Angus the Dog enters race for Governor of US state, officials stop him in his paws

Angus was born in the USA, but won't ever get to run for President.

Was it a political conspiracy to stop Angus from contesting elections? (Picture: Facebook/Terran Woolley)

Reporters in US's Kansas were in for a shock recently. As the state prepares to elect a new governor, they have been reaching out to all those who had filed their nominations for the state's top executive. However, they were in for a surprise they had least expected when they tried to get in touch with Angus Woolley. Angus is a dog.

Angus is three years old - his master Terran Woolley claims that's 23 in human years. He is a wire-haired Vizsla. And Terran thought it would be a great idea to enter Angus in the race. And it has turned out to be a statement, not only of what Terran thinks of the current leadership in the state but also American democracy in an age when it is fraught.

Terran told Kansas media that he got the idea after finding out that a number of teenagers had announced their bid for the governor's office, perhaps just for kicks. This was made possible by the wording of the laws on who can be governor. They don't mention any criteria, now sparking calls for limitations to be placed. "I thought, hey, why not Angus? He's a good dog, he's smart. And, I think he could provide better leadership than what we've had the last seven years in our state," Woolley told the Topeka Capital-Journal.

The race for governor in Kansas puts the incumbent Republican Party in focus, and is widely expected to be used as a rebuke to US President Donald Trump. The present governor is Jeff Coyler, a surgeon who inherited the office from Sam Brownback, who left to serve in the Trump administration. The Republican candidate for Kansas is Kris Kobach, who is presently the Kansas's secretary of state.

And Angus's policy proposals in the electoral battle are designed to appeal to a particular section of the state's population. "His platform was going to be free Chuckit balls for life," Woolley, a dental hygienist and a resident of Hutchinson, told news agency Reuters.

However, election officials in the state have shutdown Angus's dream of electoral glory. They have ruled that according to the law, the governor needs to be a person, and that Angus doesn't qualify as a person. Ouch!