Should politicians be able to run for multiple offices at the same time?

[Nichlemn]

Inspired by the thread about KY Republicans trying to change the law to allow Rand Paul to run for President and for re-election to the Senate at the same time.

Regardless of your feelings towards Paul, what do you think of this in the general case?

Personally, I see no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to run for as many offices as you like. If you want to run for House, Senate, Governor and President at the same time, good luck to you. If someone thinks there's something wrong with that, they can campaign against you on that issue and the voters can decide if it matters.

The biggest effect would probably not be on the Presidency, but on ascendancy to higher offices. Many lower offices (such as state legislative seats and US House Seats) are up every two years, at the same time as the next step up the ladder. Ambitious politicians would have less to risk and so would be more inclined to run in marginal races.

Even if you tend to generally dislike ambitious politicians, if you like electoral competition I think it would help. The candidate most likely to be swayed into running by virtue of not needing to risk his/her seat is probably a candidate thinking of running in a swingish district against a relatively entrenched incumbent, who would be very likely to win absent a strong opponent but have a fair chance of losing against one. Think say Corey Gardner vs Mark Udall in Colorado this year.