The new mayor of Cormorant was elected in a landslide, despite -- or perhaps because of -- his refusal to give stump speeches, make empty campaign promises or wear pants.
Duke the Dog takes office this weekend after handily winning the popular vote in this northwestern Minnesota village with a (human) population of 12.
Residents paid $1 per ballot to cast votes in the tongue-in-cheek election and Duke, a shaggy Great Pyrenees, will be sworn in at this weekend's Cormorant Daze festival.
The 7-year-old dog isn't the youngest mayor ever elected in Minnesota -- that would be 3-year-old Bobby Tufts who earlier this month lost his bid for a third term as mayor of Dorset.
But he may be the only mayor willing to work for food.
WDAY-TV in Fargo reports that Tuffy's Pet Food out of Perham is donating a year's supply of kibble to the new mayor. The station captured footage of the town's new mayor patrolling the local yards and mugging for the cameras in a mayoral sash and tiny top hat.
Duke was a dogged campaigner, but he wasn't the only candidate in the race.
"Poor Richard Sherbrook that owns the Cormorant Store, he didn't even have half as many votes as Duke did," Cormorant resident Tricia Maloney told WDAY.
