It looks like John Waterman’s independent campaign for governor is over before it really started.

The Shelburn Republican tells me today he’s been having trouble lining up someone to be his running mate. The lack of a running mate would make it difficult to circulate enough petitions and get enough signatures by the deadline to get his name on the ballot.

(Read what Jen wrote about his possible candidacy last week by clicking here. )

Waterman says he should have a final decision Wednesday.

My late grandfather had this old saying he loved to repeat: “Wish in one hand, spit in the other, and see which one fills up first.”

If he were still alive, I’d ask him to give State Sen. John Waterman a call.

Waterman has decided, with less than six months to go before the November election, that he wants to run for Governor.

Now, the good Senator from Sullivan, is known for being one of the, um, livelier characters in his particular legislative caucus. In fact, years ago, when yours truly was but a young reporter for the Indianapolis Star, he was very eager to make sure I knew he was packing heat on the Senate floor on the last night of the session. I was, to be sure, impressed. And more than a little bewildered. But it just didn’t seem all that — what’s the word former Senate President Pro Tempore Bob Garton used to wield as a deadly weapon? — ah, yes, germane.

All that, however, is beside the larger point: Waterman essentially has a month and change to collect 32,000 signatures and pick a running mate. Then there’s the small matter of financing a statewide campaign, which is no easy trick.

But I’m not in the business of crushing hopes, and stranger things have happened in Indiana politics. (See also: The 2007 Election Of Indy’s Accidental Mayor.)

Good luck, Senator. All I ask is that if your dream winds up deferred, please be sure to wash those spit-stained hands a couple times before you head back to the hallowed Statehouse halls.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go sit on my back porch and hope a million dollars in small, untraceable bills falls out of the sky.