Gus, the golden retriever that received 28 write-in votes for San Juan County Commission in 2004, is setting his sights higher this election season.

Gus, who is owned by David Rand of The Sign Company, announced in an e-mail today that he is running for president of the United States.

“Please make the following correction to the editorial comment made in your Letters to the Editor section regarding me. I am a GOLDEN RETRIEVER, not a yellow lab,” Gus wrote.

“For your information, I am now running for President of the United States as a write-in candidate. I like running for office — I just like to run. And I am honest & trustworthy. What other candidate can you REALLY trust?”

Gus promised to take the high ground and set a good moral example for Americans. “I will not embarrass you … I am not a womanizer — I have no desire, I’ve been fixed. Can you trust McCain or Obama? I think not. Look at John Edwards — I’m glad he’s out of the running. And Slick Willie’s wife is gone too.

“I’m the best choice, the clear choice.”

Gus closed his letter exhibiting a decisiveness Americans expect from their chief executive: “I’m Gus, and I approve this letter.”

Gus ran for the pre-county charter Board of County Commissioners in 2004 as a write-in candidate, sparking a discussion in the Elections Department of whether votes for a dog could be challenged if Gus proved the spoiler in a close election.

It was the most colorful write-in campaign since Willie Cavenaugh’s in 2000; that campaign featured posters of Cavenaugh sitting in an outhouse, with the promise that he would keep working “until the paperwork’s done.”

Gus’ owner, David Rand, said people still tell him that they voted for Gus in ’04. “If everyone voted for Gus that said they voted for Gus, he’d have been a county commissioner,” Rand said.

Rand said Gus is 7 — that’s 49 in dog years, enough to meet the constitutional age requirement for presidential candidates. Gus was born in Lynden.