Texas Gubernatorial Race

[Bacon King]

Vote for who you support.

The most interesting governor race this year, IMO.

I Included all candidates with a website.

http://www.rickperry.org/
http://www.chrisbell.com/
http://www.lptexas.org/2006/werner/
http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/
http://www.carolestrayhorn.com/
http://www.larrywcamp.com/

[Tender Branson]

What´s so interesting about it ? Perry will win.

[MasterJedi]

I'll take Perry and he'll win. *waits for crazed Kinky fans to say I'm wrong* -_-

[Alcon]

What are we voting for?  Who we want to win?  If so, switch one Perry to Friedman.  Otherwise, keep it on Perry.

[Bacon King]

What´s so interesting about it ? Perry will win.

I like this race because unlike most races that are just Rep vs Dem, here you have two independants that are both polling on par with the Democratic nominee. A four way race is more exciting than a two way race.

What are we voting for?  Who we want to win?  If so, switch one Perry to Friedman.  Otherwise, keep it on Perry.

Yes, sorry if I didn't make that clear.

[7,052,770]

I'm rooting for Bell.  I'm holding off my endorsement to early November, and it will either go to Bell or Kinky, whichever has the best shot of beating Perry.

At this point, I'm predicting a Kinky vs. Perry showdown.

[nini2287]

Kinkster all the way!

[Nym90]

Bell.

As others  have said, however, if one of the Bell/Strayhorn/Friedman trio breaks away from the other two, I'll switch my support to them. Basically I'm an Anybody but Perry guy at this point.

[riceowl]

Probably Friedman, since it really doesn't matter.  And if it does matter, good.

[Colin]

What´s so interesting about it ? Perry will win.

Well its not often that you have a race where it is very likely that four candidates may get above 20% of the vote. Perry probably will win but a four-way race like that is very interesting and very unusual.

Anyway I vote Kinky.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Strayhorn

[Boris]

Kinky, but Perry will win by at least ten percentage points.

[Hatman 🍁]

Kinky

[adam]

Kinky, and I have a good feeling. I'm not even going to bother arguing with the thick headed pseduo-realists who are so confident in Perry.

[© tweed]

The Jewish Cowboy

[WMS]

Kinky, and I have a good feeling. I'm not even going to bother arguing with the thick headed pseduo-realists who are so confident in Perry.

Given your contempt for Strayhorn, you might not like this next part...if Strayhorn implodes, just where do you think her voters are going to go, Vlad? And will that make Perry stronger or weaker?

Oh, and I see the classic Internet forum left-libertarian bias is fully in effect

[Q]

As others have said, if one of the Bell/Strayhorn/Friedman trio breaks away from the other two, I'll switch my support to them. Basically I'm an Anybody but Perry guy at this point.

[adam]

Kinky, and I have a good feeling. I'm not even going to bother arguing with the thick headed pseduo-realists who are so confident in Perry.

Given your contempt for Strayhorn, you might not like this next part...if Strayhorn implodes, just where do you think her voters are going to go, Vlad? And will that make Perry stronger or weaker?

Oh, and I see the classic Internet forum left-libertarian bias is fully in effect

Well, Strayhorn has already imploded in my mind(she has gone from within 9 points of Perry to last place in the polls) and as a result Kinky has done nothing but close the gap with Perry. I think Strayhorn has about as many independent supporters as she does Republican supporters. The problem for Perry is that the "Strayhorn Republicans" aren't budging, while her independent base is going over to support the black horse campaign of Kinky Friedman. While this isn't weakening Perry, it's giving Kinky a strong boost...perhaps strong enough.

[jimrtex]

The Jewish Cowboy

Friedman announced that he may sell his Pink Cadillac the Yom Kippur Clipper and get something that runs on bio-diesel.

[jimrtex]

Kinky, and I have a good feeling. I'm not even going to bother arguing with the thick headed pseduo-realists who are so confident in Perry.

Given your contempt for Strayhorn, you might not like this next part...if Strayhorn implodes, just where do you think her voters are going to go, Vlad? And will that make Perry stronger or weaker?

