A Governor and a Mayor Speak Up for Democrats

The governor of a Republican-leaning state and the Latino mayor of Los Angeles delivered the Democratic rebuttal to President Bush’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night, sounding themes the party hopes will help it take control of Congress in November’s elections.

The Democrats expressed their displeasure with Bush’s policies in several other ways.

The party paid for an anti-Bush television ad that aired before the president took the podium.

A California congresswoman invited Cindy Sheehan to the speech, but the antiwar activist was arrested before it began.

And during the address, the Democratic side of the aisle gave Bush a rousing -- albeit sarcastic -- standing ovation when he bemoaned his failure to overhaul Social Security.

In the “official” responses to the speech, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine of Virginia and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa assailed Bush on a number of fronts -- including his handling of the war in Iraq, implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit and his failure to bring down energy prices.

Kaine argued repeatedly in his nationally televised remarks that “there’s a better way” to grapple with issues than Bush had chosen. He called for a greater emphasis on public service by Americans.

Villaraigosa, who offered the Spanish-language response to Bush’s speech, criticized the president for offering “the same defense of the very policies that have divided this country over the last five years.”

Party leaders hoped Kaine, who took office last month, and Villaraigosa, elected last year, would appeal to voters as “new faces” within the party. Other political calculations also figured into their being selected for the State of the Union rebuttals.

Kaine was picked as part of the Democratic bid to increase the party’s appeal to voters in GOP-leaning states. And with a number of better-known Democrats considering presidential runs in 2008, the selection of Kaine also saved party leaders from having to make a difficult decision.

The choice of Villaraigosa reflected the growing battle between the two parties for the allegiance of Latino voters.

Before Bush’s speech, a Democratic-sponsored ad ran on television featuring GOP lawmakers, including former Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, cheering Bush at previous State of the Union addresses. The ad accused Republicans of catering to special interests.

DeLay stepped aside from his leadership job in September after he was charged in Texas with violating the state’s campaign finance laws, and Democrats have been trying to depict him as a symbol for what they allege is a “culture of corruption” in the GOP-controlled Congress.

Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq and who last year emerged as one of the war’s most visible critics, was invited to the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma). But before Bush entered the House chamber, Sheehan was escorted from the visitors gallery by police. They arrested her for “unlawful conduct.”

A police spokeswoman said Sheehan was wearing an antiwar T-shirt in violation of a policy against demonstrations inside the chamber.

For much of the speech, Democrats refused to applaud, some sitting resolutely with arms crossed.

But Bush received his standing ovation from Democrats when he referred to the failure of Congress to act on restructuring Social Security, the major domestic proposal in his speech last year. This year, Bush settled for proposing that a commission be formed to study problems facing Social Security and other entitlement programs.

After the address, Democrats stepped up their attacks in a barrage of on-camera interviews, e-mails and press releases.

Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the party’s 2004 presidential nominee, called Bush’s positive description of the state of the union a “fantasyland.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer of California complained that Bush “gave short shrift to the mess they made” in dealing with Hurricane Katrina.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York said Bush’s message was “loud and clear: You’re on your own,” contending that his initiatives offered no relief for soaring energy and healthcare costs.

And responding to Bush’s call for bipartisanship, Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York said: “Each year the president talks about bipartisanship, but Democrats just don’t hear from him after his State of the Union speech is over.”

Kaine and Villaraigosa focused on issues uppermost on the minds of many voters, such as the economy and education.

Speaking from the governor’s mansion in Richmond, Va., Kaine assailed the administration’s No Child Left Behind Act, contending that it was “wreaking havoc” on school districts.

Villaraigosa, speaking from the official mayoral residence at Getty House in the city’s Hancock Park district, lamented that “too many hardworking Americans are earning less and losing faith in the American dream.”

Both also spoke about immigration, though they did not specifically address Bush’s proposal for a guest-worker program that would make it easier for illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S., a proposal that has divided Republicans.

“Democrats want comprehensive immigration reform that respects our neighbors, that makes America safer and stronger, and that gives hardworking people who play by the rules a greater opportunity to realize the American dream,” Villaraigosa said.

The Democrats attacked the president on national security, an area that has been his political strength.

“Our commitment to winning the war on terrorism compels us to ask this question: Are the president’s policies the best way to win this war?” Kaine said.

Villaraigosa, referring to the war in Iraq, said, “We owe it to our men and women in uniform and to the families awaiting their safe return to present a clear and credible plan to complete the job and bring them home.”

Kaine and Villaraigosa also took the administration to task for pursuing tax cuts that they say disregarded the federal budget deficit. “We are risking our children’s futures, and it is wrong,” the mayor said.

After he finished speaking, Villaraigosa confessed that he had been more nervous about making a grammatical mistake than he was about addressing the nation.

“My English is a little better than my Spanish,” he said. “I was more worried about saying every word [right].”

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Times staff writers Daniel Hernandez and Lisa Richardson in Los Angeles contributed to this report.