Dad jeans, pumping gas, landing that new five-figure job — and we thought Mitt Romney's transition from holier-than-thou presidential candidate to not-so-common common man was over. Not so fast: TMZ reports today that Romney visited the institution of American commerce known as Costco this week — and looked way more dweeby than Joe Biden when the vice-president shopped at the superstore just days earlier. Going by the completely unscientific visit-to-Costco photo litmus test, we can confirm that Romney is already light years from a presidential run. Here's his visit compared with Biden's: 

That, on the left folks, is the cart of a common Costco-shopping man. Notice the symmetry and perfect, Tetris-like precision fit that Biden's cart is sporting and the undulating cauldron of entropy on the left topped by generic paper towels?

"Besides the paper plates, dixie cups, wrapping paper, V8 juice drinks, pretzel snacks, Bisquick and bottled water ... Mitt and his wife Ann also purchased a model car made by the Maisto company (probably a gift for one of his 18 grandkids ... sorry for spoiling Xmas)," reports TMZ on Romney's run. Most of those are necessities. Not so with Biden's cart. 

Also: that hat. 

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Alexander Abad-Santos