The Family Institute of Connecticut’s Peter Wolfgang met with President Bush last week at a meeting of pro-lifers at the White House.  From FIC Blog:

The occasion was a Breakfast in Honor of the 35th Annual March for Life. For the first time ever, key pro-life leaders were invited to the White House on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade to be personally encouraged by the President in their efforts “to build a society where each one of us is welcomed in life and protected in law.” . . .

Upon entering the room President Bush was greeted by a hearty round of applause that would be repeated at several points during his speech. Looking at those in attendance, “I see faces that shine with a love for life,” he told us. “You’re here because you know that all life deserves to be protected. And as you begin your march, I’m proud to be standing with you,” he said. . .

Throughout his talk the President was friendly, smiling, winking at familiar faces in the crowd, a man very much at ease with himself and the world around him. Considering the incredible burden of his position and the outrageous vitriol of his opponents, it was a very reassuring sight.

The 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, will take to the lecturn in the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives tonight to deliver his final State of the Union address. Mandated by Article II, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, the President will speak to the joint session of Congress about the current state of affairs in the United States. Tonight’s speech will be this President’s seventh and final State of the Union.

At 9:01:30, the President will address a Congress, and a nation, rattled by troubling economic news, against the backdrop of a bitter struggle to be his replacement. Senators Clinton and Obama will be in the gallery - no doubt the cameras will fixate on them at some point during the evening, before they predictably make their way out of the Chamber and into the post-speech coverage in which they will beat up the President for his proposals.

Connecticut will be represented in the First Lady’s box tonight as Senior Airman Diane Lopes, of Danbury, will be seated near First Lady Laura Bush. After joining the U.S. Army in 1991, and then the Air Force Reserves in January 2003, Senior Airman Lopes was deployed to Iraq in August 2007 where she worked as a member of a base security force team. In September 2007, she was wounded in a rocket attack at Kirkuk Air Force Base. She is currently undergoing physical therapy treatment on an outpatient basis at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Senior Senator of Massachusetts Ted Kennedy will endorse Barack Obama tomorrow in Washington, D.C.

It is always dicey when you have hundreds of people in a room arguing about politics with alcohol an arm’s length away. But Friday night at the Middletown Elks Lodge, 400 Connecticut Republicans made the first ever GOP Presidential Straw Poll a memorable event.

 They came from all over the state armed with their beliefs and support for the next President of the United States. Each camp and their supporters listened patiently and respectfully to other speakers who made their pitch, showed their videos and then voted via paper ballot or on-line.

Gov. Romney emerged on top, followed by Sen. McCain, Congressman Ron Paul, Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Huckabee. When it was over, all sides shook hands, exchanged cards, grabbed posters and buttons and retreated into the January night knowing they had shown the political world here that we are ready to roll.

They showed how vibrant and fired up our party is in Connecticut, belying the popular spin and polls that show we are mired in self immolation or doubt.

 There is no doubt that the Republican message is working and will work in the fall election, no matter who the GOP nominates in Minneapolis.  Here is why - on the two seminal issues of this century - global terrorism and global economics, the American people will embrace a Republican alternative to keeping our country safe from the Islamic fanatics and competitive against the growing competition of an emerging China.

The Democrats have spent their time debating the 1960’s while Bill Clinton is showing why he is such a divisive, dangerous sociopath - bent on rewriting history to cover his abysmal record of protecting our country at home and abroad. It is almost funny to watch Bill Clinton wave that skinny finger of his and raise his eyebrows to lecture us morons about why his wife is the answer to our problems.

 Bring them on and let us be done with them.

But Friday night belonged to the activists, the rank-and-file, the Republican workers and true believers that are the spine of our party and its life blood.

Connecticut Republicans showed that they can get it done when it matters, that we care about our state and our country and are willing to work hard to make our case, resolve our differences and turn a red state into a blue one come November.

The straw poll was also simply fun.

The Hartford Courant Editorial page has endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as their pick in the February 5th GOP Primary in Connecticut.  Released this morning in the Sunday Courant, the editors of the newspaper highlight Romney’s record as a CEO and technocratic Governor while overlooking some of the criticisms lodged against him.

They cite several instances from the ”innovative” Governorship of Mr. Romney:

The Republican governor led the fight to control sprawl and bring more affordable housing to the Bay State with groundbreaking laws and a dramatic reorganization of state agencies. In 2003, he combined transportation, housing, environmental and energy agencies into a super-agency, charged it with stopping runaway suburban growth, then appointed a Democrat environmentalist to run it. By comparison, Connecticut is still nibbling around the edges of smart growth.

Addressing the primary criticism that many of his GOP adversaries make, that Romney is a flip-flopper, the Courant points to cases where, they say, Senator McCain has pandered to factions within the Republican coalition:

And presidential candidates often pay tribute to the traditional wings of their parties at primary time. Mr. Romney’s chief rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain, has pandered as well in, for example, changing his position on the Bush tax cuts, which he once voted against and now wants extended.

The endorsement is interesting in that the Courant Editorial Board seems to have done some considerable digging into the Romney record, rather than just focusing on the lengthy campaign process.  In fact, they seem to dismiss the campaign that Mr. Romney has run:

Mark Twain said about Wagner that his music “is better than it sounds.” Mr. Romney is a better leader than his perplexing campaign performance makes him out to be.

Coming off a strong win in the CTGOP Presidential Straw Poll in Middletown on Friday night, its been a very good weekend in Connecticut for Mitt Romney. 

MSNBC is reporting that Barack Obama has decisively won the South Carolina Democratic Primary.

More to come . . .