Get Kinky

(more after the jump)

As Kinky Friedman’s Campaign continues to build momentum, so does the voter turnout he needs.

Some Democratic and Republican strongholds from the 2002 election are down in early voting, which could lead to speculation of a diminished base vote.

Here’s how my conversations with fence-sitters and undecideds about Kinky Friedman usually go.

Any random person: What’s the big deal about him anyway? Where does he stand?

You know the first thing he’s gonna do when he gets elected….demand a recount. He says never re-elect anyone, including himself. The second thing is install a listed phone number to his office where you and me can call during certain hours everyday and speak directly with him to talk about the issues that are bothering us. I’ve even read somewhere he would try to start a Texas Radio talk show with these calls to reconnect with the people of Texas, his only special interest group. Did you know he recently returned a large contribution from some Houston special interest group?

Most of the people who haven’t researched the race but plan to vote are already convinced by this point, but many continue:

Any random person: Yeah but an Independent can’t win in Texas.

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I’m at the end of a fourteen hour day of Kinky campaigning, a day that has taken me through much of the valley, an area the campaign hasn’t had much opportunity so far to canvas with road signs or bumper stickers. Or, at least, that’s what I thought going in – turns out some of our coordinators from neighboring counties have been hitting up towns outside of their purview with signs. The more I talk to people – and granted, I’ve only been on the road for one day – the more I become convinced that the extraordinary creativity and drive of Kinky’s volunteers and the exceptional quality of Kinky’s message are going to combine to win this election, provided we can knuckle down and get out the vote now. Thanks in large part to Rob’s research, we know how close we are to our goal. It’s just a matter of pushing it the rest of the way.

So what does a 19% increased voter turnout mean?

Recently, the top vote getting counties from the 2002 mid-term elections in Texas, along with countless others, have experienced a substantial increase in early voter turnout as well as mail-ballots. Here are the totals and percent changes for early in-person plus mail-in votes through October 29th. Analyze away.

(Data after the jump)

It is early, early in the morning right now and I am writing from a hotel room in Del Rio. I didn’t see much of town as we drove in, save for an enormous H.E.B. and a number of palm trees. Starting at 8am tomorrow, Danni and I are driving from Del Rio to Laredo to Kingsville to Corpus, with stops at early polling locations in each town designed to generate whatever excitement we can about Kinky, about voting, and about Texas. If early polling numbers released so far are any indication, Texans are ready for a change and are turning out in record numbers to make that change happen. This is something I am privileged to be a small part of, having already voted early and voted for Kinky. I’m very much looking forward to seeing who else is taking part in what’s going to be the most memorable election in Texas gubernatorial history. I guess what I’m looking for, personally, from this trip, is a face to put on the millions of votes that are already helping to make Kinky our next Governor. What Danni’s looking for, primarily, is a way to convince me to stop pretending I’m Eddie Vedder and patch up my damn pants already. (more)

Kinky Friedman’s birthday is this Wednesday, November 1st. What he wants for his birthday is for the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve voiced their support for his candidacy through donations, MySpace, facebook, and petition signatures to get as many of their real-life friends as possible to get to the polls and vote. There’s no reason to wait until election day, and given the insane early voting numbers we’ve seen so far, there’s every reason to believe the polling places are going to be awfully crowded come November 7th.

So long as you’re voting for the candidate you believe in, you cannot waste your vote, and if enough people vote for the candidate they believe in, Kinky Friedman *will* be the next Governor of Texas. Let’s make sure we’ve all done what we can to make our votes, our contributions, our signatures, and all the time we’ve put into the campaign count.

(Share with all your friends and family.)