Idaho's Governor Moving To DC

Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne will be nominated to become Secretary of the Interior, leaving the statewide election picture in Idaho in a bit of a tizzy. Not because he was running for re-election, though -- it's much more interesting than that.

When Governor Kempthorne resigns, Lt. Governor Jim Risch will become Governor. Gov. Kempthorne wasn't running this year, so my Congressman, "Butch" Otter, is giving up his Congressional seat to run for Governor. This scared off Risch back in November, who announced that he was going to be running for a second term as Lt. Governor, rather than try to move up. So, unless Risch changes his mind and gets the paperwork in by tomorrow (the filing deadline for the November election), we'll have the incumbent Governor running for Lieutenant Governor this fall.

How weird is that?

Update 2250 17 March: It's official; soon-to-be Governor Risch will be running for his "old" job of Lieutenant Governor this fall while he's the Governor. I think this might be a first...