project, Jack, and make it due December 31, 2016."
And finally Jay in Albuquerque, New Mexico: "An apology for the state the union is in."
Back to you guys.
BLITZER: Jack, here is the presidential limo approaching Capitol Hill right now. This is a live picture. You're seeing the president -- presidential motorcade, Paula, and it's a big motorcade. There's always all of the security that goes with it.
You can see these live pictures here as this motorcade gets on Capitol Hill. And the president and the first lady, we saw them leaving the White House only moments ago. Now they're going to be walking into the U.S. Capitol to get themselves ready for their respective roles tonight.
Her role, Paula, is to sit up there in the gallery with the distinguished guests that they've invited to smile, to stand, to applaud. He's got a much more difficult assignment today.
ZAHN: Among, we're told, one of her distinguished guests is Rex the bomb sniffing dog, who will join his trainer.
BLITZER: I suspect that's a first that one -- that one of the invited guests is a dog who served in Iraq.
ZAHN: You were saying before we went to the shot that you're fairly confident the president is done tinkering with his speech. We know at this hour that he has gone through close to two dozen drafts at this point. And you're fairly confident he's not editing in the limo.
BLITZER: I'm fairly confident he is not. The president has been practicing and practicing and practicing and actually heard earlier in the day that practice makes perfect and he's ready to deliver this speech.
Paula, we'll take a quick break. There's only a few minutes to go till the top of the hour. The president's big speech. We're watching. Do strange things, though, occasionally happen at the last minute? In a little bit we're going to go back with our panel of political strategists to get an up close and personal look at what might be going on right now. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're only about 15 minutes or so away, Paula, from the start of the speech, maybe 20 minutes. He's going to be walking in. He'll be introduced, the speaker and all of that.
The distinguished guests, though, are about to -- we're going to see some of them be about to be introduced. The justices of the Supreme Court, the diplomatic corps, the members of the joint chiefs of staff. There's going to be a lot of activity going on in that House chamber.
ZAHN: We're going to quickly break away to Ed Henry, who is standing by on Capitol Hill, who has some breaking news about a famous war protester.
Ed, what do you got?
HENRY: Well, we're hearing that Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who we've been reporting this evening was expected to attended this, to be in the House chamber for the speech has been arrested. We're trying to get more details about this. I can tell you that speculation has been flying here in Statuary Hall.
I'm watching U.S. -- I'm seeing U.S. Senators waiting to get into the chamber as we speak. And there's been a lot of speculation flying that Capitol police were on the lookout for Cindy Sheehan, that there's a lot of concern among Republican leaders and officials here that she might try to stage some sort of protest in the House chamber, disrupt this, having an audience of millions of people around the country watching it.
She was invited here by Democratic Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey of California. We're told that earlier today at an event in Washington, Congresswoman Woolsey decided to give a guest pass -- each member of Congress gets a guest pass -- to Cindy Sheehan to have her attend this. And normally members of Congress invite their spouses or a close friend.
Obviously, Cindy Sheehan is someone this week at another event in D.C. was calling for the impeachment of the president. She's been trying to get an audience with the president. There was great concern up here that she was going to try to disrupt the State of the Union.
ZAHN: All right. But it strikes me, Ed, that they have to have a reason more than a belief that she might disrupt the speech. Are we aware of a specific reason why she'd been -- might have been arrested now?
HENRY: We're after that information right now. We don't have any more information than that. All I know is that she -- there has been a lot of buzz in here about the police trying to make sure and be on the lookout for her. But we don't have any information about why they acted, Paula.
BLITZER: All right.
ZAHN: Thanks, Ed.
BLITZER: That's going to be quite a little story, potentially, very interesting.
Here we're now inside Capitol Hill. Take a look at this. John Kerry is there. He's meeting with respective members. They're beginning to buzz a little bit there. Various Senators. I see Ron Wyden and Frank Lautenberg. Senator Shelby is there, as well.
