NPR News

We're not far away from the primary in Michigan, the state where Mitt Romney was born, where his father served as governor in the 1960s — and where Romney won four years ago. But the most recent polls have the latest "not Mitt" candidate — Rick Santorum — ahead.

Gerry Hasan is a writer for Foreign Policy.

Greg Mitchell writes daily for The Nation.

Anthony Shadid, 43, perhaps the most respected US reporter covering numerous wars and battles zones throughout the Middle East and North Afrida in the past dozen years, died today in Syria. He reportedly suffered an asthma attack. His body was then carried across the border to Turkey by his New York Times colleague, photographer Tyler Hicks.

When world renowned vocalist k.d. lang appeared on Mountain Stage for the second time in October 2004, she brought along a small band, a four-piece string section and songs from her album Hymns of the 49^th Parallel.The album includes songs written by heralded Canadian song crafters like Neil Young ("Helpless"), Leonard Coehn ("Hallelujah"), Bruce Cockburn ("One Day I Walk") and lang herself ("Still Thrives" and "Constant Craving," both co-writes with Ben Mink).

Noam Scheiber is a senior editor at The New Republic.

A question: Does it matter who wins the upcoming Michigan primary? I can only foresee two scenarios in which it does: First, if Romney were to lose to Santorum decisively, one could imagine the GOP establishment waking up the next morning and scouring the country for a white-knight alternative. At that point all hell breaks loose, and you and I are as likely to be the GOP nominee as Mitt Romney.