Shelley Moore Capito thinks George Bush does a great job

by: Clem Guttata

Wed Oct 29, 2008 at 13:57:05 PM EDT

And like schoolgirls saving seats for one another at the lunch table, the congresswomen make sure they're side-by-side at the State of the Union Address every year.

"It's a tradition with us," Capito said. "We're always sitting together on the same side in the aisle ready to shake hands with the president. It's almost as if he expects us to be there."

She hasn't changed. Earlier this year, Politico talked about how Republican lawmakers vie for a chance to get close to George Bush at State of the Union addresses:

The aisle seat, the equivalent of a front-row seat at a concert or a 50-yard-line seat at a football game, is sacred to members on State of the Union night.

Lawmakers like Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Todd R. Platts (R-Pa.), Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), Mary Bono (R-Calif.), Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) are so-called State of the Union Day squatters.

[snip]

If Capito has to walk away, she always leaves the stack of paperwork on her seat, a signal to her colleagues that someone has already reserved that spot - or if she has to go far or use the facilities, she has Ros-Lehtinen hold her place for her.

"She watches my back and I watch hers," Ros-Lehtinen confirmed.