• Campaign Spending and Iraq War Questions Continue to Hover on This Super Tuesday
• Optical Voting Machines May Leave Paper Trail, but Problems Still Rampant
• Immigrants Brought in to Rebuild the Gulf Coast Tricked into Debt
• Pork Barrel Money Found to Go Disproportionately to White Members of Congress
• Abuses by the Indian Military in Kashmir Rankle Human Rights Advocates

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• France Threatens Military Intervention in Chad
• EU Approves Mission to Kosovo
• Italy Without Interim Government Ahead of Snap Elections
• Accidentally Distributed Classified Documents Weaken Case Against Canadian Detainee at Guantanamo
• Oregon Begins Implementation of Controversial Read ID Act

Super Tuesday is well underway in 24 states. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are battling it out for the Democratic nomination and John McCain and Mitt Romney appear to be at the front on the republican side. But still, evangelical Mike Huckabee and anti-war libertarian Ron Paul both hope to pick up as many delegates as possible. The Green party also heads to the polls in 4 states to choose delegates in its first-ever primary process.

Joining us to talk about Super Tuesday and the factors in play is Free Speech Radio New Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell. She's been closely following this process and has reported from the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

A new study shows that minority members of Congress get far less federal money for their home districts than their white counterparts. This money, often called "pork barrel spending," goes to fund local projects and is a mainstay for members of the House and Senate.  Leaders from the Congressional Black Caucus are pressing to make the distribution of funds more equitable.  Yanmei Xie has more from Capitol Hill.

On this Super Tuesday, questions about the effectiveness of voting machines are once again beginning to surface.  Most voters will be casting their ballots on an optical scan voting machine – these machines generate a paper trail, but scan and record the votes electronically.  Five states in today's primaries still use touch screen machines.

Because of the paper trial, optical scanners are perceived as being the more secure option.  But already today, there have been reports of voting machine failure – the most publicized instance was in Hoboken, New Jersey where the state's Governor was forced to wait nearly an hour because the machine wasn't working.  Dozens of voters were turned away in the meantime.

Every election year, there seems to be one group of people politicians on the right like to beat up on.  This year, the target group is undocumented immigrants.  The good news is, the American people as a whole don't seem to be casting votes against that population.  On the Republican side, John McCain, who is rather moderate in his views, has pulled ahead of Mitt Romney, who has taken a hard-line stance against undocumented workers.

But, undeniably the issue will continue to ferment as the presidential race progresses.  And immigrants in the US still face serious challenges.