We're going to watch this -- the crowd beginning to form inside. And fortunately, Paula, we've got three good watchers to help us get through this process. Jeff Greenfield is here, Candy Crowley, John King.
First, Jeff, this whole Cindy Sheehan thing, this is quite unusual. A Democratic congressman from California, Lynn Woolsey, invites Cindy Sheehan to be her guest to sit in the gallery where the guests are there. We were going to see what would happen. Then all of a sudden we're hearing she may have been arrested by Capitol Hill police.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is a woman who became very prominent. Her son died in Iraq. She went down to Crawford, Texas, and asked for an interview.
She's also said some things that I think can fairly be described as provocative. Has called President Bush a terrorist. She's met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He's a close buddy, I guess, of Fidel Castro.
And I'm not sure whether or not that the House Democratic leadership is going to be all that happy that one of their members invited Cindy Sheehan to a State of the Union, which is generally a moment of relative nonpartisanship, at least in terms of the pageantry.
BLITZER: You know, we're going to talk a little bit more about this. But I want to take a quick break. We have about what, 10, 15 minutes or so before the president actually is introduced, walks into this chamber.
There you see Barack Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois.
We'll take a quick break. More of our special coverage from here in THE SITUATION ROOM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. You're looking at live pictures. We'll show you some live pictures of the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Members arriving, distinguished guests arriving. Paula, we're going to be watching this over the next several minutes. We're about 10 or 15 minutes or so away from the actual start of the speech.
ZAHN: We see Senator Lott, Senator Hillary Clinton. It's interesting to note that there's a good reason why a lot of people are pretty early here this evening. We know for some of the House members, Jeff, that a good seat is not assured. And you want to be seen on camera, right? Glad-handing with pillars of the party.
GREENFIELD: Some members actually get there in the morning. They pack a lunch. I'm not making this up. To stake out one of these House seats that's on the aisle so they can be seen shaking hands with the president and getting their face on television.
ZAHN: Pays to be persistent and early.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Like a cocktail party without drinks right now. Right? You know, this is see and be seen at this point. And you're right, when -- and you know, they know that we look for them. The cameras search them out.
And right now everybody everywhere who is going through the advance of the speech saying he's going to talk about health care here, so we'll show the HHS secretary. He's going to talk about minimum wage, which I doubt, but you know, minimum wage, we'll go to Senator Kennedy. So there's a lot going on in the choreography of where you sit.
BLITZER: I would be shocked if he spoke about minimum wage. I suspect, John, he's not going to be talking about increasing the minimum wage.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wouldn't look for the minimum wage stuff.
But it is interesting. It's a very friendly picture. You see Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut there on the floor, a man who can be quite partisan when he wants to be, also quite charming when he wants to be. A friendly picture on the floor. This is not a friendly town right now. We saw that in the vote on now Justice Samuel Alito earlier today. The Democrats have been harshly critical.
There's Senator Clinton there. She might be thinking, "Maybe I'll walk down this aisle a few years down the road in another capacity."
It's not a friendly town right now. But they understand the pageantry of this event. And we will count how many times do they clap, how many times do they boo? I would forget that for a minute and project the atmosphere in this town, which is not pretty right now, for the next 10 months, up to election. It would say a lot about the political climate.
ZAHN: At this hour, we have a pretty good sense of some of the broad themes the president is going to strike tonight. He is going to call on Congress to lower the heat of its rhetoric at a time when the majority of the American public actually perceives this president as a divider and not a uniter. So what kind of a credibility gap does the president have to leap over tonight, Jeff?
GREENFIELD: This is one of the most unusual political climates that I can remember, because the president has succeeded politically in almost every key fight he's made, in spite of the fact that the country, from the moment he was elected, has been essentially evenly divided. He's a 51 percent president.
But because the Republican Party is so united, to an unprecedented degree, he's more popular with Republicans than Ronald Reagan was. He's been able to succeed, even though he hasn't expanded the mandate. There, in fact, speaking of -- I guess, a guy who's the Republicans' favorite Democrat. I believe that was the back of Senator Joseph Lieberman's head.
