There's a famous photograph from nine days after 9-11.

George W. Bush is hugging Senator Tom Dashel, a South Dakota Democrat who was then the majority leader.

They're surrounded by clapping congressmen and generals, and the two men are staring right at each other.

It looks like Dashel is saying something reassuring.

The hug became a big deal. A sign that after the terror attacks,

politics was on hold. I hadn't been particularly close to President Bush before that.

In fact, many of us were very disappointed with the way the Supreme Court had ruled on his

election. And so 9-11 changed that for a period of time, and that hug reflected that change.

You became close after 9-11? Well, I don't know if we became close, but we became closer.

House Minority Leader Dick Gaphart was having regular conversations with Bush, too.

So were the top congressional Republicans, Trent Lott and Dennis Hastert.

They became known as the gang of five.

The group started meeting every Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. Bush usually just had fruit at those

breakfast meetings, since he'd already been up for a couple of hours. Trent Lott would order the full shebang.

Eggs, grits, toast, coffee, juice.

One story I still vividly remember is that Dick Gepard didn't like to wear a jacket.

And he usually carried it, but he didn't wear it.

But he walked in the Oval Office at one of these breakfasts,

and the President told him he needed to put his jacket on

to respect the office, and so Dick, of course, obliged.

Republicans and Democrats came together in ways that went beyond hugs and breakfast.

Just three days after the towers fell, Congress voted on a request from Bush to authorize the use of military force.

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