I’VE MENTIONED UTAH TEA PARTY LEADER DAVID KIRKHAM BEFORE, and now there’s this news: Tea party leader Kirkham ready to run for governor.

David Kirkham, who organized Utah’s first tea party two years ago, said he is “99.99 percent” sure he will run against Gov. Gary Herbert, and that he could make a decision “any second.”

“I have been on the sidelines as a dissident for two years now,” he said in an interview with The Tribune. “I have come to realize that in order to really affect the change that needs to happen you have to, at some point, become a player.”

Indeed. I hope he wins!

UPDATE: Reader Tom Scott writes: “I haven’t made a political contribution since the Contract With America slid quietly into oblivion not even trying to live up to its promises. This is a campaign that would bring me back into the fold. And a governorship would be the ideal spot to begin. I remember Kirkham’s various interviews and contributions to your blog and I was impressed by his integrity and honesty. If you have the opportunity to provide him more coverage I would certainly appreciate it.”

I’ll do my best.

MORE: Ronnie Schreiber writes: “My only dealings with David Kirkham have been automotive, writing about Kirkham Motorsports and his quite capable metal forming skills. He’s made absolutely stunning Cobra replicas out of copper and bronze and he always is gracious when responding to queries. If he got elected, I bet he’d be the only sitting governor that knows how to weld, let alone knows how to use an English wheel to shape a fender. I think that Kirkham is a great example of what Matthew Crawford wrote about in Shop Class As Soul Craft and he’s probably a throwback to an earlier day when even professional politicians had day jobs.”