President George W. Bush, who delivers his state-of-the-union address tonight, is plagued by low numbers in the polls. Thanks to the war in Iraq, he's become a polarizing figure not only in Washington, but on editorial pages of newspapers across America.

In Erie, Pa., the Times-News prints letters to the editor every day about the president -- some praising Bush, and some bashing him. The mere mention of Bush's name is enough to send some people I know into spasms of anger. I haven't seen anything like this since, well, since Bill Clinton was president. I case you've forgotten, Clinton was Bush's immediate predecessor, and he used to take a pounding on our editorial pages, as well. Of course, some would say he deserved it -- just as some would say Bush deserves what he's getting.

This is known as politics in America, and it's not very pretty, especially the closer you get to it. On the other hand, it wasn't so long ago that 15,000 people squeezed into Erie Veterans Memorial Stadium to hear Bush speak. That was during the campaign of 2004, and Bush made a good impression on a warm Saturday afternoon.

For me, it's always interesting to see an American president up close. When Ronald Reagan campaigned in Erie in 1980, I was carrying a recording he'd made in the 1950's of the "Greatest Bible Stories." In this one, Reagan narrated the story of Sampson from the Old Testament. Several members of the national media were bombarding Reagan with questions when he looked over, spotted the record, and said, "Hey, where did you get that?"

He interrupted the national reporters to recall his narration of that series. "I think it was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes," he said. Just before handing the record back to me, Reagan borrowed a pen from an aide and autographed it. He seemed like a really decent guy, even though I never cared much for his politics.

In April of 1992, Hillary Clinton stopped in Erie on a campaign visit for her husband. Her press conference was interrupted when word filtered down that the body of a little girl who'd been missing for days was found in a dumpster in a housing development on Erie's east side. It had been a huge local story for days, and all the reporters excused themselves and fled to the scene.

When Mrs. Clinton returned to Erie two months later, she asked how the little girl's family was doing. She called the child by name, which surprised me, and I tried to find out if some alert aide had reminded her of the incident. Nobody had. Clinton remembered all the details on her own.

In the heat of the battles, you sometimes forget the big shots of politics are human.

Oh, and that record Reagan autographed for me? I left it on the press bus. Easy come, easy go.

-- Kevin Cuneo

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