Kinky drops out of Gov race, will run for Ag Comm. instead.

Kinky just needs to go away period.

 

Smart move, and a good team player. But, what was this business about giving away our farmlands to Spain?

 

What a lie, but he is funny. Hope he sells some more books.

 

What is Farouk Shami's religion?

 

Who cares?

 

he's probably referring to the trans texas corridor

 

Better for Mayor Bill

Rocket River

 

unfortunately it matters to many voters in texas.

and, even if he is a christian, there are still many who would not vote for him because his name is "funny"

it wasn't long ago people were calling our president osama

 

I won't vote for him. I need to see his birth certificate.

 

It was the right move by Kinky.

 

No, the right move would be to go away.

 

It would be easy to laugh at the Kinkster, and my wife laughed out loud when she heard he was running for Ag commissioner, but he did corral quite a few votes last go round in the governor's race and you can bet that White is grateful he doesn't have to be concerned about him. And you never know... Kinky just might win. Jim Hightower, somewhere to the left of Kinky, was elected to the office twice. Texans don't mind a bit of the unusual in their Ag Commissioners. I guess you have to be slightly mad to be in the agricultural business in Texas, anyway.

I'm really excited about White. He has an honest chance at winning. Perry will probably win his primary. I haven't seen a race run this badly in Texas since Ann Richards ran for reelection as the one being run by Kay Bailey. No one can take her seriously. She's made it plain that hanging onto her senate seat just in case she loses is at the top of her "to do" list. Perry just keeps slamming her for every possibile thing he can come up with. That's his forte'. The negative attack. Sadly, she has fallen into the same trap. Texans are tired of Perry's act. They wanted him voted out of office the last time, but the Democratic Party couldn't get its act together. Bill White will make sure they do.

I think Bill White can win.

 

He's a Quaker.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/11/20/farouk_shamis_quaker_faith.html?cxntfid=blogs_postcards|Farouk

 

i need a texas voting history lesson. have we always had the option of voting straight party? it would seem to me, especially in this state, that unless there is a R by the name, the likelihood of election is limited.

 

I don't think this was completely true until 1998, partly because we had powerful Democrats who were Blue Dog enough to keep winning statewide elections; and Republicans still weren't fielding the greatest candidates: Mosbacher Jr and crazy-ass (but professionally successful) Clayton Williams come to mind. We had a Democrat Lieutenant Governor, Bob Bullock, who was probably the most powerful man in Texas for god knows how long, and who actually endorsed W. over Garry Mauro in '98. We also had a pretty charismatic and intelligent Democrat Attorney General, Dan Morales, who implemented the Hopwood anti-affirmative action decision rather than appeal it. Had the former not died and the latter not stolen tobacco settlement funds, I'm pretty sure we'd have a D-Governor right about now.

 

We're one of several states that give an option of voting a straight party ticket, or selecting individual candidates. Honestly, I don't think there are a huge number of straight party voters in the state except, perhaps, in the Valley. Texans tend to be a contrary and independent breed, which is a good thing, often enough. Winning the governor's seat is very doable for the right Democrat, IMO, and I think that's White. Just look at Perry's numbers last time as the GOP candidate. They well and truly sucked.