Mark your calendar for Saturday, June 7th, 2008. Because that, my friends, is the day that I will announce that I am running to be Delaware’s next Lieutenant Governor.

I know, I know—it is shocking news. Here you had thought that I was racing madly up and down the state in order to avoid having to engage in the more challenging issues facing me at home, such as trying to explain to Adam why he has to use the toilet when Lenny (the dog) doesn’t. And now you come to find out that I am running for Lieutenant Governor.

The truth is that the official three-county announcement tour is a time-honored Delaware tradition. It usually comes long after most insiders know you are running, but for many Delawareans who don’t scrutinize the newspaper every single day, the significant coverage that the press gives the announcement tour is the first time that they find out (a) that you are running and (b) why you are running. So it is a big deal.

I am actually kind of looking forward to this three-county tour. Generating attendance for my 2004 three-county Insurance Commissioner announcement tour was a challenge—the invitation said something along the lines of “Come Hear Some Guy You Don’t Know Announce His Candidacy for an Office You Never Cared About Before.” But in the last three and a half years, we have profoundly changed the Insurance Commissioner’s Office, and people know how important it is. And I would like to think that as a result, a lot more people know who I am and what I am about.

Mrs. Denn will be there, the Denn boys will be there, I suspect that even Lenny will be there. You won’t want to miss it.