The Ring of "Madam Speaker"

Despite the political theatrics of last night's State of the Union Speech, hearing the congressional escorts announce "Madam Speaker" sounded particularly nice. Kate Zernicke captures it well, though I'm sure personal appearances were important to others besides Rep. Pelosi, whose change of suit color before the speech gets a write-up (what -- no tie-switching worth mentioning?).

Here's more on the visuals from Alessandra Stanley, who describes Sen. Clinton as gazing "beatifically at the camera, past the president, past the Congress and way ahead to the next election."

Oh, and Kerry's not running.