Lights! Camera! Sheila!!

The amazing ability of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to manuever into the view finder of any TV cameraman within a 100-mile range was on full display again last night before and after President Bush's State of the Union speech.

Watchers of the local Houston political scene have grown accustomed to this and pretty much take it for granted, but now even the national media has taken notice.

Britt Hume, the Fox News Channel anchor, was talking about Congressional members who arrive in the House Chamber early in order to position themselves on the aisle where the president makes his entrance. Sure enough, there was Sheila.

But Jackson Lee is so nimble and so quick, she also was able to place herself on the other aisle where President Bush made his post-speech exit, thus ensuring she got face time and camera time with the president going in and coming out of the House chamber.

In basketball terms, this is staking out the coveted low post position near the basket, and Jackson Lee's ability to lay claim to such prime territory on two different aisles of the House Chamber elicited a chuckle from Hume.

Jackson Lee, a former member of the Houston City Council, has cut a wide swath for many years, but in a remarkably different way than the late Mickey Leland, one of her predecessors in the 18th District. The Houston Press back in 1997 had Tim Fleck profile her.[Houston Press]
The House Chamber is packed during the State of the Union Speech, but when the TV cameras go on, no obstacle will keep her from gaining a coveted aisle position to say hi and bye to the prez.