Mayor with a taste for ice cream

Supporters of the mayor in the tiny Minnesota tourist town of Dorset can stuff the ballot box all they want as he seeks re-election.

The mayor - a short guy - is known for his fondness for ice cream and fishing and he has the county's top law-enforcement official in his pocket.

Say hello to mayor Robert "Bobby" Tufts. He's just four years old and not even at school yet.

Bobby was only three when he won the election last year as mayor of Dorset (population 22 to 28, depending on whether the minister and his family are in town).

Dorset, which calls itself the Restaurant Capital of the World, has no formal city government.

Every year the town draws a name during its Taste of Dorset Festival and the winner gets to be mayor. People can enter as many times as they like - for $1 a name slip - at any of the ballot boxes in stores around town.

Now Bobby is running for a second term. It is he who will draw the winning name on August 4 and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he will draw his own name.

Calls of "Mr Mayor" greet Bobby as he strolls around Dorset, handing out his campaign card. One side shows Bobby, his dark hair slicked down, wearing his tan fishing vest over a suit jacket.

The other side shows Bobby sitting in a porch swing with his girlfriend, Sophie.

"I would love to be your mayor as much as I love Sophie," the card reads.

"He's been pretty good. A lot of PR for the town," says his mother, Emma Tufts.

"I think he's doing a fine job."

Bobby's job as mayor is to greet people as they arrive in Dorset, which nestles among the pines and lakes of northern Minnesota, about 240km northwest of Minneapolis.

Tourism resorts are the main industry and restaurants ranging from Mexican to Italian to family style line about two blocks on either side of the highway that runs through the middle of town.

Bobby's major accomplishment so far as mayor has been to put ice cream at the very top of the food pyramid. He has many favourite flavours.

"Chocolate. Vanilla. Strawberry. - and rainbow sherbet," says the mayor.