Ronald Reagan was born on this day 99 years ago, and his presidential library is preparing to mark the day in style with a live webcast of the festivities from the facility near Simi Valley, Calif.

The webcast will be streamed on the library’s website starting at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time. Elizabeth Dole will be the featured speaker.

As our colleague Richard Simon reports, plans are taking shape to mark the Reagan centennial next year:

"Events are planned across the country: A Reagan-themed float will grace Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena during the Rose Parade on Jan. 1. His boyhood home of Dixon, Ill., has commissioned an original piece of music — the “Reagan Suite” — to honor him. A program at Eureka College, from which Reagan graduated, will reflect on his Midwestern roots. Warner Bros. has been contacted about a possible event looking at the former president’s Hollywood years. An effort is even underway to name a mountain in Nevada after him."

 Follow this link for Simon’s full report.

 -- Steve Padilla

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Photo: Ronald Reagan in 1989. Credit: Los Angeles Times.

Every president since Ronald Reagan has used the State of the Union address to showcase heroes of the past year -- and convey a sense that they are still connected to the voters and the issues that propelled them to Washington.

First Lady Michelle Obama's office just put out a list of the "special guests" who will be joining her in the House of Representatives galleries for tonight's SOTU -- her husband's first. President Obama addressed Congress on Feb. 24, 2009, but the outgoing president, George W. Bush, had already sent up a State of the Union message as required by the Constitution. So last year's Obama speech was sort of a dress rehearsal -- and it you want to see how he did at meeting his goals, you can read it here. And watch it here:

Here's the list of tonight's guests, as provided by the White House.

-- Johanna Neuman

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The last time Massachusetts elected a Republican to a major statewide office was 2002, when an investment banker named Mitt Romney captured the statehouse. But now, on the eve of a potential upset by another Republican of the Senate seat held by the iconic liberal Ted Kennedy for 48 years, Romney is nowhere to be found.

There's a lot fueling the stunning prospect that Democratic Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley could lose to a little-known state senator from Wrentham named Scott Brown.

Tea Party activists, angry at ObamaCare and federal spending run amok -- are flooding the Bay State with money and ground troops. Check out RedInvadesBlue.com for details.

And Coakley has proved herself a tone-deaf candidate. She offended the entire Red Sox Nation by calling Curt Schilling a Yankees fan and scoffed at Brown for wanting to bring back the Bush-Cheney tax cuts. As a result, despite a last-minute personal appearance by President Obama, some are now calling Brown "The Great Right Hope."

But for all the attention focused on Massachusetts in the run-up to Tuesday's election, Romney is conspicuously absent. And as Politico pointed out, his MIA status could say a lot about his presidential aspirations.

“Mitt Romney is an unpopular former governor," said Jeffrey Berry, a Tufts University political scientist. "He hasn’t really been a part of Massachusetts political culture since he left office. I think people thought he ran for office merely to run for president.”

Early on, Romney hosted several fundraisers for Brown and sent an e-mail appeal for supporters to make calls. But lately, as Republican boldface names like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Gov. William Weld have stumped for Brown, Romney has been on the sidelines.

Still, he has a prediction.  "Massachusetts is not as monolithic as people think," he said recently, noting the state voted for Ronald Reagan -- twice.

-- Johanna Neuman

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It's 2009 and my how times have changed.

Here's a video Christmas message card from 28 years ago -- at the end of another brand-new president's first year in office. Certainly a contrast in personality and references.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of messages, here's one to get your own Christmas presents by clicking here for Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. We're also over here on Facebook, though the list is fast filling up. And our new Facebook fan page is here.

In an attempt to reclaim the Grand Old Party for conservatives, a group of Republican National Committee members is circulating a 10-point platform for the 2010 elections. The platform opposes gun control, abortion, gay marriage and President Obama's healthcare reform, among other issues. The catch: Only candidates who agree with at least eight of the principles would get funding from the Republican Party.

