A very long week indeed. But there’s always more:

* Santorum calls Rush’s ravings “absurd,” but offers him the classic “entertainer” defense.

* Jon Huntsman dropped from big GOP donor event after third-party comments. Guess he should have said he was just offering “entertainment.”

* TPM offers good rundown on the three-party scramble to succeed Olympia Snowe in Maine.

* Lotta good stuff at College Guide today, including Daniel Luzer’s discussion of public de-investment in higher education.

* Republican meta-strategist turned marriage equality advocate Ken Mehlman expresses some regrets.

Next week we’ll have some fun with Super Tuesday, and the rollout of a new issue of the Monthly. And I can only say now that we’ll have a Mystery Blogger this weekend. It’ll be fun stuff in any event.

Selah.

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.