It seems Montana politicians are way out front of most folks in making announcements about running for office in 2012.

Yes, 2012.

Maybe we should get the 2010 elections out of the way first?

I have not heard of anyone announcing they are running for President yet in 2012, but here in Montana we’ve heard U.S. Senator Jon Tester publicly announce that he was running for reelection in 2012.

In Tester’s case, I think he had to make the announcement early because this will help prevent his unhappy base of support from taking on the politically-wounded and weak first termer in a primary. His record of accomplishments is lacking, plus he’s broken several campaign promises, so he’s running scared.

Just yesterday, I heard that former Republican senate leader Corey Stapleton of Billings announced that he is running for Governor. Probably like most people, I muttered something like, “Who cares?” or “Why?” when I heard the news.

Stapleton’s announcement is a lot different than Tester’s in that this race will be for an open seat as Governor Brian Schweitzer is term-limited from running again. 

The rumors are flying about who will run for Governor in 2012 for the Democrat and Republican, so some candidates feel that getting one’s name out front early is important to line up supporters, get some donations flowing, and (hopefully) prevent yourself from being gobbled up by someone with bigger name recognition down the road.

Unfortunately for the Republicans, the bench is not that deep with people who have the all-important name recognition to run a state-wide campaign, so it may take two-plus years of road trips to get your name recognition up to a respectable level.

Although I think it’s way too early for candidates to be making their 2012 plans public, it does give me and other political observers something to write about.

So now Stapleton has had his 24-hour news cycle and now we go back to our normal programming and turn our attention to the 2010 election.