Didn’t I promise you last week that the State Sen. John Waterman Running For Governor story would entertain us through the end of the month? Prophesy, show thyself as truth:

Republican state Sen. John Waterman said Tuesday that he would run for governor under the banner of the newly formed Taxpayers Party if his supporters can collect enough signatures to place his name on the election ballot.

The conservative senator from southern Indiana’s Sullivan County had previously indicated he would run as an independent. Regardless, Indianapolis attorney John Price - who is helping lead Waterman’s efforts - said the process for getting on the ballot would be the same.

That means Waterman and his choice for a lieutenant governor running mate, Glenna Jehl of Fort Wayne, will still need to collect about 33,000 signatures from registered voters by June 30 to get on the November ballot.

Price said the Taxpayers Party, which favors repeal of property taxes, would dissolve next Jan. 20 and its sole purpose was for a Waterman ticket. If Waterman is able to get on the ballot and somehow manage to win, he said he would run for re-election in four years as a Republican governor after the Taxpayers Party dissolved.

Reality check, please.

Price said it “will be a miracle” to collect enough signatures in the first place, but that several groups were circulating petitions. Waterman said help was coming from hunting and fishing groups and people from organizations that oppose abortion.

All good things must come to end, but it looks like we’ve got almost two more weeks before the curtain falls on this Pas de Duh. Heaven have mercy, 15 minutes sure can feel like an eternity.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

Seriously?

Well, at least we’ll have something to keep us entertained over the next 19 days.

1. Hey, Big Guy, enough with the rain already.

2. If you can do something — give money, give time, give supplies — to help those who’ve lost everything to the recent flooding, please do so.

3. On the political front, who believes this new gubernatorial poll? (Not it!)

4. And finally, also on the gubernatorial front, is State Sen. John Waterman, R-AlwaysPackingHeat, still running for Indiana’s top job? Does anyone care?

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.