Included in the orientation for new members this week was a visit to the White House to meet Bush:
The welcome at the White House was “a little surreal, when you’ve been running against them for two years,” said Chris Murphy, a Democrat who beat Representative Nancy L. Johnson in Connecticut.
President Bush posed for pictures with all the new members and chatted about their races.
“He said, ‘You beat Chocola,’ ” said Joe Donnelly, a Democrat from Indiana, where the president had campaigned for Republicans, including Mr. Donnelly’s opponent, Representative Chris Chocola.
The president said he had spent a bit of time in South Bend, the heart of Mr. Chocola’s district, Mr. Donnelly said, and “I said, ‘Yes, I’m well aware of that.’ ”
