8-18 The Kinkster

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Thank goodness we have some interesting political races to talk about this year.
One we won't say about much is the 1st Congressional District contest. There's too much talk about that already. Never has the mute button on my TV set gotten such a workout. That race is just plain unpleasant. And no newspapers in that district carry this column anyway.
So we'll talk about the other two congressional distracts even though both incumbents are supposed to win their usual easy victories. At least the two challengers are interesting people and deserve some ink. And the same can be said of the U.S. Senate challenger.
Where it gets fascinating, however, is in the state races. The gubernatorial contest hasn't been as exciting as expected so far, but don't worry, it will be. Republican candidate John Dendahl is busy trying to put together some money right now so he can get his provocative remarks on the airwaves. It will be fun.
The attorney general race will pit the son of a former governor against the son-in-law of another former governor. Those governors didn't happen to get along very well, although their families do, and both come from the Moriarty metropolitan area.
The land commissioner race will be a classic, matching up a cowboy and an environmentalist. One is the incumbent and the other has held the office twice.
The secretary of state race will be a biggie in Albuquerque between two local ladies virtually unknown in the rest of the state. We'll give it a little coverage since we all need to make a decision in that contest.
And then there are the auditor, treasurer and Public Regulation Commission races. If we don't nod off, we'll tell you a little about them.
But please humor me today and let me describe the kinkiest contest in the nation. You guessed it -- the Texas governor's race. Those of you close to the border may have a pretty decent seat in the bleachers for it, but the less fortunate don't even know who we're talking about yet.
Singer, song writer, mystery novelist and comic Kinky Friedman is taking on the big boys, and girl, in a four-way competition that could end up evenly divided.
Rick "Governor Good Hair" Perry is the incumbent. Although he pulled 58 percent of the vote four years ago, he hasn't been doing well since.
One of his challengers is a fellow Republican, running as an independent. No, it's not Joe Lieberman, it's the mother of former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan. She's picked up too many last names to mention here, but suffice it to say she's popular. She's the state comptroller. She polled a quarter-million more votes than Perry in 2002 and she's raising big money.
Oh yes, there's a Democrat in the race.
And then there's the Kinkster. He's everything a politician shouldn't be -- but then so were Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and Gary Johnson.
His nickname fits him perfectly even though he got it because of his hair. You may have heard of him first when he was a successful Western singer and songwriter back in the '70s, with Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys.
But Kinky couldn't stay serious. One of his most popular songs likely still has voters in El Paso miffed. So he began writing detective novels, featuring himself as the main character. Notice I didn't say hero. If you want to know the real Kinky and his real friends, buy any one of his 20 books. You'll love 'em.
If you want to see Kinky on TV, get up early and tune into Imus on MSNBC. Kinky made his gubernatorial announcement on the I-Man's show.
Can Kinky win? His straight talk will appeal to angry, alienated voters. Jesse Ventura won by doing it in Minnesota and he didn't raise the money Kinky has. Ventura had a great campaign manager, Dean Barkley. Kinky now has Barkley in his corner.

FRI, 8-18-06

JAY MILLER, 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505
(ph) 982-2723, (fax) 984-0982, (e-mail) insidethecapitol@hotmail.com