Indie Kinky Friedman Kicking Some Ass in Texas Gubernatorial Race

[AtomicKitten]

Independents Try to Shake Up Texas Race

By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer

May 5, 2006, 6:15 PM EDT



AUSTIN, Texas -- In a small, windowless room in an industrial part of town, with rock music softly thumping in the background and two mirrored disco balls spinning overhead, Kelley Lowes is working for a man who hopes to be Texas' first independent governor since Sam Houston, and its first ever named Kinky. Humorist, author and songwriter Kinky Friedman is looking to oust Republican Gov. Rick Perry, as is fellow independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the state comptroller who bills herself as "one tough grandma." With 45,540 valid signatures apiece, they would set up a wild four-way race Nov. 7 in the nation's second-biggest state.

Lowes is painstakingly typing and double-checking names from handwritten petitions for Friedman, logging long hours before Thursday's deadline. "You never quite realize how big a deal this is," said Lowes, a 20-year-old University of Texas student from Houston.

Friedman's first name alone -- no one calls him by his birth name, Richard -- is enough to make this an unusual race. It will be even more so if he and Strayhorn, mother of outgoing White House press secretary Scott McClellan, join Perry and Democratic former congressman Chris Bell on the ballot.

"We've never seen anything like this," says Gary Halter, a Texas A&M University political science professor and author of a textbook on Texas politics and government. No independent has been elected Texas governor since state hero Houston won in 1859. Friedman and Strayhorn insist they'll have no trouble meeting the signatures threshold and scrutiny by secretary of state auditors, but both campaigns are being coy about disclosing the number of petitions they'll be submitting in the next week.

more at: http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-texas-governor,0,5751587.story?page=1&coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines


Friedman campaign http://www.kinkyfriedman.com

Bell campaign http://www.chrisbell.com

[GOPisEvil]

1. Vote Democratic.

Kinky should be writing books, making salsa and rescuing animals. This is serious business and I want someone who knows what he's doing. How did Ventura work out? Schwarzenegger?

Vote for Chris Bell.

Kinky: The perfect candidate for ignorant, lazy voters.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

2. Yeah. Bell has a snowball's chance in hell.

If you asked the vast majority Texans today who was running, they wouldn't be able to name Bell. Hell, I'm a Democrat and I couldn't pick his photo out of a lineup. I know more about Kinky Friedman than I do about Chris Bell.

Unless the race is close between Perry and Bell, I plan to vote for Kinky. Last time I checked, being a career politician wasn't a prerequisite for elected office.

[GymGeekAus]

4. And thus, we have a demonstration.

Rufus, why didn't Kinky run in one of the primary elections?

After all, to be a "democrat" or a "republican" in Texas just means "to have voted/participated in their primary."

[Rufus T. Firefly]

26. A demonstration of what?

Voter ignorance? Guess what - if the Dems can't get their message out, the voters aren't going to go out of their way to learn about them. I haven't seen a single advertisement for Bell, and know nothing about him that I haven't gone online to look up.

Is it fair that the best candidates are handicapped by apathy? No, but it's the way it is. And it can't be changed unless people recognize the situation and use it to their advantage. That's what Kinky is doing - reaching out to the majority that doesn't bother voting. I'm not thrilled that that's what it takes here, but it does.

The big problem here (just like in DC) is that the Democrats thought they were safe and the voters would keep returning them, so they didn't have to actually STAND for anything. And now they don't know how to get the reigns back from the Rethugs, because they haven't had to fight in decades.

[GOPisEvil]

7. The vast majority of Texans are ignorant and politically lazy.

Hence Kinky's popularity...

[GymGeekAus]

11. Politically lazy is demonstrably true, unfortunately.

What is it, 26% of Texans vote? And a good chunk of those that do are busy talking about independent candidates.

Ignorant? That's harder to demonstrate.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

30. And they line up for the Dems when you call them those things.

Wonder why they think we're "elitist..."

[muse]

40. You don't want a Democrat to be our governor???

How is that? After all these years. We have a great candidate. I'm sorry you can't seem to find it within yourself to find out more about Chris Bell. He's on the right side of all the issues and he's the only non-Republican running.

This makes no sense to me when I find out that supposed Democrats are not supporting the Democratic candidate.

With this type of thinking going on we deserve to get Rick Perry for four more years and continue to run our state into the ground.

[GymGeekAus]

3. What, that petition still isn't ready?

They've been getting signatures on those petitions for months now. You'd think they'd be able to find enough people who didn't vote in the primary who would support this, don't you?

That article doesn't have any news in it. It's practically a political endorsement.

No, I did not vote for Bell in the primary. Ankrum got my nod. But Bell won, so he gets my vote in the general election. If Kinky had wanted to, he could have run in the primary. He might have gotten my vote that way, in fact. However, he did not--he chose to circumvent the primary and run as an independent. Strayhorn did the exact same thing with the Republican party. Why is this important?

