Hold on to your South Dakota bona fides — and any Thune memoriabilia you might own. It looks like Murdo’s own John Thune could jump back into the 2012 mix.

Bill Kristol, a godfather in the conservative cartel, said today on C-SPAN that he’s heard Thune is coming back. The blogosphere lit up like a Christmas tree.

It was, apparently, a brief exchange that started in a discussion about the general dissatisfaction with the current GOP field and a question about whether some who have bowed out might bow back in. Kristol mentioned Thune, the host pressed for details, Kristol said: “That’s what I’ve been told.”

That was enough. Such is the stature of Thune and the state of the Republican line-up.