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January 16, 2012 | | DROPOUT There goes another contender: Jon Huntsman told his campaign aides late Sunday that he will drop his bid for the 2012 Republican nomination on Monday—and will endorse Mitt Romney instead. Huntsman’s campaign faced low funds and was polling behind even Stephen Colbert in South Carolina. The Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky, for one, doesn’t feel bad for the former Utah governor—he’s worth millions, he made his own bed with a lackluster campaign, and he’s nicely positioned to have another go of it in 2016. Plus, Patricia Murphy on the Huntsman’s terminal dullness, and Howard Kurtz on why the low-key candidate could never find his footing. Disaster The search for survivors aboard the sinking cruise ship Costa Concordia was put on hold this morning when the ship ran aground, rolling onto its side and leaving at least 6 people dead and 16 missing. The captain has been arrested, and the cruise company, a subsidiary of Carnival, is blaming him for the crash. According to the Costa Crociere CEO, the captain made an unauthorized, unapproved deviation from the ship's programmed course that caused it to run aground. The captain is also accused of abandoning the ship before passengers had evacuated, a claim the captain denies. HONORS The Descendants won big tonight—snagging Best Drama and a Best Actor award for George Clooney. Meryl Streep took home the Best Actress in Drama Movie for her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. The Artist walked away with Best Comedy, beating out Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which won Best Screenplay. Jean DuJardin from The Artist won for Best Actor in a Comedy. Meanwhile, over in TV land, Modern Family won its first-ever Best Comedy statuette. Quid Pro Quo Fresh off his weekend endorsement by evangelical leaders, Rick Santorum renewed attacks on Mitt Romney, who now holds a significant lead in South Carolina. A Romney group, meanwhile, is escalating attacks on Santorum over wasteful spending. The New York Times investigated some of the earmarks in question, and found that Santorum gave out a lot of them, and that they often yielded campaign contributions. For example, Santorum helped secure a $3.5 million military contract for JLG Industries in 2005. The next year, executives from JLG gave Santorum's campaign $6,000. According to Tax Payers for Common Sense, Santorum gave out over $1 billion in earmarks during his 11-year Senate career. Infighting The standoff between Pakistan's civilian government, the military and the judiciary just got even tenser. The Supreme Court issued a contempt of court notice to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani today, a first step in a process that could end in his removal from power. The court accused Gilani of failing to obey orders to reopen an old money-laundering case against President Asif Ali Zardari. The court is also investigating whether Zardari ordered a memo asking for U.S. help in putting down a military coup. Gilani is scheduled to appear at a hearing on Thursday. | | 
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