Mr. Rogers not only wants to be your neighbor, he also wants you to send him a check so he can be your next U.S. senator.

No. No. No. Not that Mr. Rogers.

It’s this Mr. Rogers: Republican Mike Rogers, the former Marine, former FBI agent, former state Senate floor leader, and former congressman from MidMichigan for 14 years.

In a story you are reading here first (lucky you), he is running for the U.S. Senate, although he has not made a formal announcement.

But not to worry.

As sure as the trolley in the TV Mr. Rogers’ ‘hood never went off the tracks, this Mr. Rogers will run.

Reality finally sunk in with the Rogers team, which has now given up on his Don Quixote-type quest to become president of the United States. He gave it a shot, including sojourns to Iowa, New Hampshire, and making phone calls to raise the cash to launch a credible run, but, at the end of the day, the math did not add up.

So, instead of traipsing around in all 50 states, he can instead focus on only one state, which he is moving back to after residing in Florida for a stretch.

So get ready for the carpetbagger charges from other Republicans running for the seat. That criticism is hardly a game-changer, but his decision to get into this thing clearly is.

But, as EPIC-MRA pollster Bernie Porn opines, “This is not a slam dunk for Mike Rogers.”

He will give more moderate, establishment-type state Republicans something to crow about after years of lamenting over the now-Donald-Trump-dominated party they once ran. They will open their checkbooks. They will work for him. And they will hope he can reunite the battered thing they call the state GOP.

But, at the end of the day, there are legions of Trump voters in this state just waiting for word from the former president on his pick for the GOP Senate nomination. And, make no mistake, that won’t be Mr. Rogers. Nonetheless, overtures are being made to Trump to stay on the sidelines in this contest.

Fat chance.

It should also be noted that the Rogers folks believe that Trump has shown that blessing candidates here may be solid gold in a GOP primary, but, in the last state House general election contests, the bulk of the Trump-endorsed candidates took a bath.

The media will anoint Mr. Rogers as the frontrunner, and the popular wisdom is that, if he can survive what could be an ugly primary contest, he would be a formidable opponent to whomever the Democrats pick as their candidate.

Or, put another way, those Democrats would rather Mr. Rogers continue his bid for the White House, leaving the U.S. Senate seat all but a gimme for the Democrats.