The contrast could not have been greater:

On center stage, second-term President George W. Bush, basking Tuesday night in the bright lights in the cavernous chamber of the House of Representatives and the cheers of fellow Republicans as he delivered his annual speech on the State of the Union.

And an hour later, some 100 miles down Interstate 95 in Richmond, freshman Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, speaking without audience or pageantry as he stood before a fire in the state’s cozy Executive Mansion to present the Democratic Party’s alternative take on the nation’s state.

Unsurprisingly, their messages were sharply different, as each sought to sell the agenda that would bolster his party’s position in the political battles to come.

Bush, assertive and optimistic, presented a familiar combination of his conservative ideology and his commitment to win the military-political battle against terrorism that has come to define his presidency.

Barely acknowledging widespread national concerns about the country’s direction, he declared, “The state of our union is strong, and together we will make it stronger.”

But the heart of his speech was his vow to win the war on terror and complete the task he began with his attack on Iraq.

When he reached domestic affairs, his proposals were less original than recycled and more incremental than comprehensive. Even impressive-sounding promises to cut energy dependence on the Middle East fell far short of past promises to make the nation energy independent and solve Social Security’s fiscal problems.

Kaine, low-key and nonideological, ceded most of the national security agenda to Bush and concentrated on the president’s more vulnerable domestic record.

He declared pointedly that “results matter” and derided the “poor choices and bad management” in the administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, its fiscal policies and its planning for both the war and postwar Iraq.

Democrats, he said, would restore the balanced fiscal policies that marked the Clinton years. He and predecessor Mark Warner had succeeded politically, he said, “by focusing on service, competent management and results … bringing people together to find common-sense solutions to our common problems.”

He thus provided both a substantive and a political road map for Democrats frustrated in their efforts to counter a president whose policy prescriptions they consider dangerously wrong.

“The better way is to focus on service,” he said. “It’s about measuring what we do in terms of real results for real people. It’s not about partisanship or political spin.”

That’s good advice for a party whose leading congressional voices have too often been seen as a gaggle of partisan nay-sayers.

But Kaine was not alone in seeking to satisfy the public’s demand for less partisanship.

“To confront the great issues before us, we must act in a spirit of good will and respect for one another – and I will do my part,” Bush said. But reactions to his comments – Republican cheers, Democratic skepticism – illustrated the political divide.

For most of the evening, in fact, Democrats sat on their hands, though they gave a loud, almost mocking cheer when the president noted how Congress had blocked his Social Security plan last year.

Besides, it may be late in the day for Bush to become the “uniter, not a divider” he pledged to be at the outset.

Not only have cooperative Democrats learned that support for his proposals has not earned them political protection at campaign time, but recent comments by chief strategist Karl Rove suggest that Republicans are planning more of their past efforts to draw a sharp line between the two parties on the war against terror.

Kaine’s speech, in effect, conceded that, despite public doubts about Iraq and its impact on fiscal issues and domestic problems, Democrats will still find it hard to challenge the president’s party on national security issues.

The unanswered question is whether public concern about the domestic issues that both discussed Tuesday night – health care, energy and education – will prompt enough voters to put them at the top of their agendas in November.