Mike Doughty will take the rest of 2006 off from touring to focus on his latest venture: a campaign for New York State Senate, representing the 7th District (comprising most of northern Nassau County, Long Island).
"I've always had a keen interest in local government," Doughty says. "And the 'Unsingable Name' actually was 'Suozzi.'"
Doughty's priorities as a Senator would include a moderate raise in property taxes to raise subsidies for Nassau County's soy gluten farmers; and defusing tensions between Nassau County authorities and the local chapter of the Busboys' Guild, which have spun out of control in recent months.
Doughty assures his fans that a victory in the State Senate election in November won't be the end of his music career: "I'm apartment-hunting in Albany right now," he says, "and as it turns out, for what I pay for a studio apartment in Manhattan, I can get a small mansion near the capitol building and build a home studio right in the living room. I love it upstate!"