Legislators, former legislators and those who want to be legislators are busy gathering signatures to run for legislative seats, all 186 of which will be up for grabs in November.

This week, attorney Seth Goodall of Richmond announced he will run as a Democrat in Senate District 19. That seat is now occupied by Republican Sen. Paula Benoit of Phippsburg, who is running again.

Goodall, vice-chairman of the Richmond Selectboard, recently stepped down from his position as legal counsel to the Senate President so he could run for office.

In other election news:

Rep. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, said he’s going to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, who is termed out.

Sen. Dana Dow, R-Waldoboro, said he will not seek reelection to his seat because he needs more time to focus on his furniture store business. While waiting in line for a roast beef sandwich in the cafeteria, Dow said he may consider a run for governor in 2010, but he said that the word “may” should be underlined and in italics.

With Dow out, it opens the door for the return of former Rep. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, who has filed to run for the District 20 seat. So has Rep. Peter Rines, D-Wiscasset.

A quick scan of the list on the Ethics Commission Web site shows former Rep. Bob Nutting of Oakland, a Republican, is once again running for that seat. It’s currently held by Rep. Jill Conover, D-Oakland, who has filed to run again.

Visit this site to find the ethics commission list.