Romney Holds Narrow Lead

in little-noticed Mercury Primary.

While it is usually overlooked because of its remoteness and sparse population, shrewd political insiders have -- after factoring in this year's unique combination of a long campaign season, open races and an early and front-loaded selection process -- decided to take a second look at the Mercury Primary, propelling the humble, lifeless ritual into brief prominence.

Just how chicly off-political-plumb is this wee, dry-roasted berg?

One camera/ No reporters.

From the AP

NASA probe to fly past little, sun-baked Mercury

By Will Dunham

A NASA probe next week will become the first spacecraft in 33 years to fly by Mercury, a sojourn scientists hope will unlock the secrets of the small sun-baked planet.

NASA's car-sized MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled to zip about 124 miles above the cratered, rocky surface of the closest planet to the sun on Monday, part of a mission designed to place it into orbit around Mercury in 2011.

"I think we're in for some big surprises," Faith Vilas, one of the scientists involved in the mission, told reporters during a conference call on Thursday.

"You know that we can't get cocky about this and say, 'Oh, it's going to look like this.' Every solar system body looks very different from every other solar system body," she added.

…

MESSENGER's instruments will collect more than 1,200 images and make other observations during this initial fly-by. It will be the first up-close measurements since the Mariner 10 spacecraft's third and final fly-by in 1975.

MESSENGER, which stands for Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging, was launched in 2004. The probe has meandered through the inner solar system on the way to Mercury, already having flown past Earth once and Venus twice.

THE OTHER SIDE

Scientists said MESSENGER is expected to retrieve far more data about Mercury than did Mariner 10, which surveyed only one hemisphere of the planet. During next week's fly-by, scientists will begin to collect images of the other hemisphere.

"Mercury really has been long ignored -- too long," NASA's planetary science chief James Green said. "With MESSENGER, we believe that many of Mercury's secrets will now be revealed."

…

For a moment it was political heaven: virgin soil being respectfully plowed by genuine rocket scientists, blissfully free of pundit stank and Chris Matthews’ grope-tracks all over its ass.

And then someone had to go and ask Romney something...

When asked about his chances in the First Planet Primary, Mitt Romney replied: "I remember when my father -- who was then the Emperor of Mercury -- and I marched with Dr. King and Dwight Eisenhower through the Skinakas Basin.”

"Sure it's hot on Mercury. Very hot,” Rudy Giuliani offered in answer to the same question. “But no hotter than having to swing into action as the Greatest Fucking American Hero Evah on 9/11."

Ron Paul was not invited to the press event, but everywhere his legions

were in evidence.