ZAHN: Looked like a familiar haircut there.
GREENFIELD: Who, by the way, may be facing a primary challenge in Connecticut, because he has been foreseen by a lot of liberal Democrats as too close to the president on Iraq.
ZAHN: But we also heard a key Republican say this weekend there will be Republicans running against this president in the midterm elections. How concerned does the president need to be about appealing to those Republicans in close races?
CROWLEY: Running against or just not wanting him to come into their district?
ZAHN: Separating -- yes, separating themselves from the president.
CROWLEY: Well, now, 'twas ever thus. I mean, I remember there were times, you know, went out to cover a Jeff Bingaman race in New Mexico awhile back when Bill Clinton was in a bit of his own trouble. And, you know, Bill Clinton was coming to New Mexico, and Jeff Bingaman just happened to be on the other side of the state when he arrived.
I mean, this sort of thing happens in politics. And it goes district by district. There are some districts where they will be begging the president to come, I can assure you. There will be other places they're going to say, you know? Not right now.
BLITZER: John, you raised a very interesting point. I'm interested in Jeff and everybody's thoughts on this. All of us have been around Washington for a long time. You don't remember, at least in recent history, when this town has been as bitterly divided as it is right now. Maybe we've got to go back to Vietnam and Richard Nixon to see that division. Is that the sense you're getting?
KING: Well, I wasn't here for Vietnam and Richard Nixon, but I do think that what happened -- and Jeff noticed, George W. Bush won a contested election. Bill Clinton left the town pretty polarized, whether it was Monica Lewinsky, Ken Starr, his policy agenda. The town was polarized when George W. Bush came in and it has gotten progressively worse.
Part of that is the political climate. Part of it is there's more of this. There's more live television about this 24 hours a day, the age we live in, the Internet, the bloggers. So there's a lot more information being passed on as you see the floor here again.
And again, it's remarkable. You look at all these smiling friendly faces. They all love each other right now. After the speech, they'll be ripping it apart.
BLITZER: Let's go back. Hold on one second. Ed Henry, our congressional correspondent, is getting a little bit more on Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who apparently, Ed, update our viewers, she was invited to come in by a member of the Congress, Lynn Woolsey, Democrat of California. She was going to be sitting up in the gallery, but she's been arrested. Is that -- is that what has happened, Ed?
HENRY: That's right. A Capitol police official has told CNN that she was arrested. We're getting a little more information about actually how it unfolded.
She was already in the House chamber when this happened. She was in her seat. And we're being told by a senior House official here in the Capitol, that she unfolded a banner, some sort of apparently an anti-war banner, obviously, being her issue, but in the House chamber. That's against House rules. So that's when the police acted. That's what she did.
They then took her out of the chamber for questioning. We're told she's being held somewhere here on Capitol Hill for questioning for "an hour or so" according to this House official. Obviously, the president's speech only expected to last for just under an hour. If she's held that long, she would not be able to come back into the chamber to try to disrupt the president's speech.
So we're told it's because she unfolded a banner. It's against House rules to do that in the gallery. She was already seated. They took her out. She's now being held for questioning here on the Hill, Wolf.
BLITZER: Very, very interesting. All right. We're going to get some more information on this. I'm anxious for all of your thoughts on this side story that's probably going to unfold, the Cindy Sheehan arrest on Capitol Hill. You know there's going to be anger among a lot of the president's critics.
GREENFIELD: I'd say that if I were a betting man and there was a Vegas book on the odds of Cindy Sheehan being arrested tonight, I think I would have put some money on it. She has become a symbol of a very, very intense opposition to the president's policy.
And as I said before, I just don't know whether or not the House Democrats are going to feel a certain sense of discomfort that one of their members invited her.
CROWLEY: In fact, I mean, it's been hard to find a Democrat that on the record has sort of aligned themselves, because she's gotten steadily more liberal on other subjects.
