As the hardworking staff has chronicled, it was just our luck that New York Times op-ed columnist Gail Collins went on book leave just when we had launched the Seamus Sweepstakes™, which offered excellent prizes for guessing when she would mention Mitt Romney in her column without tacking on that he drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to to roof of his (Romney’s, not Seamus’) car.

At the time we even sent a letter to Ms. Collins asking if she could work the sweepstakes into her bookstore appearances.

No reply.

Undaunted, we’ve sent another letter to Ms. Collins now that 1) she’s back from book leave, 2) has returned to the Times op-ed page, and 3) totally mentioned Seamus in her comeback column.

Dear Ms. Collins,

The hardworking staff at Campaign Outsider is delighted that you’re back on the Times op-ed page.

As you undoubtedly do not remember, right before you went on book leave Campaign Outsider had launched its excellent Seamus Sweepstakes™, which we introduced thusly:

“As her latest piece indicates, New York Times columnist Gail Collins is temperamentally incapable of mentioning  Mitt Romney without adding “who once drove to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of his car.”

“So Campaign Outsider has established the Seamus Sweepstakes, which challenges our splendid readers to guess the date on which Collins will write about Romney without mentioning his cartop pooch.”

You can understand, we’re sure, how thrilled we were when your comeback column featured a reference to – yes! – good old Seamus.

As a result, the Sweepstakes is back on. We’re sorry you’re not eligible to win, but please feel free to mention it in any future columns.

Sincerely,

The Hardworking Staff