Photo via Jane Romney

Good news! Campaign Outsider’s Seamus Sweepstakes™ (Guess When New York Times Columnist Gail Collins Will Mention Mitt Romney Without Saying He Drove To Canada With His Dog Strapped To The Roof Of His Car And Win Big Prizes!) is alive and well, if by “well” you mean not shut down by the government.

The hardworking staff has sent numerous messages (the exact numeral being two) to Ms. Collins asking her to comment on her Seamus-ession or at least plug the contest – alas, all in vain.

But other news organizations are now jumping on the Seamus bandwagon (not to mention station wagon) in noting Collins’ dogged pursuit of Romney (R-Ruff!).

From PolitiFact.com (tip o’ the pixel to splendid reader Michael Pahre):

Mitt Romney and the dog on the car roof: one columnist’s obsession

Gail Collins loves telling the story of how Mitt Romney drove his family to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car — and telling it, and telling it, and telling it.

The liberal New York Times columnist has mentioned the incident in print 19 times, by our count. She devoted a column to the incident in 2007 when Romney first ran for president. In another column, she suggested John McCain pick Romney for his running mate “so I can repeatedly revisit the time Mitt drove to Canada with the family dog on the station-wagon roof.” And when Sarah Palin was picked instead, and Collins opined that “unlike Mitt Romney, she has never gone on vacation with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car” . . .

Aside from wondering why Collins is so obsessed with the story, we also wondered: Is it true?

Politifact verdict:

Here, we’re ruling on Collins’ statement that Romney “drove to Canada with the family dog Seamus strapped to the roof of the car.” It’s important to note that the dog was not literally strapped to the car, as in tied around its midsection. Rather, Seamus was in a carrier with a protective windscreen that Romney had built. The dog’s diarrhea might indicate that something was amiss, but Romney’s family didn’t seem bothered by it. The anecdote is presented in the Globe as funny family story, not as evidence of Romney’s barbaric cruelty. We rate Collins’ statement Mostly True.

So why is she dodging the hardworking staff’s earnest inquiry?

We’ve sent yet another message to Seamus’s best friend. We’ll keep you posted.