She's threatening to challenge Dianne Feinstein, a liberal Democrat from California, in her race. So this is a woman who's gotten sort of -- we see the wife of the vice president, Lynne Cheney here with one of her granddaughters with her.
I want to tell you a quick story. When the impeachment proceedings were going on, a man was up in the Senate gallery and stood up and yelled, you know, "For the love of God, take a vote and get this over with." They hauled him out, too, and took him down to police headquarters. So it's not unprecedented. They don't like the gallery to get noisy.
KING: Last time -- last time Cindy Sheehan was here in Washington, to my recollection, anyway, she was arrested out in front of the White House. She led a protest out in front of the White House. And she made it very clear when she arrived she was going to stay until she was arrested. This is, as Jeff said, this is her thing. It is part of her protest.
ZAHN: I want to talk about a point that all three of you were amplifying a little bit earlier about the level of rancor on Capitol Hill right now.
I attended a briefing by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid earlier today. And he essentially said that we, quote, "are living in a Bush Orwellian society where the president might say something but he does something different," that he is a great campaigner in chief, but not a very good commander in chief.
GREENFIELD: Let's just remember one thing...
ZAHN: Where does that go?
GREENFIELD: Well, there was a time not that -- not long ago, half a century ago, when Joe McCarthy was calling his opponents essentially communists, when racist attacks on other politicians were fairly common.
But I think what you have here is, after a period of relative civility, where people would go out and socialize with each other at 6 p.m. Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan is a great example. They're more polarized. They don't hang out with each other. There is much more of a feeling of combat. Part of the reason is it's a very closely divided country.
BLITZER: They got some normal formalities going on. Let's listen in briefly to the speaker, Dennis Hastert.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Senator from Kentucky, Mr. McConnell; the senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Santorum; the senator from Texas, Ms. Hutchinson; the senator from Arizona, Mr. Kyl; the senator from North Carolina, Mrs. Dole; the senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter; the senator from Nevada, Mr. Reid; the senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin; the senator from Michigan, Ms. Stabenow; the senator from New York, Mr. Schumer; the senator from Illinois, Mr. Obama; the senator from Colorado, Mr. Salazar; the senator from New Jersey, Mr. Menendez.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-IL), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Will the members of the escort committee please exit through the lobby doors?
BLITZER: And we see the vice president of the United States, who's also the president of the U.S. Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert.
Paula, looks like they got the memo on the outfits that they should wear. They look mighty good together there, standing there, the dark suit, the white shirt, the red tie.
ZAHN: Not much left to chance here tonight, right? We've got a president who, we're told, has polished a couple dozen drafts of his speech. The first lady now entering the chamber.
BLITZER: Walking past the mayor of Washington, Anthony Williams, as she gets into the gallery for her spot. And those seats are going to be very, very specifically handed out. She's got representatives of the Afghan government. She's got others, invited guests. We're going to go through some of those guests who have been invited by the first lady to sit up there.
This is a tradition, Candy. You've covered Congress for a long, long time, where the first lady, whoever that first lady is, has some invited guests, and usually there's a political significance for those guests.
CROWLEY: Absolutely and sometimes there's a political significance to the first lady. I remember shortly after impeachment was over and the -- there was the next State of the Union address, then-President Bill Clinton went out of his way to -- to his wife.
GREENFIELD: There's a name for those people. They're called Skutniks, after Ronald Reagan, who in 1982 put a hero who had rescued the victims of the Florida crash in the Potomac, and ever since then, the presidents, they've always had guests in, but as Candy said, there's a reason. Maybe they're police officers. They're going to be some Iraq combat veterans here. And they're called after the men who they're called, Skutniks.
KING: This first lady has escaped the partisan climate in this town, unlike her predecessor, who is now the senator, the junior senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in part because Hillary Rodham Clinton took the lead on health care. She was viewed by conservatives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Speaker, the chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court.
