Latest Zogby poll--TX governor race--surprise!

[Gruenemann]

Perry has dropped to 34.8%.
Chris Bell has surged to 23.1%.
Kinky Friedman 22.7%.
Carole Strayhorn 9.6%

[pepperbear]

1. oh let it be so!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[durrrty libby]

2. may the stars align with the universe..woohoo! n/t

[blogslut]

3. Perry leveled off

...about last February and has been falling downward since. Chris Bell has a very good chance. :)

[Catherine Vincent]

4. That Kinky guy will be the spoiler.

I hope he drops out!

[babylonsister]

7. He's such an idiot though; maybe people will get serious. nt

[elehhhhna]

9. kinky the clown will not be taken seriously.

[w4rma]

11. Kinky is a right-winger. If he drops out he'll endorse the Repug.

That said, there are a lot of stupid left-wingers in Texas who are voting for Kinky. I'd bet that most of his votes are from the left-wing.

[acmejack]

12. There are a lot of on this very website who are going to vote for him.

Why, I have no earthly idea! Kinky is a douche bag, just the guy I want for my Governor. We can have a guy who will actually do something for the State or Kinky "I'm doing this to help my career" and you can be sure, that's just what this is all about. He doesn't expect to win. He's back in the spotlight again and loving it, he wishes he could campaign forever. No one has paid this much attention to him in years!

[w4rma]

14. Agreed. (nt)

[bigdarryl]

15. Kinky will win this race

No joke you will see

[KaptBunnyPants]

18. How?

He refuses to run a serious campaign. His policy statements are nothing but off the cuff quips, meaningless, contradictory, and entirely subject to his mood. Even his offical website offers up only 3 issues: education, healthcare, and renewable energy, and his stances on all 3 have been stolen from the Democratic Party. Even in the current race, where 35-40% of the vote might be enough to win, how is Kinky actually going to convince that many people to throw their vote away on a joke candidate?

He will probably get enough votes to re-elect Perry and make Texas look stupid, but no more.

[tbyg52]

22. Hope you're wrong

He wants to put prayer back in public schools. I'm old enough to remember having to put up with that crap, and I sure don't want it back. He also wants to post the Ten Commandments in schools, leaving one with the burning question, "which version"? ;)

[tammywammy]

19. Cat Girl, you should know better!

Kinky's got books and CDs to sell. He can't drop out.

I'm praying that his numbers keep going down.

Kinky will only mess up this state more. x(

[acmejack]

13. From your kybd to God's ear!

[keepCAblue]

5. Oh please please please

I would sell my soul just to see Perry booted out. No one deserves the boot more than that slime ball.

[Bjorn Against]

6. Does Texas have runoffs?

If so Perry is in trouble. If not there is a lot of work to be done, but it is still winnable.

[cosmik debris]

10. Not in the general election. n/t

[elehhhhna]

8. Perrys' TransTexas corridor will be the END of his political career...

which will be good for him as then he can FINALLY come out of the closet and be himself.

[girl gone mad]

17. We can only hope.

I haven't heard much mention of the TTC in the press. What a disaster that thing would be. Ugh! I get mad just thinking about the ridiculousness of it.

[Buck Laser]

16. But Willie has endorsed Kinky.

I have no idea what that means, but it worries me. I guess Willie finally smoked too much dope.

[texpatriot2004]

20. Hello Texas, that's good news nm

[DaveT]

21. As an ex-Texan, that Perry number comes as a pleasant shock

Friedman's getting the Perot/Ventura/Arnold effect now with the pox-on-both-their-houses crowd -- his numbers will melt away as election day approaches. The question will be where do his supporters go?

You'll notice that Ross The Boss fell off the charts while Jesse V and Arnold went on to win. The difference is that Perot was a semi-talented amateur on TV while The Body and the Terminator were both professional screen performers.

Kinky's hick accent, cigar and "jewboy" irreverance have gotten him to 22% in a very anti-incumbent atmosphere. But he ain't good enough on TV to do anything but crater now as the real campaign cranks up on Labor Day weekend.

If Bell can get a little better than half of these cranky Kinky voters, he wins. I can see a lot of them going to Strayhorn -- who should finish ahead of Friedman. Tough luck for Scot's mom to have a joker in the deck gobbling up a lot of the anti-Perry but also anti-liberal vote.

Not so bad luck for Bell to have Kinky grabbing a lot of attention for the race -- the only reason why anybody would give Friedman a second thought would be disgust with Perry.

Bell just might win.