Catching up on a May 10 story from the Connecticut edition of the Times, "Dwindling, GOP [1]Won't Look Inward [1]." Reporter Mark Pazniokas greeted a forthcoming speech by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in this snide fashion:
On June 4,Newt Gingrichis to address a shrinking Connecticut Republican Party that has sworn off God, guns and gays aswedge issuesand rallied around the Yankee ideals of ''common sense'' and ''fiscal responsibility."
Not exactly bumper-sticker material. But this is a state where the G.O.P. has badly withered as Republicans in other states thrived using gay marriage, abortion and the death penalty to energize social conservatives and twice elect George W. Bush as president.
Actually, Connecticut has a Republican governor, M. Jodi Rell, as Pazniokas acknowledged in paragraph seven.