Editor's note. I have been delayed. New Today's News & Views will begin tomorrow.

When activists from around North America gathered for the 36th annual National Right to Life convention, they knew from pre-convention publicity that the July 3–5 conclave would inspire, inform, and invigorate them for the battles to come. How could it be otherwise with four general sessions, a prayer breakfast, a closing banquet, and 66 workshops that covered every topic from A to Z? And that doesn't even include the parallel teen convention that was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel or the scholarly Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change meeting that was held the night of July 2.

"Pro-life grassroots America was very well-represented," convention director Jacki Ragan told NRL News. "With the challenges we face as a Movement, I'm delighted so many pro-lifers leaders from across the country were able to carve out time from their hectic schedules to attend."

Naturally, the television networks and C-SPAN--along with print journalists from such publications as Politico and the New York Times--gave their main attention to the appearances of former senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson and to Karl Rove, now a Fox News analyst and former White House senior advisor to President George W. Bush. Both men delivered powerful, well-received speeches that drew both laughter and thunderous applause.

Both Thompson and Rove went to the source--the voting record, statements to pro-abortion groups, and comments made during debates and town hall meetings--to paint a picture of a militantly pro-abortion Sen. Barack Obama.

There is no item on the pro-abortion laundry list that Obama opposes, from unwavering support for Roe v. Wade to the enactment of the hyper-radical "Freedom of Choice Act."

Rove may have put it best when he told the huge crowd, "This is a man who stands up and says he is going to bring Republicans and Democrats together, conservatives and liberals together, to achieve great things for the country. If you want to bring the nation together, how can you claim to do that, if you are at the same time supporting the indefensible practice of using taxpayers' dollars to fund abortion? You can't! You cannot square that circle."

In many ways, NRLC 2008 served to introduce pro-life Senator John McCain to a wider pro-life audience as well as exposing pro-abortion Obama as the right-hand man of the Abortion Establishment. Rove and pro-life champion Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) were particularly effective in laying out chapter and verse of Sen. McCain's extensive pro-life credentials.

But no one stated the case for McCain better than the presumptive Republican presidential nominee himself. In a moving video, McCain talked of his 25-year pro-life voting record, adding, "I'm proud to stand with you in defending the sanctity of human life, and in supporting mothers and children, under the most challenging of circumstances."

McCain, an adoptive parent, also talked of pride in his wife, Cindy, "who brought our daughter Bridget home from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, and blessed our family with the gift of this blessed child of God. I am as thankful for her, as I am for all of my children, and am glad that we were able to give her a home, and a better life."

But while the cameras and the reporters may have been focused on these two general sessions, much of the real work was done in the 66 workshops. From 12:45 Thursday afternoon until after 5:15 Saturday afternoon, grassroots pro-lifers received the equivalent of a Ph.D. in applied pro-life principles.

One session would teach the basics of how to work with the Hispanic community while right next door attendees would learn the truth that there are ethically acceptable alternatives (which are already working) to harvesting stem cells from human embryos.

The next session would outline how to fight anti-life initiatives at the UN while across the hall lecturers would explain the basics of forming a campus pro-life group. The list goes on and on.

"There was nothing too basic or too involved," Ragan said. "The convention's job is to motivate, to be sure, but first and foremost, it is to educate and equip."

Ragan encouraged TN&V readers to order convention tapes. "If you couldn't make it, listening to them is the next best thing to being on hand," she said. "If you were there, you'll have a chance to refresh your memory and listen to all those terrific workshops you were unable to attend."