9-22 Are Texas Voters Kinky Enough?

By JAY MILLER
Syndicated Columnist
SANTA FE -- Could Kinky Friedman become the next governor of Texas? If the Kinkster pulls it off, it will be the most unusual political event in my long experience.
There are precedents for non-traditional candidates winning gubernatorial races. And judging by those contests and recent developments in the Friedman race, it just might happen again.
This column closely followed Gary Johnson, Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger as they dreamed the impossible dream. Today we'll take a look at some of the similarities among the four candidates.
But first, the recent developments in Friedman's race. Newly released campaign finance reports for the first half of the year show Friedman far and away the leader in number of contributions received, both in-state and out-of-state.
And he leads in the amount of money collected from out of state. The biggest sources of those contributions were New York, California and New Mexico. Yes, New Mexico, which means that our readers in the east and south must be following this race closely on Texas television.
Friedman had more than 17,000 individual donations during the reporting period. Gov. Rick Perry had 3,300. The Democrat had 1,400 and the other independent in the race had 1,200.
But Friedman's contributions are mostly small, while the other three candidates are pulling in donations over $100,000 apiece. That still gives Friedman enough to mount a big TV ad campaign this month, which should pull him closer to the governor.
Friedman started out last in the polls, beginning in January. But he now has moved into second, 12 percent behind Gov. Perry. The other three candidates all are fading. In polls that do not screen out unlikely voters, Friedman wins easily.
It is those unlikely voters that Friedman has to mobilize. As he puts it, "I'm not running against those other three. I'm running against apathy."
You don't get voters to the polls by urging them to vote. It takes a well-coordinated voter registration drive and a massive get-out-the-vote effort on election day.
Friedman doesn't have the money to hire staff throughout Texas to do that. He'll have to depend on volunteers. And they must be recruited and organized.
But Friedman still has a chance. The biggest long shot candidate to win in the past was Gov. Jesse Ventura in Minnesota. Ventura was a pro wrestler and occasional actor, who went by the nickname "The Body."
Ventura was not successful at raising money, so he had to depend on making comments that would get on the front page free. He did it by being somewhat outrageous. Kinky can do it by being funny.
Both candidates succeeded by proposing common sense platforms that eased voter fears about voting for a fringe candidate. As the race proceeds, similarities between the two candidates are growing, largely because Friedman has hired Ventura's campaign director, Dean Barkley, whose strengths are in campaign message and volunteer organizing.
Ventura had a few advantages that Friedman doesn't. He was a Navy Seal and served as a small town mayor before running for governor. He also is happily married with well-behaved children. There also are differences between Minnesota and Texas voters.
Nevertheless, Friedman still could join the ranks of surprise governors. Voters forgave Govs. Ventura, Schwarzenegger and Johnson for wild pasts that included drugs.
Friedman doesn't directly admit to doing drugs but says he existed on 11 herbs and spices for several years. When you palled around with Willie Nelson and Don Imus in those days, you weren't hanging out in ice cream parlors.
When Gary Johnson announced for governor in 1993, everyone laughed. At the GOP nominating convention, he barely squeaked onto the ballot with 20 percent of the vote. But no one laughed the following November.
Voters are willing to elect a non-politician if they can be convinced he's not going to embarrass them.
FRI, 9-22-06

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