Obama boarded Air Force One for the southwestern state ahead of a service for the six people killed and 14 wounded in the assassination attempt on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, fighting for her life in a Tucson hospital.

The family of 22-year-old alleged gunman Jared Loughner have broken their silence, saying they are "so very sorry" about Saturday's massacre but shedding no light on the possible motivations of their misfit son.

Surgeons are upbeat about the survival chances of Giffords, who was shot through the head at point-blank range, but it remains unclear if the rising star in Obama's Democratic Party will be able to make a full recovery.

In Washington, the House of Representatives put forward a bipartisan resolution condemning the attack and honoring victims, with House Speaker John Boehner underscoring the importance of solidarity among lawmakers.

"Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is not," Boehner, choking back tears, told the chamber. "We're thankful, so thankful that Gabby is still with us."

Democratic House minority leader Nancy Pelosi joined Boehner in a call for unity, saying Congress must rise above partisanship: "American democracy is founded on our commitment to a contest of ideas, not violence," she said.

Emerging from a prayer service for all political stripes, senior Democrat Steny Hoyer described the mood as "somber" and said there was great sadness at the "indiscriminate taking of life."

Speaking hours before Obama's eulogy in Tucson, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, a Democrat, said the attack had hit home: "Now is the time for him to call us into unity."

The president faces a moment fraught with risk but also a political opportunity when he leads the service at the University of Arizona, at a time when he is trying to revive his bond with US voters.

Millions watching nationwide will be listening for words of comfort and compassion, and perhaps a call for a more civil political discourse.

Obama's task is complicated by claims from some liberals that the tragedy is somehow linked to a climate of hate whipped up by conservative political figures like Sarah Palin.

Palin, a possible White House contender in 2012, forcefully rejected any responsibility for the shooting spree and accused critics of "blood libel" for tying her fiery political rhetoric to the assassination attempt.

"Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them," she said in a video message on Wednesday.

Presidents, in their symbolic role as head of state and commander-in-chief, are periodically required to invoke unity in moments of crisis, weaving shocking events into a parable of American history and national mythology.

They have summoned poetry, like Ronald Reagan after a space shuttle disaster in 1986, or prose pulsing with resolve, like George W. Bush in his National Cathedral address after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Such speeches are "a way to take a tragedy and to be sober and somber but also to use it as a way to bring the country together and to move it forward," said political science professor Jamie McKown.

A White House official said Obama began working on his speech Monday night, and that "he will devote most of his remarks to memorializing the victims."

As many as 14,000 people were expected to attend the service amid tight security. Joining the president will be John McCain, his Republican adversary in the 2008 election who is an Arizona senator.

Officials revealed on Wednesday that Loughner, who faces the death penalty because a federal judge was among his victims, was pulled over in his car for running a red light on the morning of the horrifying attack.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said one of its officers stopped Loughner in his car at about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, just three hours before he launched the attack, which killed six people including a nine-year-old girl.

Loughner had his driver's license checked but the officer found no reason to detain him and let him go.

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