Seeing the Manchester Union Leader endorse Newt Gingrich for president I feel a pang of sympathy. It’s easy for me to imagine a situation in which Evan Bayh was being set up as the inevitable Democratic nominee and in which his competitors were all unqualified cranks and quacks. People in the progressive movement would be under enormous pressure not to endorse Bayh, who represents just about everything they hate about the Democratic Party. Progressive opinion leaders would tie themselves into pretzels in their effort to maintain some credibility with their loyal readers. The Union Leader knows that Newt Gingrich is a joke, but they can’t very well endorse Romney. And, so, Gingrich gets their nod.