Cat runs for senate – comes in 3rd place

■    A cat that ran for the U.S. Senate in Virginia received about 7,000 write-in votes in last week’s election, according to his owners. That means Hank, who hails from Springfield, Va., can claim third place behind Democratic victor Tim Kaine and Republican also-ran George Allen.The human candidates were separated by 180,000 votes, which means that Hank did not affect the result—but donations to his unlikely campaign ended up raising $60,000 for animal rescue charities. As for the candidate himself, he took defeat graciously. “Hank certainly understood it,” said owner Dignified in defeat Anthony Roberts.