The race to have the earliest primary election is on. The Florida legislature has voted to move its primary, which is currently held in early March, to January 29 in order to preempt the dozen states that have set theirs for February 5. This means only the Iowa and Nevada caucuses and the New Hampshire primary will happen sooner. Meanwhile, feeling left out, the Michigan state legislature has voted to move theirs to last Wednesday. Beat that, Massachusetts!

– The Me Decade
– Year of the Ocean
– Black History Month
– National Brotherhood Week
– Earth Day
– Witching Hour
– New York Minute

Chrysler has announced that it will offer a hybrid version of its famous high-power 335-horsepower Hemi V-8 engine in their Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs. They say it will improve the cars’ fuel economy by about 40% in the city and 25% on the highway, which means it should sip gas so delicately it will get about 18 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway. Remember, that’s hemi, as in half. You know, like a hemi-assed effort at being green.

1931 – The Empire State Building opens
1960 – American U-2 spy plane shot down in Russia
1967 – Elvis Presley marries Priscilla
2003 – President Bush proclaims “major combat operations in Iraq have ended” under a sign that says “Mission Accomplished.”
2007 – With 3,351 U.S. military casualties to date, President Bush vetoes the war spending bill that would require U.S. troops to begin coming home from Iraq.