Well, one of the county's least known secrets is out. He announced it and it's news, so of course Lindsey McPherson reported it, but this has been known for some time.
Allan Kittleman, if he gets the resources, which means 18 boxtops from Post Toasties and a aerial photo of Winnipeg, will run for County Executive in 2014. Read more about it here.
It is the habit of underdog Republicans to announce their intentions early so they get out there and start campaigning. And I expect Allan Kittleman to be a tenacious, door-to-door campaigner throughout Howard County, which is more amenable to such techniques as one may think.
Personally, I think Allan Kittleman would represent the Republicans' best hope for Governor. But, with his support for marriage equality, that was not about to happen.
That stuff plays well in Howard County. However, I think his best hope of winning the Executive's seat is to hope that Guy Guzzone and Courtney Watson knock the hell each other out of the primary, and the Democratic primary loser and his/her supporters break off and support Kittleman. And even then, I think he only wins by a few percentage points.
Speaking of percentage points, I'd love to see the sample demographics of the poll he conducted that supposedly had him winning by 20 points. Who did the poll, Quixote and Associates? Seriously, I will wager that poll is slanted heavily in favor of Republicans and Independents, and away from Columbia and other Democratic-leaning areas.
This is a uphill battle to be sure, but, with the election of Chuck Ecker in 1990, the GOP has the ability to catch lightning in a bottle. We'll see if it can strike another time.
