Kinky Friedman is going to play by the rules

Kinky Friedman sat with his everpresent companion Little Jewford and dug into a burger and fries from Johnnie B's Burgers and Shakes. In a meeting room in the back of the restaurant, about 50 members of the Colleyville, Grapevine, Southlake Democrats were waiting to hear him speak.

Friedman said he had decided on a new campaign slogan -- "Power to the people" -- though he was still a fan of "Why the hell not?"

He said the last independent candidate to be elected governor of Texas was Sam Houston.

"What was I thinking?" he said.

Friedman finished his dinner and spent the next 40 minutes swearing up and down to the roomful of Democrats that he had been a member of their party his whole life. Only he had the ability to tap into the "populist core" of the electorate, he said.

"I don't think the Democrats can afford to run another generic, esablishment candidate," Friedman said.

Friedman promised to "play by the rules" this time. If he lost the primary, he would endorse and campaign for whichever Democrat won it, he said.

"This is going to be fun before it's over," Friedman said. "I'm going to make you very proud to be a Democrat in this state."

As in many other campaign speeches he's made in the last year, Friedman mentioned his Democratic idols: Barbara Jordan, Molly Ivins and Ann Richards. He's profiled all of them in his new book, Heroes of a Texas Childhood. It is the first Friedman book to be self-published, he said. He said he'd make it required reading in schools once he was governor.

He also touched on issues. Money from casino gamling would pay for a lot of his initiatives, including a $3,000 raise for all teachers, he said. He added that, thanks to all the state's oil, Texas already has enough money to fix many of its problems but currently suffers from poor management.

"The state is in the black. We're in the red," Friedman said. "It's time for Rick Perry to take the lampshade off his head. The party's over for Rick."

-Aman Batheja

Comments

[debt help]

i am glad to hear about this i love it

[Hall]

Kinky's 'sell-by' date is long past. I sent him money, campaigned for him. What I got was him on the tv debate, looking like an idiot with his cowboy hat and huge cigar. If he is a member of the Hair Club for Men, he needs to say so, take off the hat indoors.

It stopped being funny years ago.

Don't ever get in the race, we've seen what Ralph Nader did in ego-driven elections.

[Cronopio]

I'm with Hall. Kinky, I own your books, I own your albums, and I wouldn't vote for you for dogcatcher.

Please, get out of the way and let the grown-ups handle it.