Stand-Up For Her Man

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Laura has been saving Bush for decades. She persuaded him to stop drinking on his 40th birthday. He converted to her Methodism, giving him the religious faith that has guided his remarkable trajectory. At the moment she has no plans to campaign for his signature, second-term Social Security proposal, but a senior White House official says, "We're not ruling anything out."

Like her mother-in-law, Laura is a shrewd defender of the President's agenda. She stepped up to support his strict position against federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cells, and she created a stir last year when she told TIME that she approved of the Swift Boat ads against John Kerry. (She noted that the Democrats deserved them for not opposing independent 527 groups.) Even after the correspondents' dinner, the First Lady waxed serious, testifying to what a joy her husband is. All that remained was for Bush to provide the final touch, noting a few days later in a malapropism so goofy it may just have been intended: "My wife has become quite a one-liner." --With reporting by John F. Dickerson/ Washington