Aisle Hog

Steve Kornacki of Salon.com wrote before the January 2011 State of the Union (SOTU) address, “Meet Congress’s 5 biggest aisle hogs: You see them every time a president enters the House to deliver a State of the Union address.” An “aisle hog” is a legislator who gets a space on the aisle to shake hands and appear in the television picture with the person giving the speech (for the SOTU, the president).
 
The term “aisle hog” was quickly picked up in the media and on political blogs.
   
     
Wikipedia: State of the Union address
The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda (for which he needs the cooperation of Congress) and his national priorities.
 
The practice arises from a command given to the president in the Constitution of the United States:
 
“He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. ”
  — Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution
 
Salon.com
Tuesday, Jan 25, 2011 08:30 ET
Meet Congress’s 5 biggest aisle hogs
You see them every time a president enters the House to deliver a State of the Union address (Updated)
By Steve Kornacki
As congressional theater goes, it doesn’t get much better than the entrance of the president for a State of the Union address. You know how it goes: The packed House chamber, filled with members of both the House and Senate, is gaveled to order and the president’s arrival is announced, at which point a great cheer goes up from members of both parties. The president then works his way slowly down the center aisle,  pausing occasionally to exchange pleasantries with some of the many members who have stretched their hands out to greet him.
(...)
Update: If you thought this story might scare the aisle hogs off tonight, you were wrong.
   
Gawker
Who Are the State of the Union’s Biggest ‘Aisle Hogs’?
Jan 25, 2011 03:45 PM
A handful of Congress members are apparently such attention whores that they squeeze to the front of the pack at every State of the Union to shake the president’s hand as he walks in. Who are these “aisle hogs”?
 
Salon‘s Steve Kornacki did the yeoman’s work of watching CSPAN clips of the president’s entrance from the last 10 State of the Union addresses.
 
Dallas (TX) Morning News - Trail Blazers Blog
Texas rep. among the State of the Union “aisle hogs”
4:37 PM Tue, Jan 25, 2011
Melanie Mason/Reporter
The sharp-eyed journalists over at Salon have identified a handful of members of Congress who always seem to be perfectly positioned to greet the president as he enters for the annual State of the Union address.
 
One of the most recognizable “aisle hogs,” they say, is Texas’ own Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the seven eight-term Democrat from Houston.