A Goofy Position To Take.

If a Libertarian candidate for office declared, "if I win the election, I will resign so that the Governor can replace me with an appointment- even if that appointee is from a different party than mine," there would be a chorus of hoots and hollers, and the candidate labeled a 'kook'. Commentators would point out that the position is elected, and if you weren't prepared to accept the office if elected, you shouldn't even run.

So, what happens when a Democrat does this? From the Indy Star:

Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Joe Hogsett and former City-County Councilwoman Susan Williams are joining Gov. Joe Kernan and Lt. Gov Kathy Davis on the Democratic ticket this fall.

Hogsett will run for attorney general, and Williams, a former teacher, is running for superintendent of public instruction.

Both choices came as somewhat of a surprise, but the biggest surprise was Williams' announcement that if she wins, she will resign to let the new governor -- whether it's Kernan or his Republican challenger Mitch Daniels who is elected -- appoint his own education leader.

Ed Gluck of Vigo County wants to run for Judge, but is unable because he is not a lawyer. Indiana law specifies that to run for Judge, the candidate must be a lawyer. He begged the LP to let him do this, but the State Chair and then the Central Committe voted against him doing so. Much of the objection was over being viewed as a crackpot bunch of kooks. The further belief was that if you don't like the procedures, rules, regulations, and laws surrounding running for a particular office, the most proper, respectful thing to do is to work to get it all changed. We'd rather not have our candidates thumb their noses at the process.

Alas, the Democrats will be thumbing their noses at the process, and high up on the ticket.

Kernan said the position should be a cabinet-like post, especially since education is ultimately the governor's responsibility.

Politics, Kernan told cheering Democrats at the 2 p.m. announcement, should play no role in education.

Both Kernan and Daniels have favored making the superintendent of public instruction an appointed position. So, too, has the Republican incumbent, Suellen Reed.

But no one had suggested such a dramatic changeover as Williams and Kernan proposed today.

What a crackpot bunch of kooks!