TX Gov: Strayhorn falls second to Kinky in ballot collection

[adam]

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/2006/06/its_official.html

The campaign delivered 170,258 signatures to the Secretary of State's office on May 11. Of those, 137,154 signatures were considered valid, an 81 percent validity rate. (The state comptroller, who is also running as an independent, submitted 222,514 signatures of which 108,512 were valid, a 49 percent validity rate.) The signatures for Friedman's campaign, which were collected during a 62-day period almost entirely by volunteers, represented voters in all 254 Texas counties.

Run Kinky Run!

[adam]

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/2006/06/its_official.html

Press Release from the Texas Secretary of State

Steve Stockman failed to get enough signatures to run for Congress in Tom DeLay's district

Wow. I actually thought he would make an impact.

[adam]

For Congress, the signature requirement is only 500 vs. the 45,000+ for statewide office.  Stockman was reported to have filed petitions, so I wonder what happened.  Maybe some people who voted in the Democratic or Republican primary signed.

Probably. I mean, he seemed to have a real following going on over there...500 shouldn't have been anything. My best guess is that he stopped collecting too soon.

[adam]

Doesn't really matter, though.  The point is to get on the ballot.  By how much is really irrelevant.

While this is true, it doesn't change the fact that Strayhorn used oodles of corporate soft dollars and PAC contributions during her ballot drive where as Kinky used only volunteers. If she can't beat him in ballot collection with all of that help, how can she beat him in the general? Kinky now looks like a serious contender, where as Strayhorn looks like a complete dork.

[adam]

Doesn't really matter, though.  The point is to get on the ballot.  By how much is really irrelevant.

While this is true, it doesn't change the fact that Strayhorn used oodles of corporate soft dollars and PAC contributions during her ballot drive where as Kinky used only volunteers. If she can't beat him in ballot collection with all of that help, how can she beat him in the general? Kinky now looks like a serious contender, where as Strayhorn looks like a complete dork.

Unless either can start breaking into the Perry 40% of the vote, neither will be a serious contender.  Sorry to break the bubble again. 

I do agree that committed volunteers are much more important than simple cash in signature collection (look at the success of the Libertarian party in getting on the ballot in Texas for many years).  I question whether it is more important in the general election, though.

Still, committed volunteers are one reason why I'm fairly confident Kinky will receive more votes than Bell this year, frankly.

Another interesting note:  The Green Party failed to receive ballot access in the Governor's race this year.  I wonder if the mass of signature-getting by Kinky contributed to this.

Well of course he'll beat Bell . It's really funny if you look at their websites. Kinky has raised nearly 200k on his, and Bell has raised about 5k. Way to "knock em out" kiddo .

I think it's too early to really call this election either way, Perry's numbers are starting to slip little by little as Kinky's are rocketing up...I will say that this is a two person race - however neither Strayhorn or Bell are in the equation. The real difference is that Kinky's supporters are mainly supporters because they love Kinky, Perry's supporters are supporters because they're Republicans. Kinky wins hearts and I think that if he works hard enough that he can break the concrete that is party loyalty.

The main reason the Greens didn't make the ballot is because the Democrat poses no immediate threat. That's the only reason 45,000 texans would sign a Green party petition, to screw the Democrats.