Because in Texas primaries, we have runoffs. In the general election, the person with the most votes wins. So instead of running in the election where the results can be taken back to the voters, they both decide to run in the race that can't.

This is not a process of real compromise. This is a ridiculous attempt to have a race of spoilers, none of which would govern with the support of the majority of voters. It's treating the election like a game, although it is obviously time to stop trivializing politics.

And that little bit of information is notoriously absent from the "news."

[Rufus T. Firefly]

29. The problem is that Texas' laws are to benefit parties.

Anyone with new ideas HAS to affiliate him/herself with a party, or else. Then they can get lumped in with the extremists in either party and never accomplish anything.The laws are so restrictive so there will be no independents, thus the status quo stays in place.

Same reason the Dems didn't push for an amendment getting rid of the Electoral College after 2000 - it might benefit them at some point, so leave it be.

[EST]

5. In my reading, I have determined that neither Friedman or

Strayhorn is really independent, merely taking up the label because Perry has the criminal endorsement sewed up. Neither shows any real difference from the rest of the republicans.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

25. Kinky's issues:

Putting teachers in charge of education at every level (and eliminating "teaching to the test")
Getting drug addicts out of jail and into treatment
Improving Texas' health care for the poor
Making Texas a leader in renewable energy
No patronage jobs in his administration
A review of the capital punishment system in Texas
Pro-choice

Yup, he shows no real difference from the Republicans.

[muse]

41. Kinky's issues: he voted for Bush

There you go.

He's a make believe politician and a make believe candidate.

Let's all close our eyes and make believe we'll see Rick Perry re-elected.

[ClintonTyree]

6. Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys........

I wonder if he still has the band together? :shrug: I remember Kinky from the "old days", well, 25 years ago or so. Hey, what the hell. He couldn't do any worse than the last two Governors of Texas, that's for sure. Heck, I'd vote for him!

[acmejack]

8. The responses to this post prove GOPisEvil's point

Too many Texans are ignorant!

"Well, gosh, I like ole Kinky, I think I'll vote for him! Him & the Jewboys did some good songs, so he'll be a good gov! Shucks, how hard can it be, heh, heh."

Remember this is a State * was elected twice as a Governor, then twice more as a President.

[GymGeekAus]

10. Actually, it proves NYC is, by that logic.

Check and see which points of view are associated with which states in their profiles before you make such a proclamation, acmejack.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

9. Adored with song and praise daily by Imus.

Just that has to be one major reason not to vote for him.

[AtomicKitten]

12. Well, my Texas died-in-the-wool Dem friends are amused by Kinky

As a Californian who doesn't have a dog in this hunt, I can only pass on the information as it is forwarded to me (from my Texas Dem friends who are amused by Kinky) and respect this as a state issue and not to be understood by the vast majority of DU'ers who tend to try to nationalize local elections and don't understand politics indigenous to a specific location.

It's always fun observing the gnashing of teeth at DU regardless.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

28. Easier to look down on Texas than actually try to understand it.

But don't point out that that is "ignorant," because that word is reserved for us Texan voters.

[AtomicKitten]

31. I don't know how you came to that conclusion.

I have the greatest respect for my quite bright and dear Texas Dem friends and never indicated otherwise, not in the least.

Becoming defensive for no reason whatsoever is epidemic here at DU.

[dorktv]

13. I for one hope Kinky if the Dem cannot.

Simply because come on! Gov. Kinky!

and he has action figure commercials!

[GymGeekAus]

14. Oh my.

Angels and ministers of grace, defend us.

Someone just advocated for the Zaphod Beeblebrox school of government.

[acmejack]

16. btw, welcome to DU

May you enjoy it as much as I have!

[GymGeekAus]

18. ty.

Hope to get the hang of it real quick. It's kind of weird, the way everything is displayed.

[dorktv]

17. Based on Molly Ivins, he really cannot do too much damage.

Besides, I think she likes him.

[GymGeekAus]

19. Oh Molly!

If she'd have run as an independent, she'd have splintered the state.

[dorktv]

20. Molly needs to concentrate on getting well. Unless she is already

cured.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

24. Well, it IS Texas.

Kind of how things are done around here.

[acmejack]

15. I admit I am a Chris Bell guy since early on.

I met him and I liked him back when he was still a Congressman. The Delay engineered off year redistricting gerrymandered Chris out of his seat. I guess I do have a dog, or three in this hunt...

Generally, once people meet Chris and listen to him, they learn he is a man with some great ideas for Texas.

[autorank]

21. Well, I used to run into this guy in the 70's in NYC. TX may be sorry.

Actually, he was very cool in the '70's. Then I listened to him on an interview show, I think 60
minutes and wow, what an dipwad. All this crap about immigrants etc. Then I went and took a look
at his platform. It's great on education, health care for the poor, and renewable fuels. He has
no concept of the Bill of Rights on religion and he wants to close the border until we get a fair
immigration system (oh sure, like when would that be). His platform is a mixed bag.

