It looks like Kinky Friedman's campaign is still doing well. Many thought that after the conventions, and once the campaigns started in earnest, Kinky would start to fade. It has not happened yet.
The Dallas Business Journal conducted an unscientific poll a couple of weeks ago. The results were not what you would expect from a publication catering to the business community. Here is how it came out:
Kinky Friedman...............45%
Rick Perry...............26%
Carole Strayhorn...............19%
Chris Bell...............8%
Once again, this is not a scientific poll, and I doubt the numbers break down this way among ALL voters. I just thought it was interesting that many businessmen would think this way. Kinky is obviously making inroads into the Republican voters, just as he has with Democratic voters. I started this campaign hoping Kinky would not be embarrassed. I now believe he has a real shot to win.
Kinky is starting to get some serious publicity also. The Washington Post ran an article on him today, and Newsweek has an article on Kinky in its 7/24/2006 edition. Both are very complimentary.
Kinky is also doing fairly well in fundraising. Here are the figures on how much the candidates have raised since January, and the amount of cash each has on hand:
Rick Perry has raised $4.7 million and has $10million on hand.
Carole Strayhorn has raised $3.1 million and has $8 million on hand.
Chris Bell has raised $1.63 million and has $655,000 on hand.
Kinky Friedman has raised $1.55 million and has $491,000 on hand.
Neither Friedman nor Bell can compete with the Republicans in fundraising. Where Kinky has the edge is in his ability to get free publicity.
This is Kinky's only real advantage - people know who he is and they like him.
ReplyDeleteI hope you were able to convince her to consider voting for Van Os, Gilbert, and Radnofsky!
By the way, I really like your blog and I've added it to our blogroll. Do you mind if it's listed as "Terrell Today"?
I find the poll result you mention in line with what Chris Bell said about Kinky's support when he talked with bloggers in Houston a couple of weeks ago, http://eyeonwilliamson.org/?p=332:
ReplyDeleteChris makes a great point - in San Antonio it was observed that there were at least 12 “W” stickers on vehicles at a Kinky Friedman event. He uses this as an example of how it is odd to think that Kinky will only take votes away from him in this election.
Like I say in the post, Kinky is more of a Libertarian/Republican and will pull more R's than D's.
I don't know if Kinky will get more Democrats or Republicans, but I believe he'll pull votes from all three groups - repubs, dems, and independents.
ReplyDeleteHow long has it been since we had a governor's race this interesting?
SK -
ReplyDeleteI see you really enjoy bashing Kinky and his ideas, and that is your right, but what do you think should be done at the border? You don't like the fence, and you don't like amnesty. What do you like?