Rose, and Thorn, From California

As the curtain rose Tuesday on her sure-to-be-contentious Senate confirmation hearing, Condoleezza Rice entered the packed hearing room with one California Democrat on her side and the other one the thorn in it.

First, Rice, President Bush’s nominee for secretary of State, listened as Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the nominee a “remarkable woman” and recounted her rise from segregated Alabama to provost of Stanford University and presidential advisor.

Less than an hour later, though, Rice was straight-backed and squinting as the junior senator from California, Barbara Boxer, accused her of twisting the truth on the reasons for the Iraq invasion, overlooking the war dead and all but missing an opportunity on tsunami relief.

It was an afternoon straight out of “Advise and Consent,” the 1962 film about party politics in the confirmation process.

But replacing the movie’s cast of male stars were three women from California playing out a real-life drama that not only would decide the nation’s next top diplomat, but also help set the tone for relations between President Bush and Democrats in this session of Congress.

If the first day of hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was any indication, that tone is likely to be more of a din. It erupted during a testy exchange between Boxer and Rice, in which the senator set aside the usual decorum and the usually cool and collected diplomat got riled.

Boxer accused Rice of shifting her assessments of how close Saddam Hussein had been to producing a nuclear weapon.

Retorted Rice: “No one was saying that he would have to have a weapon within a year for it to be worth it to go to war.”

Boxer: “Well, if you can’t admit to this mistake, I hope that you’ll....”

Rice: “Senator, we can have this discussion in any way that you would like, but I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity. Thank you very much.”

There was not so much as a “you’re welcome” from Boxer, who was the most confrontational Democrat on the panel, holding up little cardboard signs of contradictory statements by Rice in a prepared presentation that was sweeping.

When the nominee mentioned that the tsunami in South Asia was a “wonderful opportunity” to show off the heart of the American people, Boxer promptly took exception to her phraseology.

“Now the tsunami was one of the worst tragedies of our lifetime -- one of the worst -- and it’s going to have a 10-year impact on rebuilding that area. I was very disappointed in your statement. I think you blew the opportunity,” Boxer said.

When Rice took awhile in her opening remarks to get around to the war in Iraq, Boxer counted the paragraphs and accused her of ignoring the wounded and the dead.

“So, in your statement it takes you to Page 3 to mention the word ‘Iraq.’ Then you mention it in the context of elections -- which is fine -- but you never even mention indirectly the 1,366 American troops that have died, or the 10,372 who have been wounded.”

“I mourn the dead and honor their service,” Rice declared, sounding defensive.

Suggesting that the nominee is no military expert like the current secretary of State, Colin L. Powell, Boxer inquired whether Rice had seen the movie “Fog of War,” a recent Vietnam War documentary.

Apparently assuming she hadn’t, the senator then proceeded to explain that “war is a nightmare.”

Fresh from the November election with another six years in the Senate, she continued a pattern of defiance that began this month when she challenged the certification of Bush’s election.

No one is expecting Boxer’s efforts to change the outcome for Rice -- who will almost certainly win confirmation, perhaps as early as today.

But that wasn’t really the objective.

For Democrats, this was an opportunity to make points and score points as they began a second term working with a president who often outmaneuvered them.

“I’ll be back for more rounds,” Boxer vowed after the hearing adjourned, marking a sharp turn from the cordiality with which the day had opened.

Feinstein is not exactly chummy with Rice, but they share some common interests. The senator is an alumna of Stanford, where Rice was provost for about six years. They both belong to the Aspen Institute Middle East Strategy Group, which meets regularly to discuss world problems. They had a dinner at Rice’s invitation this month at the Watergate Hotel and discussed the Middle East.

Rice asked Feinstein to fill the ceremonial role of introducing her to the Senate panel at the start of the hearing. Protocol recommends a senator from the nominee’s home state do the honors, and Feinstein expressed no reservations, despite her pointed criticism of the administration’s handling of the war.

“This is truly a remarkable woman,” Feinstein said in an interview later, expanding on her praise.

Feinstein said she thought Rice might be taken more seriously by world leaders because she was close to Bush, unlike Powell, who was sometimes seen as outside the loop.

And because Feinstein enjoys an approval rating in California one political observer placed “just this side of God,” she is not likely to suffer politically for embracing a nominee who is unpopular among the state’s Democrats.

So by the end of the day, Feinstein, the centrist stateswoman, had made inroads with a woman who would very likely be the next secretary of State.

And Boxer, the passionate standard-bearer, had succeeded in getting that woman’s goat.

Missions accomplished.