The all-important, all-revealing anecdotal poll tells me that Mitt Romney might have trouble in his native state of Michigan.

Many of the Texas Blue crew are in Austin for the weekend, and while we won't really be performing much of a mailbag function at the event, you could come and see us at the TDP Headquarters in Austin this afternoon at a reception kicking off the 2008 campaign season. It runs from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 505 West 12th Street, Suite 200. Texas Majority Builders get in for $15; all others $25. We hope to see you there.

Did you ever think all of the faith-based and evangelical voter mobilization stuff seemed weird, because of that whole church and state thing? The Texas Freedom Network agrees, and an investigation is the result.

The first primary votes are being cast in New Hampshire. Primary Day in the Granite State has been underway since last night at midnight, when the citizens of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, New Hampshire — both towns with populations totaling less than 100 people — cast their votes.

The sense of entitlement on display when Bill O'Reilly started shoving Obama staffers at a New Hampshire event would be breathtaking, if not for the fact that it was Bill O'Reilly.

New Hampshire is alive with politics today as it has been for many months, but there's a renewed sense of uncertainty in the air.

After writing about any subject for awhile, I imagine you collect at least a small degree of cynicism if not a healthy heaping helping of it. If you cover car shows, you might get cynical about how the Edsel and the DeSoto never win any prizes. If you cover high school theater competitions, you might lament that schools performing Chekov never win. And if you cover politics, you are convinced that young voters and new voters are mythical creatures that don't exist, and as such cannot matter in an election. Last night in Iowa, young voters and new voters turned out, and Barack Obama benefited.

The day of the Iowa Thunderdome is here. Today is the day that the presidential election really begins, and it is shaping up to be a long one.

Obama cooks up one of the happy-nice ads we mentioned earlier. Adorable little kids are always a bonus.

Hillary Clinton has some presents for you. If only we'd known that Universal Health Care could fit in a gift-sized box!