Of Course You Can Do Better - So Run for Office

You've got until close of business Tuesday, Jan. 31 here in Kentucky to file for one of the literally thousands of public offices up for election this year. Every county office: constable, magistrate, city council, mayor, judge-executive, sheriff, jailer, commonwealth's attorney, district judge, county clerk, county attorney and circuit clerk. All 100 state representatives, and half of the 39 state senators. Not to mention the white whales of Congress.

Barefoot and Progressive:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st DISTRICT
Edward Whitfield (R) is filed for re-election. Currently has no opponents.

2nd DISTRICT
Brett Guthrie (R), incumbent, is filed and so is David Lynn Williams (D). His 2007 race against Richie Farmer brought less-than-rave reviews from Dems.

3rd DISTRICT
John Yarmuth (D) is on file and no one has yet tried to challenge His Awesomeness.

4th DISTRICT
According to the SoS, Gary Moore is the only one filed to take Geofferson Davis’ seat, but there’s a bunch of folks coming there.

6th DISTRICT
We’ve got 8 days to convince Kathy Stein to challenge Ben Chandler. Or for someone else to step forward. Who will it be now? The only candiddate on file in this race is Randolph Vance, write-in candidate. Neither Andy Barr nor Chandler appears to have filed their papers. If Scott Jennings wants to get Karl Rove on the phone, $1 Million from the Crossroads SuperPac would almost assuredly bring Ben a challenger. $1 Million, Karl. Bring it. You’re gonna have to spend way more than that in the general so why not buy the primary.

POTUS

Mitt Romney is the only candidate on file ahead of Kentucky’s May primary that is likely to be the absolute deciding state in the Republican race to take on Barry Hussein. Newt, Rick and Ron have 8 days.

If you want to run for an office, the SoS is a good place to start for qualification information and procedures. For more local offices, check with the County Clerk’s office.

As Kentuckians For the Commonwealth says, if you’ve ever considered running for office, there’s no time like the present.

As I've written before, there is no law or regulation that says you have to spend a single dime on your campaign after you pay your filing fee. You don't have to campaign at all. Just get your name on the ballot, then go about your life as usual. You'll probably lose, but you would have made the point that nobody gets to run for office without a challenger.

And who knows? Anti-incumbent sentiment sent a shitload of newbies to Congress and state legislatures in 2010; you might be the one to benefit this year.

UPDATE II: Gingrich is now on the Kentucky primary ballot. Catch Newtmentum, Kentucky repugs!