Her money is coming from trial lawyers, teachers unions, and other groups who traditionally fund Democrats.  One backer is Tony Sanchez, the self-funded Democratic gubernatorial candidate from 2002.  They're backing Strayhorn becase they consider Bell hopeless.  I don't think they can take their money back, but having already made a decision to not waste money on Bell, will they give him any money?  Bell is campaigning for Strayhorn's supporters, but I don't know that much of her supporters would vote Democratic in the first place.

Her support is much stronger among women than men.  Someone who will vote for a candidate because they are a woman isn't going to switch to one of the male candidates.  And they are also aren't going to think that it is kookish to be complaining about not being permitted to use "Grandma" on the ballot, even though she has never run as "Grandma" before, and hasn't used the name in her professional/public life.

So I doubt that she will drop to single digits.

[MissCatholic]

wait to see whos the genuine opposition to perry.

[M]

Yeah, I'm tempted to say anyone but Perry. But when I actually get to the ballot box- well, I'd never vote for Bell, Strayhorn's lost my vote (which has solidly hers), and Kinky I think could say offensive things about foreign policy once in office, and have a national platform. Not voting for me is not a principled option, so I may have to vote another 4 years for that power-hungry, shameless, unscrupled SOB.

[Frodo]

Kinky Friedman, probably, though I deem his candidacy much over-hyped, and that the incumbent governor -Rick Perry- will easily win re-election to a second term when voters go to the polls this November, no matter what the polls now say.  I'm sorry, but I just can't see Kinky becoming the Jesse Ventura of the Lone Star State -Texas doesn't strike me as the kind of state that would elect people like that to public office.   

[M]

Kinky Friedman, probably, though I deem his candidacy much over-hyped, and that the incumbent governor -Rick Perry- will easily win re-election to a second term when voters go to the polls this November, no matter what the polls now say.  I'm sorry, but I just can't see Kinky becoming the Jesse Ventura of the Lone Star State -Texas doesn't strike me as the kind of state that would elect people like that to public office.   

Right.

[WMS]

Kinky, and I have a good feeling. I'm not even going to bother arguing with the thick headed pseduo-realists who are so confident in Perry.

Given your contempt for Strayhorn, you might not like this next part...if Strayhorn implodes, just where do you think her voters are going to go, Vlad? And will that make Perry stronger or weaker?

Oh, and I see the classic Internet forum left-libertarian bias is fully in effect

Well, Strayhorn has already imploded in my mind(she has gone from within 9 points of Perry to last place in the polls) and as a result Kinky has done nothing but close the gap with Perry. I think Strayhorn has about as many independent supporters as she does Republican supporters. The problem for Perry is that the "Strayhorn Republicans" aren't budging, while her independent base is going over to support the black horse campaign of Kinky Friedman. While this isn't weakening Perry, it's giving Kinky a strong boost...perhaps strong enough.

Statistical tie with Kinky and Bell, bub. Not quite an implosion

Well, while I really would like an in-depth look at sources of support...oh, wait, jimrtex posted, there we go

Her money is coming from trial lawyers, teachers unions, and other groups who traditionally fund Democrats.  One backer is Tony Sanchez, the self-funded Democratic gubernatorial candidate from 2002.  They're backing Strayhorn becase they consider Bell hopeless.  I don't think they can take their money back, but having already made a decision to not waste money on Bell, will they give him any money?  Bell is campaigning for Strayhorn's supporters, but I don't know that much of her supporters would vote Democratic in the first place.

Her support is much stronger among women than men.  Someone who will vote for a candidate because they are a woman isn't going to switch to one of the male candidates.  And they are also aren't going to think that it is kookish to be complaining about not being permitted to use "Grandma" on the ballot, even though she has never run as "Grandma" before, and hasn't used the name in her professional/public life.

So I doubt that she will drop to single digits.

Ah, thanks for the analysis.

My point was...I don't think the Strayhorn Republicans would switch to Friedman or Bell. And that means Perry wins, period.

And I agree with Blue Dog Dem and M on this race.