Get Kinky

Danni and I have now been to:

Del Rio
Laredo
Kingsville
Corpus Christi
Portland
Beeville
Goliad
Victoria
Angleton
Galveston
Beaumont
Lufkin
Longview
Tyler
Texarkana
Paris
Sherman
Wichita Falls
Amarillo
Lubbock
Big Spring
Midland
Odessa
San Angelo
Abilene
Brownwood
Waco

In all of those places we’ve encountered considerable support. In all of those places we’ve talked to random people who’ve wandered over to us because the Gov Bug is pink and I radiate sex and told us that they’re voting for Kinky, that their entire office is voting for Kinky, that their hardcore Republican grandparents already voted for Kinky, etc. These are places where the Democratic organization is supposed to be ironclad, where Chris Bell stopped running commercials he was so sure he had the county locked up. This is supposedly Perry country, where a candidate like Kinky has no hope of making even the smallest inroads. But none of those suppositions are true: all of Texas is Kinky country, and is Kinky country in a way conventional polls just aren’t showing.

Today Danni and I (and, por supuesto, GB and Moby) attended events in Corpus Christi, Portland, Beeville, Goliad, and Victoria. Every one of these events uniquely affirmed my belief that Kinky Friedman is going to win this election.

Here’s why, in a nutshell: I think there are more reliable means than conventional polls when it comes to assessing the chances of a candidate like Kinky. I think the unofficial polls Kinky’s walked away with consistently throughout the election mean something big is happening in Texas politics. I think, in other words, that the assumption made by every major scientific poll – that the only people who will vote in this election are people who voted in the last one – is wrong, and will be proven so in less than a week.

A less ass-originating analysis: the enthusiasm and drive of Kinky’s county coordinators has Kinky yard signs and knowledge about what he stands for out in counties that aren’t officially organized, while Chris Bell has no presence in counties Democrats have counted on generating big numbers from for decades. Kinky doesn’t need a machine to get people to the polls, he just needs the network of friends he’s been making over two years of campaigning to get as many off their likeminded friends to the polls as possible. So let’s continue to do that, and in so doing knock the idea that you need to have an enormous warchest or the support of a major party to run for office out for the count.

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.

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)

(kudos to Rob for being on top of this)

In the 2002 midterm election, 5171 people voted in Bexar County on the first day of early voting. Today, 8591 people voted. That’s an increase of 60 percent.

We’ll hopefully have a lot more numbers like this come morning. If this kind of voter turnout holds true statewide, and continues to hold true through November 7th, Kinky Friedman will almost certainly be our next Governor. This is tremendous, tremendous news for Kinky’s supporters, and hopefully all the impetus needed to get people unsure as to whether or not Kinky Friedman has a real chance on their feet and on the phone/satan box to help get Kinky in the Governor’s mansion.

The task for us now – for all of us – is to not let up on our Get Out The Vote efforts. The number one reason people who agree with Kinky on education, health insurance, the border, renewable energy, etc. might not vote for Kinky is because they don’t think he can win. If we get the message out that something huge – and a sixty percent increase in voter participation is beyond huge – is happening with Texas politics, and use that message to get people to get out and vote not November 7th, not a couple of days from now, but TODAY (or TOMORROW if the polls are closed for the day), we can change the course of Texas politics forever.

I don’t think any of us will regret an ounce of energy we pour on these last couple of weeks. And I know we’ll regret every bit we didn’t put into the election should Kinky not quite make it over the top. This is an important thing that’s happening – don’t let yourself or any of your friends miss out on it.