Tony Herbert

A reader passed on a notably early campaign announcement for 2008 state Senate candidate Tony Herbert, whose candidacy officially gets underway with a glitzy fund-raiser next month at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club.

Herbert's candidacy marks not just one of the first local 2008 campaign kick-offs I know of, but -- after his recent, unsuccessful run against City Council member Tish James as a Republican -- it represents a return to his roots as a Democrat. Sort of.

From an email to potential supporters:

"For decades, our community has blindly voted for any candidate based on party affiliation. This has led to our community being ignored by the same elected officials we voted into office. As long as we don't make our elected officials EARN our vote, we can't expect them to respect our needs in return! "