The world (well, TimesWatch) was eagerly awaiting Gail Collins' return from vacation to see if she would continue to obsess over Mitt Romney's dog Seamus, strapped in a crate on the top of a station wagon on a long-ago family vacation, in the aftermath of revelations that Obama ate dog as a child in Indonesia [1].
Not only did Collins bring it up again, as she has a few dozen times in her column [2] since 2007, but she led with her chin, asking the incredibly benighted question: "Did you ever notice how many of the Republican candidates seemed to have animal issues?" before the inevitable segue to Seamus, in Thursday's "The End of Newt [3]." 
Did you ever notice how many of the Republican candidates seemed to have animal issues? Rick Perry shot that coyote, and Jon Huntsman got bitten by a goat -- really, that was the high point of the Huntsman campaign. Also, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the veep front-runner, recently imitated a chicken on television. You will be hearing more about this incident because I think I speak for the entire national media when I say that we are planning to discuss possible Republican vice presidential candidates nonstop through the spring and summer.
And the winner is the guy who drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car!