Jim Connaughton, chairman of President Bush's council on environmental quality, briefed the press today in advance of the president's remarks on global warming.

After giving a long opening statement and then answering more than a dozen questions, Mr. Connaughton hustled out of the Brady briefing room under the pretense that he had to hurry to the airport.

"Thank you, Jim. Jim has a plane to catch for the meeting in Paris. So thank you," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.

About an hour later, roughly 100 White House and executive branch staffers filed into the Rose Garden to serve as an audience for the president's remarks.

Among them was Mr. Connaughton, who sat threw the entire speech, apparently unhurried by any travel schedule.

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times