Morning Buzz: Jan. 8, 2008

Polls opened this morning at 6 o'clock in New Hampshire for the state's first-in-the-nation primaries. Reports from around the state indicate that voter turnout is already high; at one precinct, nearly 50 voters stood outside in the predawn hours before voting officially began. Yesterday, candidates spent much of their remaining time in a final push to lure independent and undecided voters.

A six-member team of detectives from Britain's Scotland Yard is in Pakistan today to begin assisting President Pervez Musharraf with his government's investigation into Benazir Bhutto's death. Musharraf says he will not attempt to obstruct or interfere with their work, despite earlier statements that foreign investigators would not be allowed on "a wild-goose chase" in Pakistan.

The annual Golden Globes awards ceremony, scheduled for Sunday, will be replaced by a more somber news conference as a result of the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, officials announced yesterday. Guild leaders said they may still choose to picket the event, despite the slimmed-down format. "I would say an awards show in news conference clothing would still be picketed, but I just don't know if it's been definitively decided," said Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West.