My hope for Texas is that they get a Latino candidate who can unite Latinos, blacks and TX liberals
and take the place over. Kinky would be fun but that's what they said about Jesse and look how he
turned out. Maybe it's best for Kinky that he lose;)

Interesting post. We'll see. Recommended.

[Yupster]

22. Article in our local paper today about

a high school history class at Laura Bush's alma-mater of Robert E Lee High School in Midland Texas. The class wrote letters to ask Kinky to come visit them and it was agreed.

A date was set so he could do a school visit and a talk at the auditorium for anyone who wanted to attend. It wasn't mandatory for anyone.

The negotiations then broke down and Kinky won't be coming.

The hang-up?

His trademark cigar. The school didn't want him to hold it during his talk to the students. The schol said it was against state law.

He said other districts had made exceptions. The school thought it over and the principal made his decision that it was not up to him to waive state law. Then Kinky said he'd leave the cigar in his car and he just thought he would ask about the exception, but he'd talk without one.

Yesterday the principal said too late. Kinky won't be coming.

Reportedly negotiations are now with the other high school in town, Midland High.

A pretty weird read in today's paper.

[Bushy Being Born]

23. I'd definitely vote for him if I could.

That he promised to make Willie Nelson head of the Texas Rangers is good enough for me.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

27. Careful! They'll call you "ignorant!"

You have to be completely serious, all the time. And explain everything in as much detail as possible. You know, like John Kerry. :eyes:

[AtomicKitten]

32. What is your problem?

You are so far off in left field it's concerning.

[Bombtrack]

33. 2 visible left of center candidates in a right-of-center state = right-win

garenteed, bar none, no doubt in the universe.

Any body who wants to bend over backwards to bullshit their way from that reality is a fucking moron.

[AtomicKitten]

34. you are right that the line-up is insane

particularly in light of the splitting of the vote.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/State%20Polls/February%202006/Texas%20Governor%20February.htm

Election 2006

Texas Governor
Rick Perry (R) 40%
Carole Keeton Strayhorn (I) 31%
Chris Bell (D) 13%
Kinky Friedman 9%

I just posted this because a Texas Dem friend sent me this and even she thinks Kinky is a hoot. But the indies/third parties are going to do what they are going to do regardless. Haven't they always?

[ProudDad]

35. He's a hodge-podge all right

This issues:

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/issues/faq.html

I'm with him on most of these...probably all but prayer and guns.

on edit: I'd probably vote for him if there were a chance he'd win...just to shake up the repukes.

[benEzra]

36. What don't you like about his stance on lawful gun ownership? (n/t)

[davepc]

38. Whats wrong with his gun control position?

Q: What's Kinky's feeling on gun control?
A: The second amendment is every bit as important as the others. Texans have the right to keep and bear arms, as well as to hunt.

Its not that different from the 2004 Democratic Party platform:

We will protect Americans' Second Amendment right to own firearms, and we will keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists by fighting gun crime, reauthorizing the assault weapons ban, and closing the gun show loophole, as President Bush proposed and failed to do.

[Catshrink]

37. Elvis, Jesus, and Coca-Cola

I thoroughly enjoyed all of his books, page turners all. (In the title above, he travels to a remote corner of the world, to a people who have supposedly had no contact with the West -- only to find that they do know about Elvis, Jesus, and Coke.) He has a resident cat, also. One of his books has a tribute to the cat that was beautiful. Wish I could remember it -- something about "Those of us who chose to surround ourselves with those whose life is more fragile than our own are blessed.... one day when we die, all those critters will come running to greet us."

I sent Kinky's books one at a time to my former BIL when he was in the can. They saved his sorry ass from going nuts from boredom.

As governor? He wouldn't be the worst Texas has ever had -- that moran is squatting in the Whitehouse.

[johncoby2]

39. If a Repub, vote Carol. If a Democrat vote Bell, if ignorant......

Vote Kinky.

It is that simple. Oh wait. I forgot someone. If stupid, vote Perry.

The people who vote for Kinky are not thinking. They are the type that will go back to the bars and drink all day after the elections or go back to the frat house and revel in stupidity.

kinky is an idiots idol.

[muse]

42. DU rule - we are about working to elect democrats

FYI -
You are not permitted to use this message board to work for the defeat of the Democratic Party nominee for any political office. If you wish to work for the defeat of any Democratic candidate in any General Election, then you are welcome to use someone else's bandwidth on some other website.

[CPMaz]

43. Does that mean I can't say nice things about

Bernie Sanders?

He's better than almost any Dem on any ballot this year.

And yes, I've already made a contribution. (admittedly, a small one, but still a contribution.)

[Lithos]

44. Locking

Per DU rules. The original article was fine, but the discussion has on multiple times suggested the endorsement of Kinky Friedman over Chris Bell, the only Democratic candidate in the race.

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