In a startling display of bipartisan spirit, President Bush, after his State of the Union speech, gave Connecticut Democrat Joe Lieberman much more than an olive branch.

Descending into the well of the House

and into a swarm of well-wishers

Bush spotted Lieberman and quickly approached him. Bush wrapped both arms around the Connecticut senator's head, pulling him closer and appeared to plant a kiss on his right cheek.

"I was surprised," the senator said later. "I extended my hand and he was good enough to give me a manly embrace."

Lieberman said he did not recall exactly what was said but he basically thought the president was thanking him for his support of Bush's foreign policy.

Bush moved forward into the sea of Senate and House members, Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members and Pentagon brass, shaking hands and pecking a few female senators on the cheek, but none with the same enthusiasm he provided to Lieberman.

Lieberman has been one of the most vocal Democratic proponents of the Iraq war and is also one of a few Democrats who is not rejecting out of hand the president's plan to privatize Social Security.

Although well-known for his moderate stances, Lieberman has challenged Bush politically. He was Al Gore's running mate in 2000 and tried unsuccessfully to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.

This was not the first time Bush has embraced a Democrat in public. The president shared a

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long hug with Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

In 2004, Daschle used videotape of the embrace in his Senate campaign commercials that aired in South Dakota, over the objections of the Republican National Committee. Daschle ended up losing to Republican John Thune.