<p>Rod Bryan has an uphill battle in his campaign to be Arkansas' governor. The Little Rock record store owner says he'll campaign for the state's highest post on his bicycle.</p><p>"It's kind of an icon of my campaign," Bryan said. "I don't like to fly. I don't have a campaign bus."</p><p>So it seems perfectly logical that, according to his campaign finance reports, his biggest expenditure in January was $778.23 for bike parts and repairs as he tries to make the Nov. 7 ballot as an independent.</p><p>In a governor's race where the three main candidates have collectively raised more than $5 million months before the primary, Bryan has raised $4,328.</p><p>Bryan, 36, on Thursday began gathering signatures to put himself on the ballot: he'll need 10,000 signatures by May 1 to qualify.</p><p>Once he wins the office, Bryan says, he'll outfit the Gov.'s Mansion with solar panels to reduce its energy consumption.</p><p>Bryan said he's made the bike the central part of his campaign, and even outfitted it with a solar panel to power his public address system. Last year, he rode 90 miles on the bike from Little Rock to Dumas for a campaign event.</p><p>"I have to make sure I don't wear myself out on it," Bryan said. "This whole process is designed to run the candidate out of gas before he collects all his signatures."</p><p>Bryan is one of three third-party or independent candidates who hope to run for governor. Green Party candidate Jim Lendall of Mabelvale and independent candidate Richard E. Grace of Fort Smith have also announced their candidacy.</p><p>The governor's race in Arkansas is expected to be the most expensive in the state's history as Democrats try to regain the seat after 10 years. Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican who took over when Jim Guy Tucker resigned after a Whitewater conviction, is term-limited and leaves office next January.</p><p>Bryan said a bicycle would be his primary way of traveling if he's elected, criticizing Huckabee's use of a state plane for out-of-state travel.</p><p>"When the next yahoo decides he wants to fly on airplanes, he can use the money I saved," Bryan said.</p><p>None of the three main candidates _ Democrats Mike Beebe and Bill Halter and Republican Asa Hutchinson _ have any two-wheeled campaign travel plans in their efforts to replace the health-conscious Huckabee.</p><p>"I don't have any plans to, but I'm sure it will have some collateral health benefits for him," said Halter, a former Clinton administration official.</p><p>Beebe, the state's attorney general, has been traveling the state touting his plans on what the campaign has dubbed the Success Express, which remains a bus for now, Beebe spokesman Zac Wright said.</p><p>And Hutchinson, a former congressman, praised Bryan's method but didn't have any plans to use a bike for his campaign.</p><p>"Asa's always held that Arkansas needs more people of every political stripe to make their voices heard, because that's what democracy is all about," spokesman David Kinkade said. "He's happy to see Mr. Bryan join the debate and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail."</p>
