From the AP:

Willie Bean Roscoe P. Coltrane For Mayor!!

Willie Bean Roscoe P. Coltrane is a 7-year-old yellow Labrador retriever whose owner, Tress turner, has taken a satirical poke at politics by launching the dog into the race.

Turner, 43, manages The Coffee Loft, which is also the dog’s campaign headquarters where supporters can purchase T-shirts and yard signs.

“I think he polishes up the field,” said Vince Kilborn, former Gov. Don Siegelman’s chief attorney in his ongoing criminal corruption case. “We need new blood.” “He doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet. He’s eaten them all.”

Willie Bean doesn’t have a realistic shot at being Fairhope’s next mayor since the July 15 qualifying deadline has passed. Still, other dogs have held office. In 2004, Rabbit Hash, Ky., elected Junior Cochran, a black Lab, as mayor. It was the second canine elected to lead the small Northern Kentucky town, according to the town’s Web site. (The first was a mutt named Goofy Borneman)

Julie Ford, a volunteer at The Haven, Fairhope’s no-kill animal shelter, said Willie Bean is setting his sights too low. “I think he should run for president,” the 61-year-old Ford said after stopping by the coffee shop.

Odd Culture agrees. After Obama and McCain, it’s time America got a decent candidate!