Representative Tom Osborne (R-Nebraska), who won reelection in Nebraska’s third CD with 87-percent of the vote, has announced that he is running for governor next year.

A former college football coach two decades removed from open-heart surgery, he first has to win the Republican primary against Governor Dave Heineman — who is filling the shoes of elected Governor Mike Johanns now that he is at the Ag Department — and Omaha businessman David Nabity.

Now who’s going to run against Ben Nelson? I’m sure the NRSC was hoping that Osborne would look their way, but they could look to Johanns in much the same way that they got former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez to run for Bob Graham’s old seat in Florida last year.