Romney loyalists must be high fiving each other black and blue. The Tribune Sunday unleashed a tepid endorsement of Mitt as "Executive Material," which would be high praise, indeed, if Mitt were a Starbucks barista trying to make manager.

Did you, like me, get the feeling the entire editorial board was in a headlock while they wrote it? Tortured Vietnam pilots have confessed to being "capitalist running dogs" with more conviction than some of the Trib's candidate endorsements over the years. (Who can forget the leaden endorsement of Bush four years ago.)

What I like best about the Trib's official endorsement is the "oh, by the way" damning shot:

We concede that Romney has deeply wounded his own credibility by flip-flopping on an array of issues, most notably abortion. But there is evidence that he is at heart a moderate Republican, a fiscal conservative and technocrat with nuanced social views, who concluded that he must pander to the party's evangelical right to earn the GOP nomination. That pandering has been a mistake.

Flip-flopping? Pandering? Did the Trib just call Mitt a cowardly opportunist? I'm just guessing here, but those aren't the qualities voters look for in a president — or a dog catcher.

With only slightly more sizzle, the paper backed Hillary Clinton.

When you face that touch screen on the Feb. 5 primary — you're on your own again.