Obama's Farrakhan Test  —  Barack Obama is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.  Its minister, and Obama's spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor.

A Very Serious Blog Post  —  It seems that nothing gets conservatives off nearly so much as writing obviously unserious books with patently offensive titles, designed in every way to not be taken seriously, and then get huffy when people make fun of them without having given their precious works the deep consideration they deserve.

Little to no waiting at polls across metro Detroit  —  FREE PRESS STAFF REPORTS  —  It's Michigan's turn today to choose the presidential candidates.  Here's a sampling of scenes at polling places, as voters pick their favorites.  —  Birmingham resident breaks away from the family

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: McCain, Romney Nose-to-Nose in Michigan  —  Utica, New York - Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were in a statistical dead heat on the eve of the Republican primary election in Michigan, a new Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll shows.

Richard Baker to leave Congress Feb. 7  —  By Bill Walsh  —  WASHINGTON - The dean of Louisiana's congressional delegation, Rep. Richard Baker, has decided to step down from Congress after 22 years to take a job in the private sector representing investors he has spent a career regulating.

Finally: Fred hits McCain; Update: Fred hits McCain again  —  Not with an uppercut but a good straight jab.  It would have been more effective if he'd gone after him individually instead of lumping him in with Huck but the race being what it is in South Carolina, he doesn't have much choice.

Riegle: Clinton's actions manipulated the ballot  —  The Michigan Democratic ballot is a sham that was rigged by Hillary Rodham Clinton, her husband and her supporters to give the nation the impression that she's the leading candidate in Michigan, an angry former Sen. Don Riegle said Monday.

Mike Huckabee Really Is a Piece of Work  —  From Michigan: … Governor, I didn't have silver spoons or boarding schools or a verb summer, but I know enough to thank God for the job creators, the natural economic stimulators, capitalism.  Is this the Republican primary of a John Edwards rally?

Driving Mr. Romney  —  I FIRST met Mitt Romney at a Lincoln Day dinner in 1994, during the earliest days of his failed Senate race against Ted Kennedy.  The next weekend, I was helping him to collect the signatures he needed to get on the ballot for the Republican primary.

Pelosi pushes gourmet menu  —  The processed cheese has been replaced with brie.  The Jell-O has made way for raspberry kiwi tarts and mini-lemon blueberry trifles.  Meatloaf has moved over for mahi mahi and buns have been shunted aside in favor of baguettes.

Militants Escape Control of Pakistan, Officials Say  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's premier military intelligence agency has lost control of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy …

The Kucinich court decision and “judicial activism”  —  (updated below)  —  MSNBC is televising a debate tonight between the Democratic presidential candidates in Nevada.  It originally invited Dennis Kucinich to participate because Kucinich met the objective criteria the network created for inclusion.

Hispanic state legislator goes Obama  —  Assemblyman Mo Denis, one of only two Hispanic legislators in Nevada, endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama this morning, adding to Obama's hope that he can cross old racial barriers and win Latino support.  —  Denis had been supporting New Mexico …

POLL: A New Low in Approval Starts Bush's Final Year  —  Just two in 10 say they are getting ahead financially  —  Beset by growing economic concerns on top of the long unpopular war in Iraq, President Bush starts the last year of his presidency with the worst approval rating of his career.