I've been mulling over the concept of electing lame ducks.

Here in New Jersey, we have a lame duck acting governor, Dick Codey, who as Senate president, assumed the governorship when the elected governor resigned. Nobody really cared that the elected governor was gay -- his excuse for leaving. Rather, the bulk of us were fed up because corruption swirled around him like a flushing toilet around a turd.

So... Dick Codey became acting governor because we don't have a lieutenant governor. He then proceeded to do stuff. Pretty good stuff. Stuff he definitely wouldn't be doing if he was running for another term. Or maybe he would, but the spinmeisters would be advising him to do otherwise.

I've been watching this with some pleasure: a New Jersey state politician doing the right thing. What really has gotten me recently is the TV commercials featuring his wife. Most of the time, we only see the governor's wife when she's reading to small children or perhaps co-starring in the customary "governor and his wife walking on the beach" tourism ad. Not Mary Jo Codey. Instead, Mary Jo has done a series of commercials about post-partum depression, something she knows a bit about. Not surprising, either, since both she and her husband have been very supportive of mental health initiatives. Not because they're running for anything, but because they care about it and it's the right thing to do.

Curious.