South Carolina: In their ongoing quest to find a candidate suitable to challenge Barack Obama (did you know he’s a Columbia alum?!?) for the presidency, Republican primary voters turned yesterday to former house speaker Newt Gingrich, who received 40% of the vote to Mitt Romney’s 28%. The race for the White House hasn’t been this amphibious since the John Kerry swiftboating era in ’04! (CNN)

Harder than it looks.

Speaking of the American South, nothing’s more properly southern than bacon. But what if it’s ENCASED IN NUTELLA? Gothamist provides us with this most Columbian (see: eating nutella out of the jar in your Schapiro single/weeping softly) of recipes. (Gothamist)

Columbia continues its dance toward politically correct, fiscally modest world domination by opening a new global center in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the university’s first outpost in Africa. (Columbia)

We were first in line to join the discussion regarding ongoing controversy over the outsized role of sports on college campuses, when we realized that the only sports-term we know is “balls.” We’ll move on to this one, in which students discuss their Occupy experiences. (NYT)

And don’t forget the AFC/NFC championship games today! Here’s a rundown of key matchups. (FoxSports)

“That’s what she said” opportunity via Wikimedia Commons.