"The goal of the resolution is to take a position ... towards reclaiming the Republican Party’s conservative bona fides,” said Committeeman James Bopp, who authored the resolution. “We are open to diverse views. But you have to agree with us most of the time.”

Conservatives like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin clashed with party officials last month by backing a conservative over the party's nominee in 23rd Congressional District in New York. The effort to further purify the party ideologically could pose new problems for Chairman Michael Steele as he tries to recruit centrist Republicans to run in congressional districts that lean Democratic.

But conservatives within the party are adamant. They want candidates to abide by a litmus test they are calling Reagan’s Unity Principle. Here's the full list.

(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;
(2) Market-based healthcare reform and oppose Obama-style government-run healthcare;
(3) Market-based energy reforms by opposing cap-and-trade legislation;
(4) Workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing "card check";
(5) Legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
(6) Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
(7) Containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;
(8) Retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
(9) Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing healthcare rationing and denial of healthcare and government funding of abortion; and
(10) The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall fell, marking the unofficial end of the Cold War. The wall had gone up in the dead of night on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961, when East German soldiers closed the border to West Berlin. In the decades to come, thousands of East Berliners tried to climb the wall to freedom, and hundreds were gunned down.

On this momentous anniversary, there is much speculation about what role President Reagan played in ending the Cold War, especially in the speech he delivered at the wall two years earlier. That was the famous occasion, in June of 1987, when the president known as the Great Communicator called on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"

I was at the wall with Reagan that day, covering the speech as a reporter. I was expecting Reagan's trademark tribute to the universal aspirations of freedom. Instead, I remember being struck by the directness of his language. On reflection, it was not really surprising. This, after all, was the president who had earlier labeled the Soviet Union an "evil empire."

According to former White House speechwriter Anthony Dolan, the line almost didn't make it into the speech. As drafts circulated within the inner circles of the administration's foreign policy team, State Department and National Security Council staffers waged a fierce campaign -- and up to the very last minute -- to get the president to drop the line.

Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, Dolan said, "With a fervor and relentlessness I hadn't seen over the prior seven years ... they kept up the pressure until the morning Reagan spoke the line."

The key to Reagan's philosophy, said Dolan, was that rogue regimes really were evil, and that the best way to confront them was to expose their moral weakness.

The former speechwriter took a hit at President Obama's policies toward Iran and Burma, worrying about "the impact of the administration's systematic accommodation of criminal regimes and the failure to understand what 'good vs. evil' rhetoric can do."

The wall is down, and Germany is reunited, but some rhetorical wars never end.

You can read Reagan's speech after the jump, or watch it above.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: A West Berliner talks to an East Berliner over the wall in 1962. Credit: NATO / Getty Images

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Former First Lady Nancy Reagan said this week that her husband, Ronald Reagan -- movie star, California legend, 40th president of the United States and one of the greatest icons in Republican politics -- was terrific friends with Ted Kennedy. Yep, the same Ted Kennedy who was so passionate about liberal causes that in his roar he was called the Lion of the Senate.

"Most people didn't realize the friendship, or didn't accept it, or didn't know about the friendship,” she told CNN’s Larry King. “You know, Ronny was so identified with the Republican Party. And Teddy obviously with the Democrat Party. But that doesn't make any difference, Larry, really. It shouldn't make any difference. I'm afraid it does now, but it shouldn't."

In 1981, the Reagans hosted the Kennedy matriarch, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, at the White House, her first visit since President Kennedy’s assassination.

And four years later, Reagan answered the Kennedy family's request to help raise funds for the JFK Presidential Library, where she and her husband were greeted by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

Ronald Reagan and Ted Kennedy "both had very definite opinions about things," said Nancy Reagan, who also said that she and Kennedy had forged common ground over stem cell research. Of her husband and his liberal buddy, she said, "It was a wonderful, wonderful friendship."

