--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [his politics sound kind of sucky though]
>
>
<http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/elections/2006/stories/051206dntexkinky.1fd36741.html>
>
> Kinky: 'New Texas revolution is coming'
> 08:52 AM CDT on Friday, May 12, 2006
> By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
>
> AUSTIN - Entertainer Kinky Friedman declared himself
> a serious
> candidate for governor Thursday with 169,574
> signatures - four times
> the number he needs to challenge Gov. Rick Perry in
> November.
>
> "Fix your bayonets now, because the new Texas
> revolution is coming,
> folks," Mr. Friedman told supporters from the steps
> of the secretary
> of state's office.
>
> Mr. Friedman, a singer and mystery novelist running
> as an
> independent, delivered his petitions with a
> flourish.
>
> He arrived at noon amid a flotilla of vehicles that
> included a pink
> trailer bearing a giant cowboy hat and a red, white
> and blue vintage
> car emblazoned with a Kinky Friedman logo.
>
> Flanked by supporters holding boxes of petitions,
> Mr. Friedman opened
> an envelope in the style of Oscar night and
> announced the number of
> signatures to the cheers of about 100 people.
>
> "It's a big number," he said. "It tells me that it
> is not, as Rick
> Perry's staff said, the 'Keep Austin Weird Crowd.'
> It's the 'Keep
> Austin Honest Crowd.'"
>
> Thursday was the deadline for delivering signatures
> to the secretary
> of state to get on the November ballot. Fellow
> independent candidate
> Carole Keeton Strayhorn turned in 223,000 signatures
> on Tuesday.
>
> When a reporter noted that Mrs. Strayhorn had more
> signatures, Mr.
> Friedman joked: "Of course she got more signatures
> than we did. She
> got all her ex-husbands to sign."
>
> At the same time, Mr. Friedman said he and Mrs.
> Strayhorn represent
> "a lot of people who are very unhappy with what's
> going on in Texas."
>
> Mr. Friedman said he hopes his independent candidacy
> will transcend a
> partisan politics that has left some people in both
> parties
> disillusioned and disengaged.
>
> "There's a feeling that the Republicans have left
> Ronnie Reagan way
> behind as the Democrats have left JFK," he said.
>
> Supporters waved handmade signs, one of which said,
> "Republicans +
> Democrats = Sheep."
>
> Mr. Friedman said he seeks to steer a middle ground
> between "the
> far-right religious wing" of the GOP and "a far-left
> politically
> correct wing" of the Democratic Party.
>
> "It's real easy to say what I stand for," he said.
> "I stand for
> prayer in school. I stand for getting the
> politicians out of
> politics. And I stand for really focusing on the two
> big problems
> that face our state: education and immigration."
>
> Asked about the school-finance measures under
> consideration in the
> Legislature, Mr. Friedman said he opposed using the
> budget surplus to
> fund public education rather than a permanent source
> of money, such
> as casino gambling.
>
> State law requires that an independent candidate
> submit 45,540
> signatures from registered voters who did not vote
> in the primary.
> The secretary of state must certify the petitions.
>
> A spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Roger
> Williams, who
> knocked Mrs. Strayhorn's petitions as disorganized,
> praised the
> Friedman effort.
>
> "The organization they turned them in certainly
> makes the process
> easier," said Scott Haywood, who predicted it would
> take five to six
> weeks for certification.
>
> Also on the November ballot will be Democrat Chris
> Bell.
>
> No independent has been elected governor of Texas
> since Sam Houston in 1859.
>
> After delivering the petitions, Mr. Friedman,
> wearing a black frock
> coat and carrying a cigar, waved goodbye to the
> crowd.
>
> "May the god of your choice bless you," he said.
> "And onward through the fog."
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