The great potential irony of the 2006 Texas governor's race is Rick Perry emerging victorious despite a majority of people voting against him. That's how it's shaping up with Kinky Friedman, Grandma Strayhorn and that other guy on the ballot.
The impulsively cool thing to do would be to vote for Kinky. After all, he's a musician with a good sense of humor. However, those whistle stop wisecracks are going stale. I wish I could believe those "no more politics as usual" platitudes, but Friedman's campaign has done far too little to posit him as something more than a novelty.
As a pragmatic measure, many left-leaners are endorsing Strayhorn. While she would be an improvement over Perry, she is still a Republican, not a true independent. Strayhorn also has a long history of opportunistic affiliation-switching. I think she'd get more done in the Legislature than Perry, but we might like it even less.
Which leaves us with Chris Bell, whose hey-over-here campaign tells you everything you need to know about the Democratic party in Texas these days.
If the election were held today, I honestly don't know who I'd vote for. None of these three candidates have a chance unless one or more of them drops out and the stronger finisher manages to coalesce some serious anti-incumbent momentum to counter Perry's riches. I wouldn't bet on it, though.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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1 comment:
Wow, those are good reasons NOT to vote for him, as far as I'm concerned.
His religious leanings have always been what would prevent me from voting for him.
That said, I'm glad he's on the ballot. I don't think he honestly believes he's going to win; I think he's just trying to call attention to how moribund and corrupt the two-party system is every voting cycle. I think he's trying to prove the viability of an independent candidate.
Michael
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