Roadblockheads:  After a weekend in which it appeared a mini-bailout of the auto industry was imminent... Two monkey wrenches in the assembly line. Our fifth story on the Countdown: is taxpayer help for Detroit being held up by one state that relies on money from foreign auto-makers? And by one final effort by the Bush Administration to kill or cripple... a union?

Veterans New Day:  What President-elect Barrock Obama said about his choice for Secretary of Veterans Affairs...that there is none more distinguished, more determined or more qualified to care for our returning troops... Is no less notable than what the appointee, Retired Army General Eric Shinseki did back in February of 2003.  To that presently. But, in our fourth story on the Countdown, the first part of an answer to the question we have asked nightly since the election and will continue to do so until the inauguration... What do we do now...when it comes to taking care of our vets?

ODDBALL: Virgin Mary in a Cat Scan, and a talking lion talks about the economy.

The American President:  The idea that Barack Obama is not actually a "natural-born citizen" of this country is not just so ridiculous that the Supreme Court, even when pressed by a Reactionary justice like Clarence Thomas, refused today to hear a lawsuit making the contention... It's so ridiculous that even a far right commentator has urged his side to drop it, and drop it fast. Our third story on the Countdown: The Obama Citizenship Blowback... with Arianna Huffington joining me in a moment.

Worsties...see below.

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD: Baseball's Veterans Hall of Fame Commitee, Bill-O and Pat Boone vie for tonight's top honors.

Stay Jay:  Breaking news... NBC is expected to announce tommorrow that it has signed Jay Leno to a new contract that will move his show to the ten p-m time period, weeknights, beginning in the fall of 2010. A new format in prime time. Conan O'Brien is taking over "The Tonight Show" in May, as announced five years ago. The new deal would keep Mr. Leno -- who is the ratings leader in late-night -- on the network... Where he will be able to crack jokes about the new administration 90-minutes earlier