Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has flirted with the idea of running for governor for most of the 16 years he has been in his current job.

During at least three different election cycles, Arpaio has teased the media for months about the possibility, pointing to polls that show his name identification matches or exceeds the state’s senior U.S. senator. Arpaio will schedule a news conference in the early spring of an election year for a “big announcement” to build up anticipation. But his announcement always turned out to be that he’s happy to serve as sheriff and someone else can take on the headaches of running the state.

Since journalists assume something occurring three times is a definite trend, this year’s coverage of Arpaio again talking about a gubernatorial bid has been largely perfunctory. That might have to change, however, after a new voter survey by a national polling firm indicates Arpaio, a Republican, would have the best chance of defeating the Democratic frontrunner, state Attorney General Terry Goddard.

In fact, Rasmussen Reports claims Arpaio would have a decisive advantage over Goddard if the general election were held this month (51 percent - 39 percent), while incumbent Jan Brewer likely would lose (35 percent - 44 percent) and state Treasurer Dean Martin would be neck-and-neck (38 - 40 percent).

The poll certainly got Arpaio’s attention today after local journalists started calling him for comment. He sent four back-to-back messages on Twitter about it, including:

“I cannot ignore the results of this latest Rasmussen poll about the possibility of me entering the AZ Governor’s race for 2010.”

“If ever there was a time to consider a run, now may be the time. I (continue) to be asked by my supporters to step up and fill a leadership void.”

Of course, just being popular isn’t enough to campaign for higher political office. One critical issue that always has stopped Arpaio before hasn’t changed: he’d have to resign as sheriff and then deal with being treated as just another candidate running for office (and challenging the present officeholder from his own party).

Resigning mid-term would allow the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to appoint a new sheriff. In the past, Arpaio probably would have had quite a bit of influence over the board’s choice. But given the level of animosity between the sheriff and the board over the last year, an Arpaio endorsement now probably would guarantee that the supervisors would pick someone else as his replacement.

At the same time, this entrenched conflict in county government could be the perfect justification for Arpaio to move on. He seems more popular these days with state lawmakers (the Republican majority anyway). So the governor’s office might be the place for Arpaio to reinvent himself.

In any case, Arpaio is supposed to be a man of his word. Enough of the talk. If Arpaio truly believes he could make a difference for the entire state, he should step forward and make the effort to do so.