BLITZER: All right, we're going to see the justices in their robes walking in. And behind the escorts who are leading the way, there they are, the -- I assume all of them, but I'm not sure -- will be there. There's the Chief Justice John Roberts leading the way, followed by Clarence Thomas. And then we're going to see the others walk in and, of course, the newest associate justice will be there as well, Samuel Alito.
KING: That was Mrs. Alito in the back of the room. She took center stage when she cried at one point during the contentious confirmation hearings. But as significant as the speech tonight, Wolf, that picture may be 25 years from now, even more significant. A new Supreme Court, a Supreme Court that most believe is at least two or three steps to the right, more conservative than last year when Sandra O'Connor was there and Bill Rehnquist was there as the chief justice.
BLITZER: Here comes the cabinet, led by the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. The cabinet, with the exception of the secretary of Veterans Affairs, will be there tonight, sitting in that front row as they always are. It's interesting that Condoleezza Rice is now walking in as secretary of state as opposed to national security adviser to the president. It's a big deal.
GREENFIELD: It is. And to pick up on something John said, I wonder if you heard that the cheers for the Supreme Court were particularly lusty and if I had to bet, I think they came from the Republican side of the aisle. One of the things that president's appoint, supplemental appointment of Judge Alito did, was to quiet some real discontent among conservatives in this town.
KING: It will likely come back up the speech tonight. He'll talk about immigration, he'll talk about spending, those are two issues on which the president is at odds with his base. They do like his judicial picks.
ZAHN: I've often wondered how calibrated the response is in the chambers to the speech. By now, it's no secret, the broad themes of these speeches are -- members of Congress known the cameras will be trained on them at very critical points of this speech. They have to be aware of this, right? CROWLEY: Oh, absolutely. I mean, they know, you know, Republicans know it's their job to stand up and cheer, because this is going to a national audience.
ZAHN: Yet even thought they've heard many of these things over and over and over again.
CROWLEY: Secretary Don Rumsfeld there. One of the things that I think is interesting about this is watching these Supreme Court justices who, however politically you think the confirmation process is, these are people that really seem uneasy to me in this kind of political atmosphere. It just seems dyshonic (ph) to look at them in their robes in the middle of this most political situation.
GREENFIELD: The justices and the generals are two groups that are not all that comfortable. They can't stand up and cheer. You can't not applaud the president of the United States. On the other hand, it's a lifetime job and you get some resolve. So I think it's...
KING: ... It's a pretty good trade-off.
BLITZER: That's General Pace, who's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a United States Marine Corps. The next person who's going to be introduced, within a few seconds, is going to be the president of the United States.
We will stand by to hear that introduction. He'll walk in to thunderous applause, even the Democrats will be politely applauding. But then once this speech goes forward, you'll see a lot of applause from the Republican side of the aisle, a lot less from the Democratic side.
ZAHN: Just brief thoughts from all three of you, what we should be looking for, 10 seconds or less, Jeff?
GREENFIELD: How do you successfully strike an optimistic chord in a country that is as pessimistic as I can remember in years? The country is in a sour mood. It thinks things are going badly. He's got to tell people, it's going to be better and I know how to make it so.
ZAHN: Candy?
CROWLEY: I go back to that word, "pivot." He's got to turn this around. He's get almost three years left in this administration. He needs to turn this around or it's going to be a lame duck administration for three years.
ZAHN: How critical is this speech at a time when 65 percent of Americans are saying they are not happy, John King, with the direction this country is moving?
KING: I talked to somebody who was with the president earlier today did. He said, "Look, don't talk about this is the defining path of the presidency." You know, you can't say, you know, never mind, this is it, make-or-break speech. But he said he's in a very tough spot.
But he said "the president knows it, the president acknowledges it," and he said the president was in a very good mood, saying he knows what he needs to do, he wants to go out there, he wants to be upbeat.
But this president is at risk. You see Justice Alito right there looking on, saying, wow, my first day on the job. Big first day on the job. Looks pretty good.
