One of the great things about being a state senator with elections that come up during the presidential years is that you can have a few free bites of the apple at statewide office.  Today, Mimi Walters announced that she will be taking advantage of that fact and running for state Treasurer against incumbent Bill Lockyer.

Now, I’m not saying that Mimi Walters doesn’t think she can win, but I’m just saying that Mimi Walters can’t win barring a Bill Lockyer implosion.  At any rate, this is a very clever tactical move from Walters.  She gets some statewide attention, and doesn’t really have to raise all that much money.  Let’s face it, nobody is really going to give her any money to go up against Lockyer’s $10 million warchest, but on the other side, she just might be able to coast off of Whitman’s scraps to get some decent statewide attention.

I’m sure Walters has dropped some sort of preliminary poll, but my guess is that this is about building name ID. And, to be honest, as a fan of small d democracy, it’s always good to see some sort of challenge for every statewide seat. And hey, maybe Lockyer will spend some of that warchest this year.