Miracle Mike, Fruita's Headless Chicken, Announces Run For President (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

The 2012 presidential race just got real.

Real weird.

Miracle Mike, also known as Mike The Headless Chicken, the pride of Fruita, Colorado, the mascot of the Western Slope and famous the world over, has decided to throw his head, er, hat, into the ring for president, Mike recently announced via his blog for the website that promotes Fruita's annual festival celebrating Mike and his head.

Mike, running on the Free Range Party ticket, is not on the ballot, but encourages supporters to vote for him as a write-in candidate.

Mike made this statement on his run for president:

My opponents—those poor clucks—are running around like headless chickens, and I gotta ask you: wouldn’t you really rather have the real thing? And wouldn’t you know it, those birds won’t debate me. If they did, I’ll bet you a doodle of wild hay you’ll see the feathers fly. If you ask me, all those strutting politicians onstage can learn something from a chicken with a natural strut in his step.

This November don't check the box, write in Mike The Headless Chicken... Because it's a no brainer! Just like most of Washington.

Mike's presidential announcement should come as no surprise, he often makes these kinds of bold announcements to promote the Mike The Headless Chicken Festival in Fruita, Colorado. This year's festival occurs May 18-19 and features a 5K "run like a headless chicken" race, chicken dance contest, eating contests and much more.

Miracle Mike, the actual headless rooster who, according to legend, survived a beheading on Lloyd Olsen's farm in 1945 and lived for another 18 months, 7News reports, was a medical wonder.

Mike became an instant celebrity and was studied by medical scientists, added to the Guiness Book of Records, became the subject of a documentary and featured in Life and Time magazines, according to The Denver Post.

For more information about the Fruita festival, visit their website or the Mike The Headless Chicken's Facebook page.

LOOK: Original pictures of Miracle Mike, the headless chicken, watch the PBS segment on Mike above