Kinky Does It

Yesterday, five hours before the deadline for submitting petitions, a small camper emblazoned with large black hats and cigars pulled up to the Thomas Jefferson Rusk State Office Building. It was bringing 169,574 signatures to get Kinky Friedman on the Texas ballot as a candidate for governor.

According to the secretary of state's office, it will take about 6 weeks to verify that enough valid signatures were submitted. This should not be a problem. Only 45,540 signatures are needed to get Kinky on the ballot. To keep Kinky off the ballot, 3 out of every 4 signatures would have to be disqualified. No one expects that to happen.

The campaign said they had gotten signatures from every one of Texas' 254 counties [some had said Kinky only had support in the Austin area]. The campaign also said 90% of the signatures were collected by unpaid volunteers.

Now the fun begins. Thanks to the two independent candidates [Comptroller Carole Strayhorn, a republican, is also running as an independent], Texas now has a wide-open race for governor. It's time to send both republicans and democrats a message that the people aren't happy with their incompetence and failed leadership. The best way to do that is to send the Kinkster to the governor's mansion. As Kinky says, "Why the hell not?"