Mickey Kaus, the Slate blogger who delights in needling his fellow Democrats, liberals and the L.A. Times — and even sometimes a Republican — confirms via email that he's looking at running against Sen. Barbara Boxer this year. He hasn't quite filed, as the LA Weekly's blog reported this afternoon (since corrected), but he sounds close. Kaus, who is 58 and lives in Venice, hasn't posted anything new at Kausfiles since Feb. 24.

Technically I've only taken out the nomination papers, to gather the necessary signatures. I haven't returned them yet.

I did file a "candidate registration and qualification form," but I think that is just for their internal use at the registrar's office.

Kausfiles has been around a long time and is well-read nationally among political junkies. Absent a political base of any sort in California, I'll assume this is about something other than, you know, becoming a Senator. Fostering debate on the great issues? Weakening Boxer for the Republicans in November? Blog traffic? Unknown, but it could be interesting for awhile.

Photo of Mickey Kaus: Wikipedia