Often referred to as the “Mommy party”, the Democratic party’s choice of Jim Webb – the newly-elected senator from Virginia – to respond to Tuesday night’s annual State of the Union address by President George W. Bush was designed to send a clear “Daddy” message to the public.

A former navy secretary in Ronald Reagan’s administration and a veteran of the Vietnam war, Mr Webb holds the ideal credentials to criticise Mr Bush’s “escalation” of the Iraq war while insulating the party against any charge of being soft on national security.