1. One journalist I saw at the airport, when told I would run for the senate, said: "Ah, these political parties. They will get you just to have diversity in their slate." Wrong. Any bull-headed political analyst will tell you that politics in this country is like a race horse. You will bet only on those who would win. 2. Another radio commentator told me not to run because "the political parties will just use you." More crude language, but same premise as the earlier one. Who will use who? At this point in the time-space continuum (as a word-gobbling writer would put it), the presidential candidates are desperate. It will be a closely-fought election, and the winnner for president would nose out the competition by less than a million votes. A strong senatorial candidate (which means somebody in the top six) would add at least 5 percent to the votes of his presidentiable. If 40 million people would vote, that is an additional 2 million votes. Enough for him or her t...