Atomic Fireballs, Boston Baked Beans, and Sweedish Fish

In honor of Mitt Romney's exit from the race for president, I'd like to discuss the finest twenty minutes of C-Span coverage I've seen in the past year.

In late September, C-Span cameras followed former Massachusetts Governor and then-presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as he browsed the selections as Chutters candy shop in Littleton, New Hampshire, home of the world's longest candy counter. I don't begin to understand why this was being broadcast on television, or even why I was watching it.

At any rate, the camera follows Romney as he browses through the candy store, occaisionally making comments to the store's employees or his own campaign staff, but mostly just sort of quietly shopping for candy in the same way you or I might if we were millionaire robot Mormons who were hungry for candy.

At one point, Romney tells all who are listening that he's "being a good Republican" and choosing only red candy, such as cinnamon bears and red licorce or Michigan cherries. At another point, he turns to the shopkeeper and says: "These lids are on real tight. Is that to maintain freshness?" Which is a very robot-like question to ask, I think we can agree. Some of the candy, he claims, is for his wife, who will want some later on the plane.

He then takes his bag of candy to the cash register, where he's asked for $11.52 cents. He gets out his wallet, hands the shopkeeper a bill, then reaches into the "Take A Penny, Leave A Penny" bin for an additional two cents.

So there's your millionaire Mormon robot ex-presidential candidate clearly showing his conservative credentials by providing private luxury from the explotation of public funding.

You'll find footage here.