Mitt Romney wasn’t invited to the State of the Union, but he showed up anyway. Presidents rarely use their vanquished rivals to make rhetorical points, but President Obama went above and beyond to give several hat-tips to Romney during his hour-long address.

The president proposed a “fix-it-first” infrastructure repair and modernization program, starting with the country’s 70,000 structurally deficient bridges. Though a far cry from the more ambitious, but unappreciated, high-speed rail program, it is likely to find more political favor if ever Congress and the president row together to deal with the nation’s crumbling transportation network.

Slate’s Matt Yglesias noted that when Romney was “a moderate governor of Massachusetts, he was a big fix-it-first proponent.” Bay State transportation geeks will remember that, in 2005, Romney proposed a 20-year, $31 billion plan that would have allocated three-quarters of those funds toward infrastructure repairs, including structurally deficient bridges.

But with Romney’s mind elsewhere and lawmakers far from any consensus on a statewide strategy, fix-it-first in Massachusetts went nowhere. Gov. Deval Patrick ultimately implemented a $3 billion accelerated bridge repair program.

Obama gave a second shout out to Romney as he introduced his plan to increase the minimum wage: “So here’s an idea that Governor Romney and I actually agreed on last year. Let’s tie the minimum wage to the cost of living, so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on.”  While Congress would skyrocket in popularity if lawmakers hiked the wage from the current $7.75 to $9, talk of a minimum wage hike usually prompts knee-jerk opposition from Republicans.

Indeed, Romney was skewered by conservative pundits and The Wall Street Journal over the issue. Obama’s plan will likely suffer a similar fate, which leaves low-income workers relying on state governments to tinker with the wage as they see fit.

Obama gave his final nod to the former Massachusetts governor with his plan to establish a non-partisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration, which would work “to improve the voting experience in America.” Lawrence voters could be forgiven for thinking that the city’s decrepit voting booths inspired Obama, but the experience of Desiline Victor, a 102-year-old Florida woman who waited hours to vote in November, helped inspire the idea. She also earned an invitation to Washington for her troubles.

The Republican co-chair of the new commission is the Romney campaign attorney Ben Ginsberg, described by The Washington Post as a “major player in the campaign finance law community and a longtime Romney confidante.”

With his complimentary asides about their failed presidential candidate, was Obama making yet another fruitless pitch to appeal to the better natures of Republican lawmakers?  Like any State of the Union of address, there are messages for lawmakers and then there are appeals to the American people.

Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, a CNN analyst, concluded that President Obama wanted to signal to middle America that he is not some fire-breathing socialist, but a pragmatic politician who supports moderate solutions that Republicans, like Mitt Romney, have actually embraced.

                                                                    –GABRIELLE GURLEY

BEACON HILL

A bill in the state Senate would allow prosecutors to go after assets of convicted child predators.

The Senate taps the state’s rainy day fund to close a budget gap this year.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

The city contractor who plowed the driveway of Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua’s condo building says he charged hizzoner the full $75-an-hour rate, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

During the blizzard, the Lynn Parking Department towed 298 vehicles, issued 782 tickets, and received one threat that an employee would be beaten with a prosthetic leg, the Item reports.

Worcester considers offering businesses that buy local a way to reduce their property tax bill, the Telegram & Gazette reports.

The snow plow contractors Boston Mayor Tom Menino blames for leaving city streets unplowed have been more attentive to the needs of the mayor’s campaign account.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

President Obama calls for a robust effort to lift the middle class in his State of the Union address. The National Review says the problem with the president’s agenda from the State of the Union is money — we don’t have any. The New Republic’s Timothy Noah isn’t impressed with Obama’s call to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour, saying $10 would be a better target if he’s serious about stimulating the economy and helping families who are struggling to get by. What’s more, Noah says, Obama effectively made this promise in the 2008 campaign, when he vowed to increase the minimum wage to $9.50, which, indexed to inflation, would be $10.13 today. Meanwhile, TNR’s Jonathan Cohn says Obama laid down an important marker in calling for universal preschool. Cohn says it was the “most important proposal” of the SOTU address, even if it’s also likely to be the one that gets the least attention.

Obama yesterday signed an executive order strengthening the country’s cyber security by allowing federal agencies to share potential threats with power grids, water supplies, and other infrastructure and utilities.

The White House pick for Treasury gives the Cayman Islands a political makeover.

Governing lists state Republican officials to watch in 2013. Not surprisingly, none are from Massachusetts.

A Senate committee in Virginia parts ways with Gov. Robert McDonnell, choosing to increase the gas tax instead of doing away with it, the Washington Post reports.

ELECTIONS

A tight timeline — plus two feet of snow — are posing a big challenge to US Senate candidates — especially the undermanned Republicans —  who must gather 10,000 nominating signatures by the end of the month.

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg was going to retire, but is now feuding with Cory Booker for sport.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Another Massachusetts firm feels the effect of defense spending cuts.

Intel says it plans to offer an over-the-Internet TV service that would package channels in smaller bundles, Time reports.

EDUCATION

The Boston metro area ranks third in the nation in terms of the percentage of residents (19) holding an advanced degree, Governing reports.

HEALTH CARE

Paul Levy explains why he writes.

TRANSPORTATION

Five Massport workers are facing criminal charges that they took bribes from cab drivers in order to let them cut in line to pick up fares at Logan Airport.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The Globe’s Derrick Jackson notes bipartisanship is elusive on the regional greenhouse gas initiative.

Keller@Large proposes a bake sale for millionaires to raise the estimated $100 billion it would cost to bury power lines in Massachusetts to avoid storm outages.

A proposed bylaw in Fairhaven, where a pair of turbines are the focus of some residents anger, would cut the height of future turbines by half and quadruple the required distance from residential structures.

The federal Department of Energy takes a second look at loan guarantees for Cape Wind.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Police in Albuquerque carry video cameras on their lapels, the Wall Street Journal reports.

MEDIA

Jonah Lehrer, who resigned from The New Yorker for borrowing his own work and fabricating some Bob Dylan quotes, is paid $20,000 by the Knight Foundation to talk about his misdeeds, the New York Times reports. Lehrer blames his misdeeds on his IQ — which, he points out, is way bigger than yours. Knight’s Alberto Ibarguen defends bringing in Lehrer here.

Desmond Tutu compares drone strikes to apartheid in a letter in the New York Times.