But the shiny bipartisan veneer Bush hopes will follow him into the Oval Office lost some of its luster Thursday, when many Democratic representatives said they weren't invited to the speech, and at least one even after having requested an invitation.

"We weren't asked to come," says state Rep. Garnet Coleman.

Calling the Bush team's failure to invite Democrats "phony" and "hypocritical," Democratic state Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, said that "it was kind of surprising that we weren't invited."

President-elect Bush's office did not return several calls for comment.

"It shows you how good that they are at presenting impressions," adds Coleman, vice chairman of the Texas House's public health committee and a member of the appropriations committee.

"The impression was that the Legislature -- more than half the members of which are Democrats -- were standing there and applauding him. But that is an incorrect impression," Coleman says. "It was an image of solidarity. But the reality is, it wasn't solidarity from the standpoint that Democratic members of the Legislature who did not receive an invitation or were not invited were not part of the applauding crowd."

Bush indeed made a big show out of his being in a house of Democrats. After being introduced by Democrat Speaker of the House Pete Laney, Bush referred to the chamber as "a place where Democrats have the majority, Republicans and Democrats have worked together to do what is right for the people we represent."

"We had spirited disagreements, and in the end, we found constructive consensus," Bush said. "It is an experience I will always carry with me, and an example I will always follow. The spirit of cooperation I have seen in this hall is what is needed in Washington, D.C."

But what exactly does Bush perceive to be "cooperation"? There were, of course, some Democrats in the chamber, namely those who had worked with Bush, like Rep. Paul Sadler, chairman of the public education committee who worked with Bush on tax cuts and education, and Rep. Robert Junell, chairman of the House appropriations committee.

Junell endorsed Bush for president, even traveling around the country to stump for him, while Sadler is frequently quoted in the media saying nice things about the former Texas governor.

"I imagine this was for the team of Democrats who assisted Governor Bush not just in the past but in some way during his campaign -- by campaigning directly for him or by being silent," Coleman says. "This was a speech for his supporters."

But Democrats who have been critical of Bush and supportive of Vice President Al Gore didn't get invitations to Wednesday night's speech. In addition to Coleman and Bailey, other Democratic representatives less eager to work with Bush -- like Rep. Elliot Naishtat, chair of the human services committee; Rep. Yvonne Davis, chair of local and consent calendars; Rep. Tracy King; and Rep. Manny Najera, sources say, all failed to receive invitations to the bipartisan love-in last night in their own workplace.

"He speaks of being a bipartisan guy, but I think certainly the majority of Democrats in the Texas House would not consider him a bipartisan," Bailey says. "He tends to be bipartisan when you agree with him." Bailey says that there have been a few exceptional times when Bush has reached out to Democrats, but generally that has not been the case.

As for Junell, Sadler and a couple of other Democrats who do support Bush, Bailey says there just under 10 or so conservative Democrats in the state House and Bush "uses them as window dressing to claim bipartisanship while the overwheming majority of Democrats are just left out in the cold."

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