Burnt Orange Report

And of course in the process she would possibly get signatures for her petition that otherwise would go to Kinky Friedman for his petition.

Hopefully no one in Texas is really as stupid as the Republicans, or possibly in this case the Democrats, seem to think we are.

Who said anyone was stupid?

No Id say Strayhorn leaving the Republican party doesnt make her a snake, it makes her smart. Im 29 and Ive been a member of 3 political parties in that short time myself. My reasoning wasnt for running for office, but ideological. And Im sure someone like her rides the fence anyway, so changing parties to suit her goals isnt that big of a deal.

Leaving the GOP to run as an indy would be really stupid of Carole.

She could switch parties and run for Lt. Governor, though. That would be a great idea.

This is all getting too confusing. Next there will be a Republican challenger to Hutchison. A real one. Rumor out of Austin is there will be.

There will probably be so many people on the ballot the ballots really will look like Chinese menus. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and the Floaters. The slogan of the Floaters will be "The party whose voters elect me gets me."

Carole Strayhorn of course will probably be the first Floater. More to follow I'm sure.

Well...I like Chinese menus and I don't think we should dumb down our # of choices on a ballot because it is too 'difficult'. Whether Carole is a member of the Republican, Communist party, Democratic or Marijuana Party does that change any of her views and platform stances. No. So our real focus, as it always should be, is to focus on the candidate and not the party.

She might win as a candidate for the Marijuana Party. At the very least she would carry Travis County.

I like the idea of someone who has officially rejected both parties considering that joining a party seems to be the first step towards political corruption. Perhaps people who join parties ought to be stripped of their right to run for office. We should still let them vote though, I suppose.

Here's a thought....if a Bell/Gammage/Alvarado gov primary leads to no candidate with 50% plus one, there will be a run-off.

A run-off will mean that Kinky and possibly Carole will each need to collect 45,000 signatures of registered non-primary voters AFTER the run-off. It cuts their time in half and if it's both of them, it cuts their resources in half.

In fact, is the shorter timeframe the same if either party has a run-off in any race across the state??

My reading of the state's election code indicates it is the shorter timeframe if either party has a run-off. So another BS tactic, among many, to prevent participation in elections by non-Rep/Dem candidates.

Kinky Friedman is gathering pledges for the signatures. So I doubt the time frame will matter. And from what I've been told, even if Carole Strayhorn decides to run as an Independent and pulls some away, he will still have more than enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. He already has them through the pledges.

His campaign is far more organized than anyone realizes. Which is more than I can say for everyone else's.

My vote may eventually go to Bob Gammage, if he runs, but my signature is Kinky Friedman's. I would like to see an Independent on the ballot. One who draws a significant number of voters. That in itself might serve as a wake up call to both parties.

I suspect even if I and some others vote for Bob Gammage, Kinky Friedman may still become our next governor. People are fed up with politics as usual and the partisan diatribe and the "blame game" while we are left out in the cold with no real representation. For a lot of people, the disadvantage of Bob Gammage is he's a Democrat and some simply don't want a Republican or a Democrat. They want someone, again, who's "no strings attached." That includes the party strings.

I think all of this comes down to just how bad the mainstream candidates are for Texas "guv" this cycle. Rick Perry is so unpopular, and Chris Bell is just so gosh darn awful. So... if you ask me an independent candidate for gov. actually has a shot this time, especially if that person has mainstream credibility like "One Tough Grandma" does. She may very well have my vote indeed, but I will expect a noticeable shift from her away from the GOP if she runs as an independent.

I like the way you think Ki. I think "one tough grandma" has more name recognition than either Kinky or Bell. In fact she's number two only behind the current gov. Plus she has the added advantage of a reputation for taking on the current gov. and his cronnies on state finance issues as well as a long standing reputation in support of funding education and programs to protect Texas children. i.e. CHIP

But she also uses those three words few politicians in Texas dare to use. State income tax. Guarantees riots in the streets.

the only way bell could win as the dem nominee is if the GOP vote in the general election was split more than two ways.

It doesn't seem such a bad idea for Strayhorn to stay out of the Republican primaries which seem to be dominated by the very far right. Not many people like Perry, but the people who do are the ones who appreciate Perry signing bills in churches.

She won't be able to reach moderates in the general election if she's already taken out by the ultra-conservatives in the primary.

"When she couldn't win as a Democrat, she became a Republican."

When has CaroleKMRS ever run as a Democrat? The only two times she lost a race was in the general election (as an R) for Congress and in the R primary for Railroad Commissioner.

Rather than making the general election an open horserace with a shot for anyone to win, I think this would make it a contest between Perry voters and everyone else. Strayhorn doesn't appeal to the same GOP voters Perry does; she appeals to independents and moderate republicans, not the GOP base. The anti-Perry vote would split three ways, so Strayhorn running as an independent would only make it more likely that Perry would win.

While the anti-Perrys would split 3 ways, the pie would not be even. Not enough people take Freidman seriously and nobody knows who the hell Bell is. Strayhorn will likely take the vast majority of votes that don't go to Perry.