BLITZER: Samuel Alito, there's Stephen Breyer, who was appointed, who was named by former President Bill Clinton and then Justice Thomas, and of course Justice Roberts. Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, they're going to be around for a long time, long after this president is successor and probably that successor, one is 50, one is 55. They're going to be there for a very long time. You see the cabinet still walking in.
GREENFIELD: Michael Chertoff.
BLITZER: The secretary of Homeland Security.
KING: I love the Breyer/Alito picture because Alito, of course, just put on the court by President Bush. Justice Breyer is a protege of Senator Kennedy, who of course, tried to lead the opposite to Justice Alito. They look like they're good buddies already, they're in the club.
GREENFIELD: Well, I'll tell you why Breyer is smiling. For 10 years he's been the junior justice on the court, which means he has to get up at the conferences and open the door when there's a note. Roberts as chief skipped that job. But now Samuel Alito's there, Roberts -- I mean, Breyer can sit down for the whole conference and Justice Alito has to go fetch the messenger.
ZAHN: I don't want to try to divine too much from the facial expression of Justice Alito, but he certainly at one point looked like he was in awe of where he's standing this evening.
BLITZER: Paula, as we await for the president to be introduced, our White House correspondent Dana Bash is getting some information. Dana?
BASH: Wolf, no new nuggets, if you will, about what president is going to say in this speech. I think we pretty much exhausted the themes that he's going to give.
But just in terms of the tone, just picking up on what you all were saying, that this is something that the White House really tries to do almost every day. They try to really break through what one senior official likes to call, the noise, the news that they really can't break through.
This is their chance. It is written in the Constitution. It is the president's singular chance to give his, to say his peace and to say what he thinks should happen. And really, as I say, break through and this is something that certainly they recognize is a moment that have to try to take advantage of.
BLITZER: Wilson Livingood is the sergeant-at-arms, who's going to be introducing the president as he walks in. Once we see that door open, those two doors, the president will be introduced. He'll walk in. There will be an opportunity for us to assess the reception he's going to get.
Here, the doors are opening right now. And as we see, the first lady and her invited guests up in the gallery get ready, everyone is standing right now. Let's listen in.
WILSON LIVINGOOD, SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States.
BLITZER: And so the president walking in surrounded by the leadership, there you see Bill Frist right behind him, Roy Blunt. The acting majority leader, Nancy Pelosi is right behind the president. She's in red, there, which is a popular color, clearly tonight, for a lot of the people who have come into this House of Representatives for this joint session of the Congress.
Paula, as we watch these people receive the president of the United States, it's one of those moments where at least briefly, albeit for maybe only a few seconds, some of the bitterness that we've seen so available in Washington, seems to go away.
ZAHN: And I think we were talking a little bit earlier where there aren't too many spontaneous moments here. Jeff was describing how perhaps some of the reps you see here with unassigned suits -- excuse me, seats, have been here for many, many hours trying to stake out a position on the aisles so they can actually get a handshake from the president and somehow have their picture taken on a wide shot with the president.
GREENFIELD: The other thing you should know, and Candy was the recipient of this. At least one opposition congressman has put out a scathing attack on the speech. When did you get it?
CROWLEY: I got it, oh, about an hour ago or so.
GREENFIELD: In other words, there wasn't a chance in the world that this congressperson had seen the speech, but he condemned that it is filled with empty rhetoric and failing to address all problems.
CROWLEY: Right, the president, he said, failed to apologize for his quote, "cronyism."
BLITZER: If they do that, the hometown newspaper is going to press, probably pretty soon.
CROWLEY: Exactly.
KING: This is something this president doesn't like much. He doesn't like big speeches, he doesn't like these formal events. He's much more of a casual guy, but this is, we were talking before, when we stopped to look at the Supreme Court justices, this is a big night for this president. He is not a great communicator, but he is a very likable guy and he needs to reestablish a connection with the American people beyond his base.
BLITZER: And here he is, the president giving the copies of his speech to the vice president and the speaker, Dennis Hastert. The president is going to be introduced, there will be more applause. Let's listen in a little bit to some of this flavor in this Capitol Hill chamber.
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