 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

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As The Ticket reported last night, Sarah and Todd Palin did eventually attend the summer's major Republican fundraiser.

And former Speaker, current small business owner Newt Gingrich did speak. As usual, provocatively.

They raised nearly $15 million. And Gingrich acknowledged the Palins, to applause.

But what was really important, politically, from the evening event were his heartening remarks to the Republican faithful, offering encouragement and historical precedents, including how quickly the GOP rebuilt after major defeats in 1964, 1976 and 1992.

He also noted, to some audience murmuring, that while Barack Obama won 61% of California's presidential vote in November, six months later in the recent referenda, fully 64% rejected raising taxes and spending.

Partisans of either side may be pleased or angered by his words. They'll boo or cheer while watching this C-SPAN video. Which is fine. But they'll miss Gingrich quoting Democrat Al Sharpton positively. And outlining ways Republicans should ally with the new president.

And for those historical political observers who value a strong two-party system duking it out while Americans watch and make their choice, Gingrich's remarks offer the first actual proposed, detailed road map since November for a 21st century Republican reconstruction.

Whether Gingrich's familiar fountain of ideas triumphs, his thoughts are certain to become a part of the ongoing political debate leading up to the 2010 midterm elections -- and beyond.

And, if speaking about such things in 2009 helps position Gingrich for 2012, well, maybe he won't mind.

As we often do here, we'll let the political actors speak for themselves.

--Andrew Malcolm

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The question on seemingly every blogger’s mind today: Will Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin attend tonight’s House-Senate Republican Dinner in Washington? 

(UPDATE: She did attend. She didn't speak. The crowd cheered. Gingrich graciously acknowledged her and Todd. At the same time he spoke, Fox News broadcast a taped interview with Palin. They raised nearly $15 million.)

Palin, as you may recall, was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the dinner, a joint fundraiser for the Senate and House Republican campaign committees, until she dropped out and was replaced by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. 

At the time, Palin said she could not commit to speaking at the dinner because of her duties as governor in Juneau.

But last week, according to the Associated Press, Palin's advisors told organizers that the former Republican vice presidential candidate would be in Washington today – and would like to attend the dinner. The festivities are scheduled to start soon on the East Coast. 

Palin was offered a seat at the head table at the event but not a speaking role -- an arrangement that Palin, a probable 2012 presidential contender, was apparently not pleased with. After a week of speculation about whether she would attend, it's now looking likely that she will, according to the AP.

But the brouhaha isn’t finished. Over the weekend, a blogger accused Palin of plagiarizing in a recent speech.

Geoffrey Dunn, who is working on a book about Palin, wrote in the Huffington Post that in a recent speech she lifted language from a 2005 article written by – wait for it – Gingrich.

Dunn cites several similarities between Gingrich’s article and the speech, which Palin gave....

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan got the royal treatment today in Washington. Though her husband was a Republican who often tussled with Democrats on Capitol Hill, and though she was often reviled for her expensive clothes and socialite friends, today there was no sign of partisanship or any long knives.

At the Capitol Rotunda, leaders of Congress honored President Ronald Wilson Reagan with a statue celebrating what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called "that storied life." Calling Reagan "one of the giants of the 20th century," McConnell said that the former Hollywood actor and governor of California "stood taller than any statue." The source of his height, said McConnell, "is here with us." Praising Mrs. Reagan for helping to lift the nation "when we needed it most," he added, "America is still grateful."

(As each state gets two statues in the Capitol, the state Legislature earlier cleared the way by knocking from his pedestal Thomas Starr King, a 19th century San Francisco Unitarian Universalist preacher whose image has graced the Capitol for 78 years.)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Reagan marriage "one of great love stories of all time" and said that the American people benefited from the first family's partnership.

Thanking Mrs. Reagan for her activism, Pelosi said, "Your support for stem-cell research made a significant difference in lives of many Americans." Noting Reagan's fierce belief in....