Morning News Roundup

Iowa’s Final Day of Importance, Until 2011 Obama and Awwww-Shucks both won the Iowa caucuses by convincing margins. The New York Times has extensive coverage. The most telling number, though: Democrats had 239,000 participants to the meager GOP showing of 108,000. John Dickerson at Slate explains how Obama’s “hope” strategy worked. Michael Barone pontificates on the huge Obama win in the Wall Street Journal and shows off a shiny new meta-election theory. Politico follows-up on why the GOP is in shambles on top of the tepid turn-out (and may be heading towards a brokered convention). And if you don’t think the GOP is in crisis right now, check out Brooks and Noonan: both explain Awwww-Shucks’ win with, taken together, a paradoxical narrative (Brooks says Huckabee’s the first Evangelical candidate to have the religious right base and not be at war with American culture; Noonan says he’s popular with Evangelical voters because he embodies/articulates their steadfast conviction that American culture is the US’ true existential enemy). New Vote in Kenya, Perhaps Mwai Kibaki announced that if a Kenyan court ordered new elections to take place, he would not protest and would, in fact, run again for the office. There are concerns, however, about the honesty and amount of corruption within the Kenyan judicial system. This announcement follows the call of opposition leader Raila Odinga, of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), for another vote. India’s Acquisition in the UK Toyota, although plagued by diminished demand for its products in December, beat Ford in auto-sales last month (and was runner-up to GM). Ford’s troubles continue and it appears that the manufacturer may be wanting to sell off some of its high-end brands. India’s Tata Motors is in talks to buy Jaguar and Land Rover. The Nuclear Option It’s another episode of pragmatic public policy being decried because it doesn’t conform to every “ought” on an interest group’s dogma-checklist: Gordon Brown wants to use nuclear energy to slash emissions in the UK and some Greens are protesting. The environmental groups are upset that the Brown government is explaining this emissions-cutting strategy to the public with pitches like: “Time is pressing. We need to make a decision on whether we should continue to get some of our electricity from nuclear, which is a low carbon form of making energy.” Hmmm, isn’t politics a bitch? Shooting Gallery Roger Clemens denies that his trainer shot him up with banned substances. Instead, Clemens’ defense is that taking intramuscular injections in the ass is standard operating procedure for him. Happens all the time. Yep, he’s not cheating, he’s just a stud. No Roids Here The International Tennis Federation needed some press so they banned Martina Hingis from tennis for two years (she snorted some blow), even though she’s already retired. Quick, Major League Baseball: this could work with Jose Canseco!