Newt Gingrich has your nose, and the 2012 race has its "Zombie McCain" photo

The best part about this: future man will never know what is going on here. I mean, several things are clear: Newt Gingrich was campaigning in South Carolina yesterday, milling around and shaking the hands of his supporters, when he grabbed the nose of a seventy-eight-year old supporter, Bonnie Elison.

The bigger questions, though, will likely remain unanswered forever. Why didn't he shake her hand? Did she have something sticky on her fingers? Was he trying to be polite to an amputee? Did he say "Whogotchernose? Whogotchernose?" or stick his thumb between his first and second fingers afterwards to pretend that he had, indeed, stolen her nose? Mysteries, all of them.

Nose-grabbing aside, Newt had a rather strong day: Rick Perry dropped out and endorsed him, and new sets of polls show him tying with or beating Mitt Romney (who, it turns out, actually didn't win in Iowa). And since I, for one, find the idea of a Gingrich nomination more depressing than just about anything, we've got to take this opportunity to laugh.

We should also take this moment to relish the great campaign photos of yore. As Rachel Maddow helpfully pointed out on her show last night, recent contenders include "Mitt Romney gets ready to pack some fudge," "Obama eats a baby," and, of course, "Zombie McCain." Internet, start your meme-making engines.