by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.
Mitt Romney won the Michigan Republican Primary convincingly over Sen. John McCain and Mike Huckabee, giving Romney, who was born in the state his first big win and further scrambling the race for the presidential nomination.
The top three Democratic presidential candidates met for a mostly congenial debate in Las Vegas, the first time where only they were on the stage. They tried to put controversies over the use of race in the campaign behind them.
Saudi leaders rejected President Bush's plea that the oil kingdom produce more oil in order to ease price pressures, apparently turning a deaf ear to the president's argument that high oil prices threatened the world's economies.
Investments by foreign investors into the U.S.'s largest financial firms show how far great has been the reversal of fortunes as the same U.S. firms that once invested billions of dollars abroad are now being rescued by huge cash injections from overseas, in some cases from nations like South Korea who had their own financial problems in the 1990s.
African American leaders who played important roles in the civil-rights fights of the 1950s and 1960s have mostly lined up behind Sen. Hillary Clinton and against Sen. Barack Obama, suggesting in part a generational divide in black America.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of food produced from cloned animals but asked the food industry to continue a year-old moratorium on selling such products as the industry and regulators work out a smooth transition for bringing the products to market.
Citigroup, the nation's largest bank, added to spreading economic anxieties by reporting a $9.83 billion fourth-quarter loss Tuesday and forecasting that the economy hadn't yet hit bottom.
The U.S. is experiencing a baby boomlet, the largest surge in babies in 45 years, which runs against the trend among industrialized countries. But the reasons aren't necessarily good. They include a drop in contraception use, an increase in poverty and lower education. Reduced access to abortions, another reason cited by experts, would be welcomed by some and seen as a negative by others.
The Supreme Court, in a victory for U.S. businesses, limited investor lawsuits against third-party businesses, saying if the third-parties didn't make statements that misled investors, they shouldn't be liable.
• 
• 
• 
• 
Comments
Justice Department and Blackwater guards - Another high point in the Bush administration's running of the Iraq war.
If they were US military, there'd be no question about them being brought before a court and the truth coming out.
Since these are "contractors", otherwise known as mercenaries, they are somehow "exempt" from Iraqi and US laws? What a bunch of (fill in your own expletive).
And the Bushies wonder why Bush's popularity in the US and abroad just keeps going lower and lower.
Great selling point for any anti-American group. Just have the US bring in their mercenaries and they can do whatever they want.
Posted by: dogjudge | January 16, 2008 11:04 AM
The Democrat race is ALL about race. From CNN:
"Had Obama’s name been on the Michigan ballot, CNN exit polls show that he would have won an overwhelming 73 percent of the African-American vote, in contrast to 22 percent who say they would have voted for Clinton under those circumstances."
Posted by: Doug Y | January 16, 2008 11:55 AM
Amazingly, the Swamp still hasn't written an article about the Democrat results in Michigan, where the vote split along racial lines.
The Democrats who write for the Swamp don't want readers to know about this.
Posted by: Doug Y | January 16, 2008 12:34 PM
Doug Y
You hood is showing.
The only one trying to make any of this a race issue appears to be YOU.
It appears that you're afraid of something?
Of course you've failed to mention the reports out of Michigan highlighting the Michigan Republicans and how the vast majority of them (Republicans) feel the country is going the wrong way.
Posted by: dogjudge | January 16, 2008 4:20 PM