“‘When something bad happened to you, she is the first person that would show up and talk to you about it,’ said Jonathan Paton, a former Arizona state senator whom Ms. Giffords defeated in 2000. Mr. Paton later won in another district, becoming her colleague.

“‘We would tease each other all of the time, her being a Democrat and me and Republican,’ he said. ‘I remember when I won my primary the first time, she called to congratulate me. Let’s put it this way: you’ve got to be a pretty kind person if the person you once ran against and beat is as emotionally distraught as I am now.’

“The mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon, recalled seeing Ms. Giffords on Capitol Hill one day, when he was wandering aimlessly in the snow. ‘I was lost,’ Mr. Gordon said. ‘She had only been there a year herself, and she grabbed me, despite the fact she was going to her office, and took me across the street to where I needed to go. Taking a lost mayor from another city that isn’t even in your district is not something many people would do.'”

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“With the story quickly evolving, there’s a limit to what we can say about the shooting. But one thing we can say is that beyond the lives that were directly affected, another upsetting element is that this incident could have the affect of creating more distance between members of Congress and their constituents. There was a time when citizens were able to walk up to the doors of the White House, wait on line, and give the president a piece of their mind. That obviously became impractical and too risky as time went on. But members of Congress, of all public figures, are the most accessible of public officials. To the extent that new security concerns will begin to make members of the ‘People’s House’ more distant from the people, this is a tragedy in more ways than one.”

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“An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve.”

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January 7, 2010: