WINNER Caption Challenge: Jon Huntsman

Submitted by Robert Sickel

This week's caption challenge will not be posted until Tuesday afternoon. We sincerely apologize for whatever mental distress this may cause to you and yours.

Photo by Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Animals, Caption Challenge, Games and Challenges, Jon Huntsman, Primaries, Puppies!, Republicans

Our Endorsements: Mitt Romney on SNL

* Jason Sudeikis warms up his Mitt Romney impression on SNL.

* Via HuffPo Comedy, Bill Maher's new rules.

* People are talking about Huntsman (well, 3 people), from The Onion.

* Great responses to Romney's "dog on the car roof" story.

* If Politicians ran on issues the internet cared about, from Cracked.

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Maher, Daily Links, Internet, Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Saturday Night Live, The Onion

Quote Unquote: High Praise for Huntsman

An unnamed "top" Democrat offers a post-mortem on the Huntsman campaign…

"He was a really poor candidate. He didn't get traction because he projected zero and managed to look really smug as he did so."

Wow! Huge compliment, considering its source. I'm guessing maybe this was John Kerry. Or possibly Harry Reid. Or pretty much any other Democrat.

Maybe they're hoping to court him for 2016. Fingers crossed!

Tags: Democrats, Jon Huntsman, Primaries, Quote Unquote, Republicans

Tweet Untweet: Huntsman's Final Jeopardy

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Tags: Barack Obama, Jon Huntsman, Primaries, Republicans, Tweet Untweet, Twitter

Huntsman Sends His Seven and a Half Supporters Romney's Way

In a press conference that was every bit as electrifying as every other aspect of his presidential campaign, Jon Huntsman — who was in fact a person who was running for president — officially dropped out of the GOP primary race and gave a ringing endorsement to fellow-insanely rich Mormon Mitt Romney, lauding him as "our best shot at beating Barack Obama, believe it or not, so… you know. [paraphrased]"

So, what does this mean for South Carolina and beyond? Not much, really. Now, instead of winning the GOP nomination by a whole whole lot, Romney will most likely winning by a whole whole little be more whole lot. Mostly because, as Nate Silver subtly points out, he's now officially the most sane and least distasteful candidate in the race…

One long-shot scenario by which Mr. Huntsman might have remained viable in the Republican race is if Mr. Romney had stumbled badly in South Carolina, leading Republican elites, who have overwhelmingly favored Mr. Romney, to cast about for an alternative. Because Mr. Huntsman has stronger credentials than some of his Republican rivals and because he might be viewed as relatively electable, he might have garnered support from some corners of the Republican establishment in the event that this occurred, despite Mr. Huntsman’s occasional deviations from conservative orthodoxy.

Now, however, the G.O.P. has no active candidates but Mr. Romney, the idiosyncratic Mr. Paul, and a set of conservatives with poor favorability ratings who might have middling appeal to independent voters. This dynamic has benefited Mr. Romney throughout the nomination race and Republican voters have one fewer alternative now.

Truly a great day for democracy.

Photo by Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Primaries, Republicans