WASHINGTON — Politics and polygamy dominated the national news Thursday and put Utah in the spotlight as President Bush landed in Salt Lake City to start a series of speeches nationwide focusing on the war on terror, and captured polygamist leader Warren Jeffs agreed to return to Utah to face numerous criminal charges.

There was no question Bush's visit before the American Legion convention and a handful of planned protests would draw media attention, but the surprise arrest of Jeffs in Las Vegas earlier this week brought a whole different focus on the state.

CNN, Fox News and MSNBC all carried the president's speech at the Legion convention live, with the Washington Post placing the Associated Press story on the speech on its Web site almost immediately after it ended. The Post had a video of the speech online later in the day. The New York Times and the Post each carried full text of the speech, too.

After Bush's speech, the networks went live to the Nevada courtroom where a jumpsuit-clad Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, told a judge during a brief hearing that he would not fight extradition to Utah on criminal charges.

For the rest of the day, the constant loop of stories bounced between footage of Bush's speech, the Jeffs court appearance and various stories explaining details of his church, including interviews with current and former members.

The broadcasts ran some footage of the rallies around Salt Lake City that drew thousands on Wednesday, but it was nowhere near the coverage of the speech or courtroom appearance.

The two events are obviously not connected, but the attention is likely to continue, as pundits pick apart Bush's speech and coverage of the Jeffs case grows.

---

E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com