From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

John Harris told me today he might drop out of the governor’s race.

“I just want to see what the governor does, I think that’s fair. If the governor does fine I probably won’t run. There’s no reason to go after somebody if they’re doing a good job,” said Harris, a Republican state representative from Valdez.

Harris filed his letter of intent to run with the Alaska Public Offices Commission in July, just days after Sarah Palin announced her resignation. He said at the time he didn’t think anyone could have beat Palin in the Republican primary had she sought re-election.

He said today that Sean Parnell, who took over from Palin, is now in a strong position in his bid to be elected next year.

“The governor is going to have to make some mistakes in my opinion, probably, for anybody to beat him, at least on the Republican side,” Harris said.

“I’m not wishing anybody to make mistakes, but if he does we’ll look at taking him on.”

Harris has not filed with the division of elections to be a formal candidate for governor. He said that if he does file, it won't be until after the next legislative session ends in April. Harris said that allows him to keep his position as the chair of Legislative Council, which handles legislative business in between sessions, and gives him time to watch Parnell.

Harris does have a campaign web site at http://www.harrisforgov.com/