ROMNEY TAKES MICHIGAN From the story: ….Romney was helped by "low turnout and little crossover" by Democrats and independents who were free to vote in the open primary. McCain had courted those voters, who helped him beat George W. Bush here in the 2000 primary.   (USA Today )  Fred Barnes credits Romney’s economic talk.  (Weekly Standard )  Another story notes, of Huckabee, “ While born-again and evangelical voters constituted almost 40 percent of Michigan 's total vote, they actually broke for Romney by five points, 34 to 29 percent. Huckabee will need to perform much better with this portion of the electorate as the race for the Republican nomination now shifts to Saturday's South Carolina primary -- for most of the candidates .”  (CBS News )  And Giuliani apparently hasn’t convinced voters in Florida .  (LA Times )   Some exit polls.  (FOX News /CNN )  From Michael Medved:  South Carolina may provide more fertile ground for McCain’s emphasis on character and integrity, with Huckabee offering a stiffer challenge to Romney’s claims on social conservatives than he managed to mount in Michigan. Any outcome is possible – with victories for Huckabee, McCain or Romney (with his Michigan momentum) all very real possibilities.   (Townhall )  More from Townhall on Michigan .  (Townhall )

POLLS OFF AGAIN This time, on the GOP side, where some – though not all - gave McCain a slight edge.  Nobody had a nine point spread, though Mason-Dixon had Romney by eight.  (RealClearPolitics )  The state’s GOP mistakenly sent out a congratulations to McCain.  (AP ) 

HILLARY WIN COMES WITH SIGNS OF TROUBLE As the story notes “roughly 70 percent of Michigan ’s African-American voters — a group that makes up a quarter of Michigan ’s Democratic electorate — did not cast their votes for Clinton , choosing the “uncommitted” option instead. Yet these voters weren’t uncommitted at all: in fact, according to CNN exit polls, they overwhelmingly favored Barack Obama, whose name did not appear on the ballot .”  (CNN )  Michigan likely will not count in the end.  (MLive )  Hillary compared Obama to Bush after calling the president “pathetic.”  (Washington Times ) With trouble of his own, Obama is working to distance himself from Farrakhan.  (Chicago Sun Times )  In an almost comedic moment, Bill Clinton called Obama the “establishment” candidate.  (USA Today ) 

FLESH EATING BACTERIA SPREADING AMONG GAY MEN The story notes the bacteria is also spread “through casual skin-to-skin contact and touching contaminated surfaces.”  Then this troubling note:  “The authors warned that unless microbiology laboratories were able to identify the strain and doctors prescribed the proper antibiotic therapy, the infection could soon spread among other groups and become a wider threat.”  NY Times   

ACLU FIGHTS FOR RIGHTS OF GAYS TO HAVE SEX IN PUBLIC BATHROOMS Somehow that’s a privacy issue.  Tell that to your four-year-old when explaining why washing his hands in a public bathroom is suddenly a horrible idea.   FOX News  

UNITED STATES IN A BIT OF A BABY BOOM Hispanics accounting for one fourth of the births.  AP  

MAJOR EMPLOYERS OFFERING PET INSURANCE Disney among them.  (ABC News ) In other animals-are-people-too news, a couple who claims their dog was “like a child” to them wants stores to poke holes in all their bags after their dog got his head stuck in one and died.  (Shields Gazette ) 

WRITERS GUILD DECIDES AGAINST PROTESTING NAACP AWARDS Political correctness at work.  CBS News  

JUDGE SAYS MAN IN CHILD PORN CASE DOESN’T HAVE TO GIVE PASSWORD TO COMPUTER From the story:  Magistrate Judge Jerome J. Niedermeier ruled that compelling Sebastien Boucher, a 30-year-old drywall installer who lives in Vermont, to enter his password into his laptop would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. "If Boucher does know the password, he would be faced with the forbidden trilemma: incriminate himself, lie under oath, or find himself in contempt of court," the judge said.  Washington Post  

MANY CLAIM CLONED CATTLE MEAT ALREADY ON THE MARKET  As the USDA asks farmers to keep them off the market and the FDA says they’re fine.  Washington Post